The upcoming action-brawler Cookie Cutter wastes little time throwing you headfirst into its hyper-violent, sci-fi dystopian slugfest. Channeling a stylized revenge-thriller through the aesthetic of a punk indie comic, Cookie Cutter’s world full of mutant monsters and cyborg creations presents a slick and high-octane take on the traditionally slower-paced Metroidvania flow.
I recently took a deep dive into the opening hours of Cookie Cutter, jumping straight into protagonist Cherry’s quest for revenge in a cyberpunk hellscape. After my hands-on with developer Subcult Joint’s take on a more over-the-top Metroidvania experience, it so far shows a promising action-adventure with a lot of style that packs a killer punch.
Cookie Cutter leans heavily into the conceit of a John Wick-esque revenge thriller. After the brutal opening sequence showing a beaten-down Cherry witnessing members of the evil corporation INFONET kidnap Cherry’s lover, Dr. Shinji Fallon, the vengeful android is rebuilt and upgraded by an eccentric mechanic named Raz, who helps the heroine on her quest to get even with INFONET and reunite with her lost love and creator.
Cherry’s mission takes her through the expansive setting known as The Megastructure, a sprawling interconnected cityscape owned by INFONET that’s filled with hidden secrets to uncover and bad guys to take down. As Cherry upgrades her skills and moves, you can pulverize the armies of INFONET with kick-ass combat moves and stunning deathblows that will quite actually rip enemies a new one and send nearby foes into a stupor.
What’s immediately eye-catching about Cookie Cutter is its rich and ludicrously detailed hand-drawn 2D aesthetic, similar to hard-edged British indie comics like Tank Girl and Judge Dredd. There’s so much detail packed into every frame of Cookie Cutter, and even side characters like an aloof punk rocker strumming along on his guitar in a dangerous factory facility add a significant amount of personality to the worldbuilding. Cookie Cutter’s rich visual style showcases a sharp, high-energy look I couldn’t help but admire.
The fantastic visuals ramp up as Cherry barrels through the halls of the Megastructure to rip and tear her enemies in gloriously stylized ultra-violence. Cookie Cutter’s revenge thriller set-up within a Metroidvania gives it a faster and more brisk pace than other examples of the sub-genre. While there are platforming and puzzle challenges to encounter, along with side quests to help out different characters in need, Cookie Cutter focuses on the fast, go-for-broke-style combat.
With her standard combo attacks, Cherry can find new sub-weapons to launch enemies, shoot fireballs, grab foes, and toss them into other enemies or well-placed environmental hazards. When combat kicks into high gear, it’s thrilling to style out on foes that can barely land a hit on you. Cookie Cutter’s opening hours do a solid job of balancing the fine line between feeling overpowered and still feeling equally vulnerable to enemies as well.
If things go wrong during a fight, however, it can be easy for Cherry to be whittled down by attacks, especially when facing off against more challenging enemies that require more finesse to take down. When combat escalates, I found that some encounters can sometimes be overwhelming; this is especially the case when getting a handle on the game’s parry mechanic with strict timing that can be tough to nail in a pinch, especially against a ruthless pack of foes.
Still, just when the regular combat encounters began to feel frustrating or a bit one-note, Cherry would acquire a new combat ability that opened up the gameplay even more. Cherry’s combat skills always elicit a sense of satisfaction when finding that flow, and Cookie Cutter’s approach to action offered some thrilling moments when exploring the larger sprawl of the Megastructure.
Cookie Cutter’s bare-knuckle combat and high-energy visual style are the ingredients for a satisfying action-adventure, and this small taste has us excited for the fully-baked final product. . Despite its hyper-violence and ruthless aggression, it’s got a charm that’s hard to ignore– especially with how cool and endearing of a character Cherry is. Games of the Metroidvania sub-genre do feel increasingly common these days, but so far, Cookie Cutter’s approach shows that it’s anything but.
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