Every once in a while you’ll have a game that’s honestly pretty simple in concept and general action, but manages to be executed in a way that makes it jump out and demand attention. Quite some time ago, Hotline Miami was one such title, really just taking a top-down shooter, making it far more twitchy and intense than its peers, and then throwing in all sorts of odd story beats and a healthy dose of excessive violence to add to its mystique. While for many reasons it wasn’t a game for everyone, there’s no question that there was an audience that went pretty crazy for it, and ever since then there have periodically been titles attempting to recapture some of its essence, and then hopefully some of its success as well.

While Kusan may not have the same tripped-out visuals, and its story and characters are more familiar, if you’re looking for a title that has managed to nail the same sort of quick, intense, and sometimes then aggravating violent action, it definitely gets as close as I’ve seen. You’ll be playing as the pretty formidable Jin, a former soldier with a mechanical arm, and a haunted past. Unsurprisingly, you’ll be dishing out lethal punishment in order to survive, save the city, and work through some demons from his past.

The game is all about colorful, fast-moving, and brutal violence, and you’ll need to use every tool at your disposal whether that’s your fists, weapons, or even things in the environment to take out rooms full of enemies who only need one shot to take you down. That means that you’ll need to at least try to make a plan, prioritizing tougher enemies to take down first, but also perpetually be ready to improvise… and since all that matters is surviving, you can worry about what a mess you managed to make later. In place of Hotline Miami’s masks that could radically change the way the game played, here you’ll have a more practical upgrade system where you’ll need to pick and choose how you combine weapon and core ability enhancements to best suit your style. While everything generally does play well, I will note that I did run into a crash or two playing, so while that isn’t crippling it can be frustrating to lose a little progress. Regardless, if you’ve been looking for a new fix to satisfy your Hotline Miami-style itch, this is among the best I’ve seen that uses the same formula, but still manages to differentiate itself a bit.