Cruelty Squad

Never in my life have I consumed a piece of art so misanthropic and hateful of the human condition. And yet, there is a kind of grief in it. From start to finish every person you kill is expressly described as having no value, and they are all parodies of humanity, from bizarre crypto-bros, to gated community funko-pop collectors, to rich people. The one person in the game who stays dead is a random fisherman, in a shed, who has just ordered a fishing rod online. You can't bring him back. I think that the message of the game is something like a grieving"people live like this." Like if you were a shaman in an ancient forest, worshiping the mighty boar, and you were then forced to observe how the factory-farmed pig rolls in its own filth for a tenth of a lifespan, each swine sold for a meager amount. "the sun stares at you with eternal malice"

Cruelty Squad is a game you pretty much have to accept you're going to bounce off of, maybe a few times. However, as mean and unfair as it is to you with it's difficulty, it gives you many opportunities to break it in retaliation with insane guns and equipment as rewards for exploring and surviving. The gunplay is tight, movement is *incredibly* fast with bunny-hops, double jumps, jet boosters, etc, and there is zero hand-holding. I think a lot of the frustration can come from how quickly the game tries to alienate you (which is part of the aesthetic, story and world-building) but once you accept you can be as rough to the game as it is with you, it's probably one of the best shooters I've ever played.

It fulfilled it's purpose, gave me a headache, left me dizzy and was too hard to understand and play. Too punishing too. Only reason why I'm giving it a thumbs up is because it was made for that and I appreciate the effort.

No matter how long it's been since I last played, it always draws me back in. Though I will admit it's not as good as Gorbino's quest.

Cruelty Squad is to Deus Ex as acid reflux is to filet mignon. Recommended for purchase on sale (the lowest recorded price is $1.99 at -90%). Made with Godot. Playable on Linux via Proton.

Edit : 8 July 2026. I just lost who i loved most, God read the first part and decided to ♥♥♥♥ my life again, i ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate you. All 12.6 hours of this game felt like i was preparing for loss than playing. REVIEWED AFTER EXPLORING ALMOST EVERYTHING IT OFFERS. I feel guilty for cracking this game and i used to be depressed, so i bought it after completion years later. Cruelty Squad is just great in everything, a boomer shooter, a tactical game or a capitalist one. I bought it to support the dev now that i can buy some games by miself. Now after completing it, i have to say i now understand the message of the game. For context i finished this when i was 13 or so and was in a bad spot and just said haha weird meme game, but now? ♥♥♥♥....It hits. Cruelty Squad, atleast in my eyes: Is a suicide game. Why? 100% of the talk is corporations and injustice, taking pills in this game ruins your mission (Because people with depression would refuse them, this is the equivalent of ruining your life.), being accused of something you did not do is normalized in this game and generally enough the MC himself looks and acts mentally insane. I also believe the implants are a part of this message, because they are absurd like Cyberpunk levels. Implants in this game are all good but are meant to make you no longer human, and with each one you equip you are supposed to reflect on your decisions...Because the "human" implants are bad, but that makes you human, but if you choose the good ones, you no longer are human. I also like the endings and the world building, you have to kill the people who are doing good and some enemies are straight out called slaves or dehunanizing names and the creatures such as thoose flower things make me believe the MC is taking drugs from start to finish, because Cruelty Squad does not feel real, or is supposed to be. Theese drugs are the vision of the MC through the entire game, but who knows if the creatures arent just random people we are murdering. I also believe the Golems to be people who are stuck inside their own bodies, reinforced with the metal outside them who traps them inside due to sin. Theres also more difficulties and the game gets more deranged each time you find out its secrets, i did everything it offered until the last difficulty which is impossible and im so glad i didnt stop at Archon Grid (First ending). The message of this game is as well passed around as Receiver 2, i highly reccomend both and Cruelty Squad is actually better in both gameplay and story. Great game, i wish Psycho Patrol was cheaper so i could play that one too but i cant have the guts to pirate it.

---{ Graphics }--- ☑ You forget what reality is (game looks like pure LSD) ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☐ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☑ Floppy Disk ☐ Old Fashioned ☐ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☑ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☑ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☑ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☑ Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☐ Worth the price ☑ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☑ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10 ---{ Author }--- ☑ https://vojtastruhar.github.io/steam-review-template

My personal favourite Indie FPS! It is weird, it is unintuitive, it doesn't explain itself, the controls are made to be bad. That's why I have played it more than 9 Times, have all Achievements, got S Rank in every level on every difficulty and I will do it again. (Still want to do a no-death-run) You will get used to the art style, controls and mechanics. My only critique is that the Fishing is meh. It isn't necessary to get any ending but its unforgiving in its timing and boring. You are better of guessing when you will catch a rare fish then reacting to the 57ms Window of Opportunity. Please give it a shot!

"Our planet is rotting yet nobody does a thing. We've been lulled into a deep sleep by corporate interests." Absolute acid trip of a game. 10/10 inflated the stock market with fish and human livers.