MOTORSLICE brings chainsaw parkour to consoles and PC this May

Regular Studio's low-poly action platformer MOTORSLICE is launching this May for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Publisher Top Hat Studios released a new trailer confirming the spring release window for the parkour-heavy title, which has been making the indie showcase rounds since its initial reveal at Guerrilla Collective 2024.

The premise is straightforward. You play as P, a contractor known as a Slicer. She takes a routine job to enter an abandoned brutalist megastructure and dismantle the rogue construction equipment inside. Her primary tool for this task is a massive chainsaw. The game contrasts this violent premise with quiet, slice-of-life story segments where P reflects on the daily grind of being a blue-collar worker in a post-apocalyptic world.

Glass cannons and giant machines

MOTORSLICE blends high-speed traversal with highly lethal combat. The movement mechanics pull heavily from the momentum-based platforming of Mirror's Edge. You need to chain together wall-runs, slides, and vaults to navigate the desolated industrial environments without losing speed.

Combat is fast and punishing. Regular Studio designed the encounters around a strict glass-cannon philosophy. P can shred through enemies quickly, but she goes down just as fast if you miss a dodge. The enemies are mostly oversized industrial machines. These range from aggressive steamrollers to massive boss encounters. You cannot just hack at their ankles. You have to physically climb the larger machines and systematically cut them apart with the chainsaw.

The chainsaw is not restricted to combat. You use the weapon's motor to cross wide gaps and interact with physics-based puzzles scattered throughout the ruins. It functions as a multipurpose tool that dictates both how you fight and how you navigate the sheer verticality of the megastructure.

Jungle beats and chunky polygons

The visual style leans hard into the modern retro trend. The developers combined chunky, pixelated textures with modern lighting and post-processing effects to fit the bleak, liminal spaces of the game's setting.

To back up the visuals, the game has a drum and bass jungle soundtrack composed by Pizza Hotline. The audio design matches the frantic pace of the gameplay. The whole package has an aggressive, late-90s arcade energy. P is fully voiced by Kira Buckland, who previously voiced 2B in Nier: Automata. Having an experienced voice actor handle the protagonist adds some weight to the game's narrative downtime.

The DRM-free option

The May release will hit all current-gen consoles and PC storefronts simultaneously. Regular Studio previously released a demo during Steam Next Fest, and the team spent the last few months tweaking the movement physics based on player feedback from that build.

The game is currently available to wishlist on Steam and GOG. I have had it sitting on my Steam wishlist since playing that Next Fest demo, but I will probably buy the GOG version so I actually own the DRM-free files. Most physical releases these days just ship a plastic box with a digital download code inside. DRM-free storefronts are the most reliable way to maintain a permanent library.

The indie space has spent the last five years using retro 3D graphics almost exclusively for throwback survival horror games. Applying that same visual language to a high-speed character action game is a welcome change of pace. We will find out if the platforming holds up to the aesthetics when the final build drops next month.