Korean indie studio CIRCLEfromDOT’s neon noir top-down shooter Kusan: City of Wolves launched today, 30 July 2026, across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Steam — and it has already pulled an 84 on Metacritic from early critics, with comparisons to Hotline Miami flying in thick and fast.
Jin Versus the Port City of Asia
You play as Jin, an ex-soldier turned gun-for-hire grinding out survival in Kusan — described by the developers as a “Port City of Asia” consumed by violence and corruption. The mission: carve through 54 hand-crafted stages to rescue Haru, a young girl who has been fitted with a city-grade atomic weapon and is now a target for every faction in the city. The story unfolds in comic-panel-style cutscenes that lean hard into the neo-noir aesthetic, keeping the pacing tight between stages.
Publisher PQube — the UK label behind several Asian indie titles — is handling global distribution, while developer CIRCLEfromDOT handles the South Korean side of the creative DNA. The “Port City of Asia” framing will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has walked through the humid, neon-lit streets of an Asian port town at night, and it lends the game a visual identity that stands apart from the more Western-coded neon noir you usually see in this genre.
Guns, Blades, Parries — No Second Chances
This is a game that demands speed and precision and offers very little forgiveness. Combat revolves around chaining together Jin’s three tools: firearms (upgradeable via Bolts collected from environmental destruction), the Quantum Blade for close-range slashes, and the War Hand — a heavy melee weapon that hits hard but costs positioning. A parry system and a short-range teleport round out the kit, turning each stage into a flow-state puzzle that rewards learning enemy patterns and punishes hesitation.
Korean games outlet Inven Global scored it 8.4/10, calling it “neon-drenched action that keeps your hands busy,” while Push Square’s mini-review praised the “fast-paced carnage” in this “tough Hotline Miami-like.” If Hotline Miami left a mark on you — and for a lot of Singapore gamers it very much did — this is the closest thing to a spiritual successor with an Asian soul.
A Soundtrack Built on Korean Hip-Hop
Every stage is scored by Korean hip-hop heavyweight Loptimist, whose “adrenaline-fuelled” compositions layer head-bopping loops and deep 808s over the chaos on screen. Sound design in top-down action games can make or break the feel of combat, and having a producer who understands rhythm and weight at a structural level — rather than just licensing generic electronic music — gives Kusan a kinetic energy that elevates the whole package.
Where to Get It and How Much
Kusan: City of Wolves is available now on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. The base price is USD $14.99 (regional pricing applies on Steam), and a 20% launch discount is running until 13 August 2026 — making this one of the cheaper must-plays to land this month. A free demo is also available on Steam, PS5 and Xbox if you want to feel out the difficulty curve before committing.
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