Cyberpunk SFX

Cyberpunk SFX is a third-person sci-fi shooter from Whale Rock Games that leans hard into one idea: what happens when a society decides its own creations don’t get to exist anymore. In this near future, artificial intelligence has been folded into daily life and the economy, then abruptly outlawed. Synthetic beings are branded “djinn,” officially hunted down along with anyone who built or sided with them. You’re dropped into that fight, and the game treats it less as window dressing and more as the actual point of the campaign.

How it plays

The moment-to-moment combat is built around staying mobile while managing a small but varied arsenal. You’ll swap between conventional firepower and stranger future-tech options like an Electro Gun, rocket launchers, and a high-damage Sky Laser, each suited to different situations rather than being interchangeable damage sources. Layered on top are three special abilities: a Shield you can fight from behind, a Time Slow that lets you dodge and reposition while enemy fire crawls, and Invisibility for slipping past danger (though firing your weapon gives you away). The aiming system is built specifically to hold up while you’re sprinting and juking around cover, so the loop leans toward aggressive repositioning rather than duck-and-shoot cover combat. You’ll carry that toolkit across a handful of distinct levels set in different corners of this cyberpunk world, each one nudging you toward a different mix of weapons and abilities.

Who it’s for

If you like tight, encounter-driven third-person shooters and don’t need a sprawling open world to feel satisfied, this is worth your time. The sci-fi premise about synthetic life fighting for the right to exist gives the shooting a bit more weight than a typical arcade blaster, so players who appreciate a story with some teeth alongside their combat will get more out of it. It’s also a reasonable pick if you’re specifically after a solo, single-player action game rather than anything competitive. On the other hand, if you need deep RPG progression, a huge map to explore, or co-op and multiplayer modes, none of that is here, and you should set your expectations accordingly for what’s clearly a focused, indie-scaled action game.

Is it worth grabbing?

For an indie action title, the pitch is pretty clean: fast third-person combat, a small but purposeful weapon and ability set, and a premise with an actual argument behind it rather than just an aesthetic. Since it’s currently available to claim for free on Steam, there’s very little reason not to add it to your library, especially if cyberpunk settings or third-person shooters are already your thing. Go in expecting a tight, story-driven action game rather than an ambitious open-world epic, and you’ll likely walk away satisfied. Fans of the genre and anyone curious about the AI-rights angle stand to get the most out of it.

Quick facts

Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie, Simulation. Developer and publisher: Whale Rock Games. Platform: PC (Steam). Release date: August 8, 2026.