SPINE hands-on preview — Wick-ed and Woo-nderful

Finding your backbone isn't the easiest thing to do. Sometimes it takes being pushed to your limits. While it's not exactly the same thing, Nekki has been pushing their limits, and with a little game called SPINE, are looking to create a hit in the indie space. After thirty minutes with it, my anticipation of SPINE has grown – although there's still work to be done.

To preface, I played an alpha build of SPINE. This very early demo had its fair share of bugs, but that's to be expected at this stage. What truly matters is the concept and if it works, and I'm thrilled to say it absolutely does.

SPINE begins with Redline, a girl who has stumbled upon some pretty radical tech. The SPINE – yep, that's the game name – attaches to her, upgrading her capabilities and putting her in the sights of some very powerful and unseemly people.

My demo started with Redline walking to a bar. After all, the best fight scenes always ignite at bars, no? Someone recognizes her, a brawl breaks out, and suddenly you have to fight to survive.

This is where things get good and the concept of SPINE, which I am so keen on, rises to the top. Combat in SPINE reminds me a lot of the Batman Arkham series. The action of the game is set at a slower pace, with methodical choices prevailing over pressing buttons quickly. While some may have thought Marvel's Spider-Man might have been the better fit (and I thought so too originally), I enjoy the pace Nekki has chosen. John Wick doesn't just spin around punching and shooting, he tracks his targets and calculates how to best take them out.

And take them out you shall. Clearing a room is a joy, even with a huge group of hostiles. There's something about the constant action, shooting a few bullets before pivoting to kicking, parrying a blow, and then landing a cinematic finisher. By the way, every single time you weaken an enemy enough, a finisher prompt pops above their head, letting you enjoy the outlandish takedown from the front row.

Once the bar fight died down (because everyone was unconscious but me), I ran out the back and into another area. Here, Nekki took something familiar and made it just as epic. If you've watched John Wick 4, you'll remember the isometric fighting scene where he uses a shotgun loaded with dragon's breath ammo. Not only did Nekki go with the view, but it's the first time you get the shotgun for use. It's a limited item given its largely one-shot kill status, but the entire sequence is so satisfying to play, especially with composer Le Castle Vania from the John Wick franchise scoring the soundtrack behind it.

Throughout the level, I found myself in constant kill boxes. Many might think of this as bland game design, going from one room to another and simply wiping out your foes. In a game like SPINE however, the very draw is constant engagements. Their idea: to make a game inspired by the two Johns – John Woo and John Wick – requires little to no downtime. This concept is backed up by incredibly fluid combat, and that's why I can deal with occasional rough edges in an alpha demo. If your central design choice is great and flows, everything else will come together in the polishing stage. SPINE works.

The boss fight I was able to play at the end of my demo also worked well. Nekki plans to have these encounters revolve around specific mechanics, so that you aren’t just repeating the same fight over and over. In this one, I took on enemy enforcer Edda Kopp, who has her own Spine implant. I couldn’t just hit her, but had to wait and counter several blows before getting a few strikes in and then dodging away. It wasn’t anything fancy, but the systematic nature of this fight kept me engaged by forcing me to think ahead and plan my attacks. Besides Edda’s squirrely nature, spider mines kept deploying as well, keeping me on the move as they detonated. The idea that’s here is cool, and I hope it spreads to the other boss fights, especially as I am a boss fight snob whose day is made when I play a great one.

While SPINE is still in its alpha phase, there’s a lot to like about it. The cyberpunk aesthetic is dope, and the soundtrack is top notch. Freeflow Gun Fu combat, as they’re calling it, is a blast, and the cinematic design – making you feel like you’re in an action movie – works on many levels. If Nekki can continue to polish and refine SPINE, this could be a hidden gem of a game. SPINE has a planned release window of 2026, and is coming to PC (wishlist it on Steam here), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and the Nintendo Switch 2.