Action is my favorite genre, in film, anyway. Action in video games that aren’t fighters usually misses the weight of fight choreography, and ultimately, the situations that remind me of the classics are few and far between. Notable exceptions are Sifu and, to be honest, the Arkham series of Batman games. Still, Nekki’s Spine hits a new height for bringing its audience into the depths of an actioner fitting for a Fantastic Fest debut.
During Summer Game Fest Play Days, media and creators got the chance to check out Spine. The first group to go hands-on with the demo, it’s hard not to be impressed. The PC demo showcased a visually striking cyberpunk world of Spine and immediately dropped players into the single-player action adventure.
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One of the interesting elements of Spine is that Nekki has developed the game on Unreal Engine 5, but they have also created their own original animation engine, Cascadeur. Spine’s animation is all geared to replicate gunfu, the style of fight choreography created by John Woo, brought to Hollywood with the middling-reviewed Equilibrium, and popularized and reinvented by Chad Stahelski’s John Wick franchise. It’s clear that Nekki is saying exactly what it says on their Steam page: This is gun fu.
Spine captures close-quarters combat in a way that highlights the gun-fu renaissance.
With single-input melee combat that auto-combos, trigger to shoot, the other trigger to use a spray paint to push back crowds, and a dodge, that’s all you need. After hitting square a few times, a takedown prompt pops up and your character jumps into an animation, landing her killshot, and sometimes stripping enemies of their weapon to use next. In truth, though, the shining element of bringing it all together is that no fight is the same.
Coined as “Freeflow Gun Fu” combat, the style is a fusion of cinematic gunplay and beat-em-up mechanics that aims for fluid, close-quarter shots instead of hanging back and aiming. In fact, with no aiming outside of a view that’s akin to firing from the hip, that gun gets you nowhere if you aren’t using Akaido. Better still is that Redline uses her size and speed in combat, and in the moments where she’s knocked back or overwhelmed, it comes out in the same way you would in, say, the latter parts of Ballerina.
The game puts players into a cyberpunk future under the autocratic rule of AI, owned by the Tensor Corporation. Your role as Redline, a rebellious street artist, joined by her sentient combat implant, Spine, is to take on Tensor. The implant is a part of you that affects your combat, and ability to perfectly dodge (adding in some Matrix flair as you’d expect from a game dedicated to action’s greatest hits). Redline and Spine must learn to trust each other while challenging the oppressive regime.
Nekki is channeling action’s greatest hits.
As for the game’s story, we didn’t get to see much of it, with the demo dedicated to combat first. However, the developer who ran my demo gave me a breakdown, and the game’s first cutscene before the violence starts evokes the moment an action lead walks into a place and everyone, including them, knows a fight is about to break out.
Nekki’s visual dedication to capturing actioner over everything feels like a love letter. They know what they’re inspired by, and Spine is an homage to all of it without ever compromising its admiration. This is a game I could recommend to anyone who loves action, even if they’ve never played a video game before. And to be honest? I think they’d fall in love.
Spine’s color palette is a neon-soaked city, with glamorous facades hiding decaying alleyways and empty buildings occupied by squatters. Each environment is a backdrop for adrenaline-fueled gunfights, but they’re at their best when you can interact with them. In one demo section, you enter a top-down view of a building. There, you fight like normal, but you have to adapt to the new perspective.
The interesting element about all of it is that when Chad Stahelski designed that production element in John Wick: Chapter 4, he did it to push himself and to not allow his team to hide anything. He wanted the audience to see around every corner and see every stunt. He says as much in the Wick is Pain documentary, and that spirit is alive in Nekki’s Spine. When I mentioned Stahelski’s intention, the developer at my side explained that they also wanted to push the player to see the action from all sides.
Dynamic camera movement makes every fight in Spine unique.
To accomplish the fluid movement that Redline achieves, whether its with the shotgunning miniboss or Edda Kopp, a stealthy-quick bossfight that uses spide mines, the camera is central. Throughout the action, Spine’s dynamic camera constantly shifts perspectives.
The camera adjusts to highlight takedowns, making every fight feel like a choreographed action scene without ever taking control away from the player. You can move the camera as you see fit, but at the same time, you have to be okay with giving away some of your agency to let the camera do the work on its own.
Spine seems dedicated to turning every player into an action star, but not because of big explosions or quick time events. Instead, Nekki wants us to fall in love with melee combat and push ourselves to be a part of high-octane fight choreography. And with the game already picked up for a live-action film adaptation from Story Kitchen (who is already working with Chad Stahelski on the Sifu film), the future is bright.
While my demo had some visual hiccups, I’m beyond excited about the full experience. In just this short demo, it was clear that the developers bleed action, and their dedication to throwing their players into actioner excitement will get them far.
Spine is set to release some time in 2026.
