One of the big retro stories this week is certainly the announcement of the Sovietborgs crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The campaign is seeking €48,000 to continue development and produce a quality physical release. We played an early build of the Reto Sumus-developed Mega Drive shooter, and were glad to report Sovietborgs showed a lot of promise. Since then, we’ve played the latest build and will explain our findings in this post.

Before we get into how Sovietborgs plays, the crowdfunding campaign is worth exploring as it’s certainly exciting. Sovietborgs has been developed for the Mega Drive, but Retro Sumus has already announced there will be ports to Dreamcast, Neo Geo, and MS-DOS. All these options have a physical edition that can be backed from today, and Retro Sumus has been realistic, giving an estimated shipping date of December 2026.

The main option that we expect most backers will go for is the native Mega Drive version, which comes in a standard Genesis/Mega Drive case with cart and manual. Those securing a copy early will benefit from a €10 discount. There is also a standard Dreamcast version as well as a special PAL box edition that costs a bit more. For those wanting an arcade experience, the Neo Geo version comes in both MVS and AES varieties.

Of all the standard versions, probably the most interesting is the MS-DOS port. This is available as either a CD-ROM or as a set of floppy discs. This shows Retro Sumus’ commitment to retro, and we have to say that the floppy disc option is impressive to see. There are always those looking for something extra special with these campaigns, and they can opt for the Mega Drive Pelican Case, a Dreamcast steelbook, and a custom-designed Mega Drive console.

While the crowdfunding campaign certainly covers a lot of bases, what about the actual game itself? Sovietborgs is a tongue-in-cheek shooter that parodies communist states of years gone by. The game’s story is set around cyborg KGB agents hunting down capitalist zombies following the detonation of all thermal-nuclear weaponry in enemy states. It’s all very silly, and Retro Sumus has stated that it’s meant to be fun and not offensive.

Players take control of three KGB cyborgs at the same time. Think Cannon Fodder meets Chaos Engine meets Gauntlet, and you’ll have some idea of the game’s basic features. You start with all three agents in good health, but will lose a comrade if sufficient damage is taken. Your unit can fire in the direction it is facing and will keep firing that way until you let go of the button. You can still move your troops while firing, and the overall mechanic works very well.

When we started playing the latest Sovietborgs demo build, we heard right away that the music and voiceover parts, provided by big Sega fan Adam Koralik, were much improved. The new title screen theme gives a real Soviet era feel and has a great baseline, thanks to the great Yamaha sound chip of the Mega Drive. Since we last played Sovietborgs, we could tell there were a lot of improvements to the overall controls that felt tighter and more responsive.

This new control upgrade also includes a new run function to get around the levels quicker, plus improvements to the hit detection and grenade throws. The overall design feels high quality, and the gameplay loop is fun, especially lining up the zombies and other creatures before chucking a grenade in or laying down full fire. Sovietborgs simply feels great to play, it fits somewhere between the action of classic arcade shooters such as Mercs and the dungeon exploring of Guantlet.

The previous demo only had the very first round to complete; this time around, there is a bonus round and the first boss fight. The bonus round is a side-scrolling shmup-style affair, where players blast aliens from their ship and collect health and grenades. This part certainly breaks up the gameplay between rounds and adds some longevity to a playthrough. The first boss was excellent, and we just about beat it on the first go, down to our last troop.

Overall, Sovietborgs is a fun game to play and features some great gameplay, along with interesting ideas. The level design is solid, and the boss stage was high quality. The improvements in the overall presentation are welcome, as is the introduction of different genre elements with the bonus stage. From what we’ve seen, a promising game is being developed at the Retro Sumus offices, and we look forward to following its progress.