There’s a fascinating sense of confidence running through MOTORSLICE. Regular Studio’s debut pulls obvious inspiration from games like Mirror’s Edge, NieR: Automata and Shadow of the Colossus, yet it rarely feels like a hollow imitation of those influences. Instead, the PS5 release turns those familiar ingredients into something with its own identity: a fast-paced parkour action game set inside an oppressive industrial megastructure where a chainsaw doubles as both a weapon and traversal tool. Playing as veteran “Slicer” P, players are tasked with hunting rogue machines deep inside a brutalist labyrinth that grows increasingly hostile the further the journey progresses. The premise itself is intentionally minimalist, but the strange atmosphere and the chemistry between P and her floating drone companion Orbie help carry the experience through quieter stretches.
The strongest aspect of MOTORSLICE is undoubtedly its movement system. Wall running, pole swinging, ledge climbing and momentum-based traversal all flow together beautifully once the controls click into place, and there’s an undeniable thrill to chaining together movements while racing through the game’s towering industrial environments. The chainsaw traversal mechanic adds another layer entirely, allowing P to latch onto glowing surfaces and carve through the environment at high speed. It gives the game a unique rhythm that separates it from more traditional platformers, and when everything works as intended, MOTORSLICE captures a genuine feeling of speed and agility that few indie games manage this well.
That sense of fluidity does come with some caveats though, because MOTORSLICE occasionally struggles with precision. Certain traversal sections demand quick directional adjustments while slicing across walls, and the controls can sometimes feel inconsistent during those moments. There are instances where P wall-runs when you intended to grab a ledge, or launches in an awkward direction during high-pressure platforming sequences. Thankfully, the game offsets much of this frustration through a very generous checkpoint system that keeps retries quick and painless, preventing the more demanding sections from becoming outright exhausting. The challenge level remains high throughout the campaign, but the frequent checkpoints help maintain momentum rather than punishing experimentation too severely.
Combat follows a similarly streamlined philosophy. MOTORSLICE isn’t trying to become a deep character action game filled with elaborate combo systems, and that restraint mostly works in its favor. Encounters are fast, lethal and heavily movement-driven, with parries, dodges and charged attacks all feeding into the game’s aggressive pacing. Smaller enemy encounters can become repetitive due to limited enemy variety, but the larger-scale boss battles regularly elevate the experience. These massive industrial machines feel like moving platforming puzzles as much as combat encounters, forcing players to climb colossal structures while searching for vulnerable points to slice apart. The Shadow of the Colossus inspiration is obvious, but the presentation and pacing still make these fights memorable highlights throughout the campaign.
Narratively, MOTORSLICE keeps things deliberately understated. The game spends more time building mood than delivering elaborate exposition, and while the relationship between P and Orbie adds charm and personality, there’s also a lingering sense that the world could have supported deeper lore and stronger storytelling. Several quieter “slice of life” interactions help flesh out P’s character and break up the intensity of the action, though not every tonal choice lands equally well. Some of the more fanservice-heavy camera framing and cutscene moments may divide players, especially since they occasionally clash with the otherwise oppressive and melancholic tone of the world itself. At the same time, we thought the game’s personality benefits from these smaller eccentricities, helping it avoid feeling too sterile or self-serious.
Visually, the game does an excellent job of turning technical limitations into a stylistic advantage. Its low-poly presentation creates a retro-inspired aesthetic that perfectly complements the gigantic brutalist architecture dominating the world. The environments often feel overwhelming in scale despite their minimalist detail, and that sense of isolation becomes one of the game’s greatest strengths. Animation work is impressively smooth as well, especially during traversal sequences where movement readability is crucial. The soundtrack takes a more subdued approach than expected, leaning into atmospheric electronic tracks rather than constant high-energy action music. While some moments could have benefited from a more aggressive audio presence during boss encounters, the overall soundscape still complements the game’s lonely industrial atmosphere effectively. Kira Buckland’s vocal performance also gives P an understated charisma that helps ground the experience emotionally.
MOTORSLICE ultimately succeeds because it commits fully to its identity. It’s rough around the edges in ways that are sometimes impossible to ignore, particularly when demanding platforming sections expose the occasional stiffness in the controls or camera behaviour. Yet even with those frustrations, the game constantly finds ways to pull players back in through its striking atmosphere, satisfying movement mechanics and memorable set pieces. Regular Studio may not have delivered a flawless indie action game here, but they have created one that feels distinct, ambitious and refreshingly confident in what it wants to be. For players willing to embrace a little mechanical roughness in exchange for originality and style, MOTORSLICE becomes one of the more interesting indie releases on PS5 this year.
Score: 7.6/10