Psycho Patrol R, the latest game from Consumer Softproducts and Finnish multimedia artist-designer Ville Kallio, is a true masterpiece of immersive simulation design. This cyberpunk shooter drops players into an alternate year 2000 in Pan-Europa, a conglomerate nation teetering on the brink of collapse. The game's world is one of extreme violence, extreme aesthetics, and open-world potential, all of which come together to create an exhilarating experience that will keep you hooked from start to finish.

In Psycho Patrol R, social media is a lot like cocaine. While doomscrolling isn't technically illegal in the game's universe, it is punishable by lethal force when done in excess. The game's protagonist, a rookie officer of the European Federal Police, must navigate this treacherous world and combat "psychohazards," malignant thought viruses caused by unhealthy hyperfixations on social media usage or illicit psychoactive substances.

Players will assume the role of a mid-level bureaucrat cop, piloting a giant bipedal mech with chicken legs called a "V-Stalker" that's armed with interchangeable, high-caliber weapons. This is a far cry from the augmented assassin gameplay of Cruelty Squad, Kallio's previous game, which was unambiguously anticapitalistic in its conceit and satirized the myopic death drive of corporate greed.

While Psycho Patrol R shares some similarities with Cruelty Squad, it builds on the success of its predecessor without feeling beholden to it. In this new game, you're not just shooting everyone on sight; you have to talk to people to round up information and make informed decisions about when and where to shoot. This emphasis on open-ended design philosophy is a key difference between Psycho Patrol R and its predecessor.

Thematic priorities in Psycho Patrol R are different from those of Cruelty Squad as well. While the primary concern is with capitalism, it's more focused on the twilight of globalism, the threat of total information collapse, the end of all consensus reality, and the naked hypocrisy of law enforcement attempting to launder its reputation while practicing the same tactics of violence to uphold order.

If you liked Cruelty Squad or enjoy inventive immersive sims in general, you'll likely enjoy Psycho Patrol R with time. However, be warned: even if you love Cruelty Squad, that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll immediately be proficient at this game. You will die a lot. You will fail a lot.

But what lies on the other side of all that failure and confusion is an unabashedly idiosyncratic game that's already shaping up to be an experience that's more than the sum of its peculiar parts. Psycho Patrol R was released March 24 in early access on Windows PC, and it's available now for purchase.