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I actually never get the idea of standalone expansions in video game development. For me, if you have a game worthy of being a fully-fledged sequel, then do a new game. If you want to expand an existing story, well, it's always a better option to release a DLC.
Standalone expansions are something in between those two, but sadly, they are never fully recognised as true and true games. RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business suffers from this exact problem. With all its qualities or flaws, it will never get recognised or taken too seriously; at the end of the day, it is just an expansion, and we shouldn't be too harsh in criticising it, right?
Being just an expansion, RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business feels more like a new level or even a part of the story the developers felt like telling us, a full year after the base game was released.
In terms of the story, RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business feels way more serious and direct than the base game. The story follows Alex Murphy once again; only this time, the Detroit precinct he serves in is mysteriously ravaged by an unknown group of criminals.
Dead police officers are everywhere, and once again, it falls on the most resilient and technically most advanced among them, the famous RoboCop, to find the responsible ones and put them behind bars, or in the ground if they don't want to play by the rules.
Put like this, you might think that this story is nothing groundbreaking, right? Well, I must inform you that this piece of the RoboCop story includes Murphy's lost memories that will gradually return to him, some people from his past he forgot about, and some plot twists seen only in the best of the crime novels.
In essence, if you decide to play this expansion, get ready for a fascinating and intriguing story, told in a very straightforward yet very mysterious way that will push you all the way to the end of the expansion, which is, truth be told, not so long—it took me around nine hours to finish—but in terms of expansion, it will be well worth your money and time.
Contrary to the story that is way better than the one in the base game, the gameplay stayed pretty much the same, apart from the addition of some new enemies, like new drones, rolling bombs, and some new environmental hazards; everything else is the same old Rogue City.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing because Rogue City was a pretty fun game, but some changes wouldn't hurt anyone. The game still suffers from the same problems as its predecessor, like the same overpowered protagonist whose prowess isn't limited by the game's mechanics, as might be expected; instead, those infamous skills that turn RoboCop into a real killing machine are still there and very well kicking.
You can still use the skill tree to make the RoboCop stronger, with several skills, along with special chips, which can be installed on his body, making him so strong the enemies will fall around like they're nothing. Those chip modifications can make his service weapon so overpowered that all the weapons dropped by the enemies, even the powerful miniguns and grenade launchers, will become mere children's toys compared to it.
Your service pistol comes with unlimited ammunition and can be upgraded extensively to boost its damage output. With the right enhancements, you can even eliminate the need for reloading entirely, so once you set this weapon with all those parameters, you'll become unstoppable, regardless of the difficulty level you play the game on.
Luckily, this is optional, and you don't have to use it throughout the gameplay if you don't want to, but in any case, the very existence of those features and the knowledge that you can 'pimp' your body and weapons in such a way simply shouldn't exist at all in the first place.
The very design of this expansion, along with everything it brings, is made to look and feel as one big linear level in which the new portion of the story is told, and you'll perceive it exactly like that. The path you'll follow while playing RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business is very linear, with only several places that will give you the opportunity to explore a bit.
Through exploration, you'll find new evidence left by the criminals, and the more you collect, the better the score at the end of a level awaits you. Apart from those collectables, you'll be able to find new motherboards, solve secondary objectives, and pretty much everything you could do in the base game, you can do here as well.
The gameplay, regarding the other mechanics like shooting, traversing the environment, and all else, stayed the same too—as I said earlier, the game feels like a new extended level, so do not expect anything different. If you played the base game, the feeling is pretty much the same. The only difference, and I hope it isn't a big spoiler, is the chance to play as Alex before he became RoboCop. This section has some different shooting mechanics and feels like a nice change of pace compared to the never-stopping action of the RoboCop segments.
Another addition that doesn’t drastically change the gameplay but does add some welcome variety is the new Cryo Gun. It’s a fun and satisfying weapon to use, but sadly, it will become accessible a bit later in the game. A single charged shot can freeze multiple enemies at once, which proves especially useful as enemies become tougher toward the end. While it’s not something that will change the course of the game, playing with the Cryo Gun is indeed fun as hell.
The new expansion takes place mostly within indoor environments, featuring narrow corridors and enclosed rooms where enemy encounters occur. The core principle remains unchanged—once you enter a room, you must clear it, and after finishing a stage, there’s no possibility of returning to that area. Compared to the base game, the level design feels more restrictive, leaning heavily on linear progression. While the main game offered areas with an open-world structure, this expansion does not.
Regarding visual and audio presentation, same thing, really. You won't notice any improvements from the base game. The model of RoboCop is still very detailed and very well designed, but sadly, the problem that existed in the base game with very dead-like face models of the side characters is still very present in the expansion as well—perhaps even more so than in the base game.
You'll see this as soon as you get the chance to see the cops from the time before Alex became RoboCop. The facial expressions are simply nonexistent, and the characters behave like they don't know where they are or how to behave. This is something that caught my eye in the base game, and I really hoped that the devs would see to this in the future games, which unfortunately didn't happen.
If you want to know more about the visuals or gameplay mechanics of this game, you can check out our review of RoboCop: Rogue City. As I mentioned several times already, no true differences between the base game and this expansion exist, at least not in those two segments: visual and audio presentation and gameplay mechanics.
Conclusion
If you played RoboCop: Rogue City and liked the experience, several more hours containing a fully fledged new storyline will definitely do you good, because RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business tells a story that is way more impactful and richer than the original one in almost all segments.
However, if you expected something different, or maybe the upgraded experience in any other regard (gameplay-wise or visually), you should know that this is an expansion, not a sequel, meaning everything is still the same, which is, of course, not a bad thing at all. Now, whether this standalone expansion was something we really needed right now is a completely different pair of shoes.
With RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business, you'll get one very long new level and simply more of Alex Murphy, and if the original game was your cup of tea, I see no reason why you shouldn't give this expansion a go, and given the price of $29.99, nine hours of additional RoboCop action might be well justified.
The Good
Stronger and more engaging story- Intriguing plot twists and Murphy’s lost memories
- About nine hours of additional gameplay
- Chance to play as Alex before becoming RoboCop
The Bad
Overpowered protagonist and unbalanced upgrades- Weak facial animations for side characters
