Spine is back with a new trailer after a long period of silence and a reboot. We spoke with the game director about how Spine plans to bring a playable action blockbuster to our screens.
A beloved dog is killed, and a bloody quest for revenge begins: If John Wick comes to mind right now, that’s no coincidence. That’s because the action game Spine actually wanted to use this premise for its story as well. And even though the gameplay is extremely reminiscent of the cinematic brawls of the cult killer, animal lovers can breathe a sigh of relief: No dog comes to harm in Spine!
Instead, the heroine’s brother serves as the catalyst for the final story. He is kidnapped without further ado—kicking off an exciting action adventure that’s finally making a comeback after a long hiatus and is set to be released in 2027.
“Our world is much closer than cyberpunk”
At first glance, the world of Spine looks like classic cyberpunk. But the developers deliberately call their setting “AI-Punk”—which means: While an all-powerful artificial intelligence named Tensor has long dominated and monitored society, the rest of technological progress and other aspects of society have come to a standstill. For example, people here still shoot with conventional firearms in the classic style, rather than with high-tech lasers.
In an interview, Game Director Dmitry Pimenov emphasizes that this world is set in a much closer and more plausible future than, say, Cyberpunk 2077—and that’s exactly what’s meant to make the setting even more unsettling.
In this AI dictatorship, we take on the role of street performer Redline. To save her brother, she steals the Bio-Spine, an experimental combat implant that not only grants her superhuman reflexes but also possesses a personality of its own. This creates a unique dynamic between the two: Over time, Redline learns to act more and more rationally and precisely, almost like a machine. On the other hand, the machine inside her body becomes increasingly human.
Why the long radio silence?
Spine was originally announced back in 2021—as a multiplayer title. At the end of 2022, the team pulled the plug and launched a complete reboot: the multiplayer game became a cinematic single-player experience where the developers can better showcase their strengths in animation, according to the game director. In the time since the last trailer, the studio switched from Unity to Unreal Engine 5 and developed its own combat engine for the beat ’em up. Following initial community feedback last year, the combat system was also fundamentally overhauled once again, and the team is now full steam ahead toward release.
Deadly ballet meets gun-fu
At the heart of Spine is the Flow combat system with choreographed martial arts action. But don’t worry: Spine isn’t meant to be as tough and unforgiving as Sifu. Pimenov and his team are basing the gameplay feel more on the fluid, large-scale battles of the Batman: Arkham series or Spider-Man. That’s why getting started should be relatively easy: With just a few button presses, you’ll immediately feel like a ruthless action hero.
This is where a few skills from Redline’s past as a street performer come into play. For example, she doesn’t just use her spray can to leave rebellious graffiti in the game world—she also uses it in the middle of combos as a blinding and attack ability by spraying paint on her enemies’ visors.
By the way, for the developers, “Gun-Fu” means fighting primarily with a Glock-like pistol. That’s Redline’s standard weapon. In finishers, however, she also likes to simply snatch her opponents’ shotguns and dish out the remaining ammo to her buddies in a dual-wield style. Afterward, she switches back to the pistol.
Deliberately Going Against AAA Trends
Instead of throwing us into an unnecessarily bloated open world, Spine relies on a linear hub structure. Between battles, Redline returns to a headquarters to upgrade her abilities and her implant. From there, we set out on individual missions. The developers view their game as a sort of anthology of action cinema: Each chapter is designed to feel like its own short film and is a direct homage to legendary influences such as *Ghost in the Shell*, *Se7en*, or *Equilibrium*.
Thanks to its episodic structure, Spine is designed to be a crisp 10-hour experience. The developers want to create a focused, extremely intense experience rather than artificially stretching out the playtime with repetitive tasks. In an interview, Pimenov explains this decision as follows:
We feel that players today are tired of massive games where you have to spend 40 hours and struggle to keep yourself entertained. The industry currently lacks focused, intense gaming experiences.
So who is Spine ultimately intended for? According to Pimenov, while the accessible controls are designed to appeal even to absolute action newbies, at its core the game is aimed at anyone who loves the “flow” combat system from Batman or Spider-Man, or who is generally a fan of the choreographed gunplay seen in movies like John Wick or James Bond.
Spine is set to be released in the summer of 2027. The gun-fu shooter will then be available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
