OverRider Early Access [Review]

OverRider is a cyberpunk-inspired beat 'em up roguelike centered around a doctor with a mysterious past whose intriguing story unfolds as you play. The core gameplay revolves around the unique ability to hack and become enemies, effectively offering multiple playable characters. Players can switch between hacked foes to find their preferred play style. A significant drawback is the visual individuality. Environments and enemies lack variety, often presenting identical duplicates, especially when hacking an enemy and then having 3–4 versions of yourself on the screen at one time. This results in a sense of repetition in enemy encounters.

What distinguishes OverRider “is” the possession mechanic, allowing players to utilize the move sets of every enemy. While the current enemy count is limited, an upgrade system based on prolonged character use and fulfilling requests adds depth. Visually, the game is impressive and is one of the nicest-looking beat-em-up games to date. Also, it's worth noting this game shines on ultrawide displays. The soundtrack is a Bidibidi Bop, and the game performs well or well enough on both the Steam Deck (mileage will vary on the Steam Deck) and Lenovo Legion Go. This game is in early access, so as updates are pushed, I will re-review this game, but so far this game is easy to recommend and is very fun. Hopefully in future updates we get some co-op.