Rollerdrome review: A radical, relentless and unmissable title that verges on transcendental

Donning little more than a crash helmet, quad roller-skates and a red boilersuit, Kara Hassan waits at the top of a ramp as the muffled cheers of a crowd can be heard beyond its lip. She’s a participant in the International Rollerdrome Federation, looking to make a name for herself in the world’s most popular sport with deadly stakes. Kara has taken on a sizeable debt to make it this far and her only way forward is down.

As Kara airs out into the fray, Electric Dragon’s synth-laden soundtrack punctuates the chaos, as enemies all take aim. While they’re all firmly rooted in place, the barrage of attacks are relentless in their speed and intensity, with waves of landmines being deployed, rockets being fired and laser scopes all honing in on her exact position, from every corner of the map. Its casual brutality is always overwhelming, but it is surmountable.

All while this is happening, Kara is leaping in and out of quarter-pipes, wall-riding on the Perspex glass that separates the arena from the braying masses, while tucking, flipping and grabbing with as much hangtime as her momentum can afford her. It’s not just in an effort to look stylish (although it does) but essential to her survival as a way of fighting back against the increasingly stacked odds.

Rollerdrome is the second game released by Roll7 this year, after the success of OlliOlli World, and it would be difficult not to fixate on their similarities. Both are heavily focused on flow-state mechanics with comic book visuals and, of course, a fondness for extreme sports.

It would be woefully simple to frame it as a kitschy homage to early Noughties titles like the Pro Skater series or Jet Set Radio at a glance. But in reality, it’s unlike any other sports game or third-person shooter out there. Despite everything it borrows, all of it feels fresh, rewarding and impossible to put down. Read our full review below.

Our experience with Rollerdrome is based on the PS5 version of the game. In our 8 to 10 hours with the game, we were able to complete the main campaign, its “new game plus” content, as well as working through Rollerdrome’s optional objectives across the game’s 11 stages.

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Review

Rollerdrome is set in the year 2030 in an alternative future where the titular blood sport has dominated the globe. The game centres on newcomer Kara Hassan who has managed to enter the International Rollerdrome Federation, which has recently been acquired by a shady conglomerate called Matterhorn, as a contestant.

As Kara, players must skate to survive an onslaught of deadly barrages from the “House Players” in a kill-or-be-killed game of fast reflexes and stylish combos by combining over-the-top tricks along with slow-motion shooting.

Through Rollerdrome’s earliest stages, house players don’t provide much of a threat, wielding bats and shields against Kara’s arsenal of weapons. However, as she progresses, the proverbial kitchen sink that is repeatedly thrown at her grows larger in scale and deadly prowess. Before long, flamethrowing tanks and flying mecha-suit-wielding players enter the fray, and teleporting snipers with ice cannons carve their way through each tight enclosure.

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While there are only 11 arenas in total to battle through, each one is thoughtfully designed with enough expanse to plan routes and even discover secret areas without points of interest ever feeling too distant from each other. As Kara’s main advantage over her opponents is mobility and speed, being able to navigate enemies in the same was as obstacles becomes second nature, with locations optimised for tricks and airtime.

Levels can range from landmarks transformed into giant arenas, to repurposed shopping centres and even disused ski lifts high in the mountains. Each one fits naturally into the retro-futurist setting Rollerdrome clearly strives for and provides enough intrigue to warrant multiple run-throughs after the core objective of survival has been achieved.

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In the campaign, each level has 10 challenges to complete, which can range from maintaining a combo without getting hit, to performing specific tricks in hard-to-reach areas of the map. While at least a few of these need to be completed in order to progress, the most basic challenges can be easily met while engaging with each level naturally. Although tougher challenges require more planning and multiple attempts, completing them is rewarding in their own right.

While eliminating waves of enemies is necessary to completing each stage, performing tricks also replenishes ammo, and successful kills can add to the game’s combo modifier. Having ammo replenished by performing tricks means that there must be a careful balance of manoeuvring to successfully pull them off, as well as dispatching goons with lethal efficiency.

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The relentless pursuit in which the house players dog Kara demands nothing less than the player’s undivided attention at most times. The only capacity for breathing space is provided by “focus mode” – a bullet-time slow-down that gives players a chance to survey the area and pick off a few shots even while Kara is in an inverted mid-air rotation. Successfully dodging enemy attacks also rewards players with reflex time that provides an opportunity to deal more damage. This comes in useful against some of Rollerdrome’s heavier hitters.

There are four weapons to switch between, which are gradually unlocked as Rollerdrome progresses. Starting with little more than dual-wielding pistols before graduating onto shotguns, grenade launchers and even a long-range rifle with ricocheting bullets – each one provides their own advantages.

The shotgun can inflict heavy damage at close range but requires good timing to maximise its slow reload rate, while grenade launchers can do damage over an area, making them useful to take out groups of house players. Switching between each one is effortless and all four can be used in quick succession before Kara’s skates have even touched the ground.

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Between stages, Kara is able to explore different spaces – such as locker rooms, broadcast studios and train carriages – as a grand conspiracy unveils itself. While these sections are brief, they provide a necessary grounding for the chaos of the deadly roller rinks they segue, with a narrative told through post-its on whiteboards, newspaper cuttings and crumpled notes left in the bottom of trash cans.

The limited dialogue in Rollerdrome can be heard in hushed tones through closed doors. But even without direct encounters, other contestants such as Morgan Fray and Caspar Ickx are given plenty of characterisation without bogging down Rollerdrome’s lore, while still providing enough intrigue to warrant exploring these areas fully.

From its action to its slick presentation, everything about Rollerdrome screams “effortlessly cool” from the moment it ramps off. Its breakneck pacing and unabating stages make each victory feel well earned, and revisiting each feels like a mastery that verges on transcendental.

It’s endlessly replayable and while its gradual difficulty demands a lot from players, none of it ever feels unfair, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Rollerdrome is another crack shot hit from Roll7 that will demand every ounce of your attention.