It’s hard to believe that it’s been a little over a year since KIBORG exploded into my rotation.
With its extreme violence and weird sci-fi setting, Sobaka Studio’s relentless rogue-like beat’em up has just received a massive update in the form of paid DLC. So, let’s dive fist-first back into Lee Morgan’s world and see if we can escape hell. Again.
Morgan has been sent to a prison planet where he must fight to survive. Having not committed the war crimes he has been accused of, you have been given the chance to win your freedom. Death won’t provide an escape, but a violent reality TV show may offer a way out.
KIBORG is an arena brawler with rogue-like elements. You start human and fight your way through floors of inmates, guards, and monstrosities that could have been previous contestants.
As you go, you rip augments and implants off guards and fuse them to yourself. Transforming you into an ultimate killing machine. With 8 different sets of implants that range from increasing ranged weapon damage to summoning your own mutant army to inflicting your body with negative traits that spread to enemies, KIBORG has unlimited customization potential.
If you want to check out my review of the base game, follow this link.
The Descent
Before we begin, I must stress that the developers, Sobaka Studios, have designed The Descent to be an endgame DLC. What this means is you must complete the base game on the hardest difficulty even to attempt the Descent. When you do manage to reach difficulty 7, The Descent is difficulty level 8. It cannot be attempted on lower difficulties. This is going to lock out all but the most hardcore of players.
The Descent carries on the story of Lee Morgan. After countless failed prison break attempts, you are contacted by a new player who wants to help you escape
I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, and I will do my best not to ruin anything. However, this is all post-game content; I can’t guarantee your safety.
Here’s an idea, Morgan, instead of going up. Let’s go down. Into the bowels of the planet, where only the most deranged inmates and mutants are.
The Descent introduces two new difficulty levels. Three new environments, a bunch of new enemies, three new bosses, a new weapon class, and a chainsaw. Unfortunately, there are no new implant sets until you finish the greatest difficulty of the Descent.
Plus, couch co-op has been added. Alas, I don’t have any IRL friends, so this feature won’t be used by me.
Face Fisted
As a veteran of the base game (I have the cute little crown to prove it), I dove into the Descent expecting to breeze through. What followed was a mixture of steep learning curves and frustration as bug after bug deflated my enjoyment of The Descent.
The new enemy types are a mixture of aggressive rock-covered mutants who take almost no damage. Charging robots that lay down a visual direction they are going to charge, then decide not to follow that path, and in fact track your dodges. Then there are the enemies that will steal the weapons right out of your hands and do massive damage with them; it’s safe to say they lay the beat down on me for some time. Then there are the demons and dreadnaughts.
If it were only the new enemy types and attack patterns you had to learn, then it wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, your biggest enemies are the game-breaking bugs. The original KIBORG had some indie jank. Audio issues were different lines would play over each other, and endgame enemies randomly spawn into your first arenas, but it added to the charm. My biggest gripe was the limited number of chances you had to upgrade and equip before you took on the final boss. This was especially clear in the higher difficulties. Often getting to a point where the enemy heatlh regen was stronger than your damaged output. This was addressed in later updates, and Sobaka Studios has since included endless modes and Arena brawls so we can fulfill our power fantasies.
Performance
The Descent update has brought with it performance issues that have ended many, many runs for me. Clipping issues, enemies not spawning, or not taking damage. Reward boxes not spawning and falling through the floor were some of the other bugs that plagued my experience. This is extra painful when said enemy or not spawning reward box won’t allow you to advance until it’s resolved, leading to having to abandon the run.
The first time I made it to the final boss, I rocket-fisted through them out of bounds and couldn’t return to the arena. Luckily, I had an implant that summoned a little minion, and I had to watch as he would do a tiny amount of damage, get killed, respawn, and do a tiny amount of damage just to get killed again. So technically, “I” didn’t even kill the boss.
Verdict
This DLC is a very interesting decision from Sobaka Studios. Having it locked behind finishing the game on the hardest difficulty is going to mean that, unless you are a hardcore KIBORG fan, you’re not even going to experience it. Mixed with all the performance issues and no new implants, it’s hard to see the good amongst the bad. Which is a shame because the base game was fantastic.
Gamer Social Club was given a review code for the purpose of this review.
KIBORG: The Descent was reviewed on Xbox Series X. The Descent was released on May 01, 2026. It is available on PC (via Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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