SPINE was one of Gamescom's sleeper hits, and it's inspired by deep-cut action games you probably don't remember

When you sit down and chat to a developer about their upcoming game, a lot of the same names often pop up. Open-world games have roots in Breath of the Wild, fighting game devs love Smash Bros or Street Fighter 4, etc etc. I've talked to a lot of devs, and heard about a lot of games. I never - not in my life - expected a developer to talk about Remember Me during a preview. Yet director Dmitry Pimenov lit up when discussing all the old action games that bled into his upcoming Gun Fu action title, SPINE.

SPINE, a 3rd person action game and a clear send-up of gun fu movies, comes from a small developer called Nekki. It's best known for the Shadow Fight series of mobile games, but has decided to take a slow-motion leap into the PC and mobile market with a bold pitch. A Cyberpunk-themed project that aims to recreate that John Woo-style bullet ballet for modern audiences. While the film inspirations are obvious - John Wick, Hard Boiled, etc - it's the games that raised an eyebrow.

"I usually say Remember Me and they blank because they don't remember it", Pimenov admits before laughing. Capcom's incredibly niche euro-punk game holds a place in SPINE's DNA alongside Stranglehold (produced by John Woo himself), WET, and other Xbox 360/PS3 deep cuts, and some of that distinct charm certainly comes across in the gameplay demo I saw for SPINE. But how does one boil down the spirit of Remember Me and these other often forgotten action romps and funnel them into a new, interesting experience? What makes them worth remembering? Pimenov has an answer.

"I don't know the [specific] word for it, but I think there's a certain flow. They combined the action and narrative side of things perfectly. I like games like Sifu as well, but I feel like in our game we want to tell more of a story, while Sifu is more focused on action. Remember Me was very cool because you were really sucked into the environment and everything that happened."

He continues: "People call it Euro-punk - a branch of cyberpunk - I don't know, but when I was a teenager I was totally sucked into it. It has this charisma, because it seems like you live as this person! It stands out as unique to me, it has these innovative things like interesting combination of attacks. Maybe it wasn't very high budget, but I really like this game (laugh)."

The demo I saw was in a bit of a rough state, haemorrhaging frames all over the gaff, a bit shaky throughout the whole thing. The game is targeting a 2026 release window and I could see why. But even in this early state you can see little hints of Stranglehold, WET, and Remember Me in there. It's got that 360 edge to it, with a modern coat of paint and some snappy combat too. The player character dashes all over the place, leaping over bullets, snatching shotguns out of players hands, shooting goons with dual pistols. All the good stuff. If the team at Nekki can polish it up so all the current technical flaws are gone, then we're good to go. If they can't, then it may face a similar fate to some of these lesser-known 360 era action games.

SPINE was a pleasant surprise for me, harkening back to the films I've loved for years, but also the style of action game I used to mess about with when I was first getting into gaming properly. There's a twinge of nostalgia at play here, but it's also nice to know that new games are coming out right now that pull from some of gaming's more obscure corners. If you've ever had a place in your heart for that kind of game, then SPINE is worth keeping tabs on.

SPINE is in very early development, and thus is set to release some time in 2026.