RoboCop: Rogue City Release Date, Trailers, Gameplay & More

RoboCop: Rogue City is scheduled for release in June 2023, which is still a long way off. When it was first announced in 2021, all it had was a 2023 window, which was then narrowed down to June 2022, meaning things are probably running smoothly for now. Given that much time, we’re hoping the date doesn’t slip, especially since the team is giving themselves a month off, but you never know.

This sci-fi blast from the past will be available on all current systems, including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

RoboCop: Rogue City debuted with a trailer during NACON Connect in 2021. It was a very short announcement, mainly meant to reveal the project and create buzz.

The trailer opens with a voice-over of a report on the rising crime in Old Detroit as the city goes up in smoke. The reporter asks who could scare off the rampaging criminals and restore peace, leading to the game’s title shot and the iconic image of RoboCop pulling his sidearm out of his leg holster.

About a year later, at NACOn Connect 2022, RoboCop: Rogue City has appeared once again, this time with actual gameplay to explore.

The trailer begins almost identically to the last one, with a show detailing the growing crime wave that has taken over the city, which we see through crime scenes. This time, however, the broadcast was interrupted by a criminal on live television.

We cut to RoboCop arriving on the scene and throwing himself into first person. We hear the nostalgic sounds of his robotic legs moving as he walks with slow, deliberate steps. He approaches the news station, which has been taken over by punk thugs, and we also cut to him breaking into some sort of factory or plant, as well as general neighborhoods and streets of Detroit. We also see a big encounter with a robot that looks a lot like ED-209 from the movies.

One of the few lines comes from a man, probably a bank owner, asking where all the money is. He is later interviewed where he says he would “trust this guy with my kids…I mean, if I had any,” and then claims that whatever happened was just a mistake. It’s not clear what he’s referring to, but it seems likely to be aimed at a situation similar to the movies where they try to make a fully robotic police force in the form of the ED-209, which doesn’t quite work out.

The trailer ends with an unmasked RoboCop walking up to the screen and delivering his most famous line: “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.” What makes this performance so impactful, beyond just the words, is the fact that Peter Weller reprises his role to voice Murphy/RoboCop.

There is no indication in any way other than the ED-209 looking bot where in the timeline this game will take place or if it is a complete reboot.

The gameplay trailer, while faithful in showing gameplay, was so heavily edited that it might be hard to get a sense of what RoboCop: Rogue City will actually play as. Still, combing through the footage reveals the main idea.

It will obviously be a first-person shooter, but there will be some other elements as well. For one thing, there’s the instantly recognizable targeting mode we see where scanlines are aimed at enemies and automatically target them, just like we saw in the movie. Although it’s not clear from the footage that doesn’t have a HUD, we suspect it’ll be some kind of “super” or limited movement you can activate that acts as the ultimate in Soldier-76 Overwatch, where you will automatically target all enemies in your line of sight for a set amount of time.

But you are not limited to just shooting. We see RoboCop grab and throw enemies with his arm, as well as kicking garbage cans. So far, the only weapon we see RoboCop wield is his trusty Auto-9 sidearm, but hopefully there will be more weapon variety in the full game.

RoboCop: Rogue City is listed as a single-player game, so we don’t expect multiplayer modes to be included. Based on the relatively smaller development team and their past games, this will almost certainly be a focused, linear single-player game.