Diesel Punch

I want to be upfront about what kind of game Diesel Punch is, because it lives in that honest, unglamorous corner of Steam where solo or micro-team developers put something real into the world and mostly get silence back. That matters to me. The game drops you into an alternative-history dieselpunk war between two totalitarian states, and places you in the boots of Eva, a former engineer who has literally bolted a diesel engine into her own spine to survive. That setup - a woman who mechanized herself out of necessity, not heroism - carries more personality than the thumbnail suggests. The core is a third-person slasher. Eva's primary weapon is an oversized wrench, and the satisfaction of clanging that thing into diesel-punk robots has a tactile weight to it that punches above the production budget. Your toolkit expands beyond the wrench: you have combat jumps, exploding mines, and an energy ranged shot, which gives the moment-to-moment combat a small-but-real layer of decision-making. The game also hides secret modules across levels that can improve Eva's performance, rewarding players who bother to look around rather than sprint to the exit. Community feedback flagged some dash control friction at launch, and the developer responded actively - that kind of responsiveness on a sub-two-dollar game is worth noting. Between combat encounters, the game pauses for story sections. These quieter beats introduce characters and flesh out the world of Riotia and its crumbling grip on the conflict. The translation from the original Russian is imperfect - phrasing is occasionally awkward in English - but the world-building underneath it is genuine. Dieselpunk as a setting carries an inherently pessimistic gravity, all grease and propaganda and industrial fatalism, and Diesel Punch leans into that rather than softening it into something chirpy. The atmosphere is consistent in a way that matters more than polish. The game is tagged as Difficult by its own community, and there are scattered reports of platforming sections that frustrate more than they challenge - specifically around moving platform sequences where the geometry can work against you. The camera, operating in third-person in 3D space, is serviceable but not exceptional. If tight platforming precision is something you demand, manage expectations. If you're someone who plays games for mood, handmade grit, and an underdog developer giving their concept a real shot, Diesel Punch rewards that generosity of spirit. It has 15 Steam Achievements, full controller support, and a dedicated soundtrack tag from its own community - a small but telling sign that the audio does something right. At this price tier, the question was never whether it competes with a AAA slasher. It doesn't. The question is whether it earns its couple of hours, and for dieselpunk enthusiasts or indie-curious players who appreciate craft over budget, it does.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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