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I’m a big fan of the cyberpunk genre. Not just the games that carry that name, but anything that pits the average person against the unfathomable evil and corruption of capitalism. What makes me even happier is when that message hits me without warning in a game where I don’t see it coming. Don’t let the cute characters fool you; Starbites is the most cyberpunk game I played at PAX West 2025, and it isn’t even close.

I got to spend a little time with Starbites at the NIS booth at PAX West 2025. Not a huge amount – maybe the first ten minutes or so. I was immediately pulled in by the unique art style, which has a kind of Saturday morning cartoon quality to it. Bright. Colorful. Almost cheerful in its design. It reminded me of Jak and Daxter, one of my favorite game series ever, which was a good start. But then it hit me with perhaps the most dystopian line I’ve ever heard in any medium:

“Debtors do not have the right to die.”

For context, the main character of Starbites is Lukida, a young woman in Delight City who is desperate to leave the city after inheriting a crushing debt from her parents. The opening sees you head into the wasteland in a mech, fighting some mobs before getting absolutely wrecked by a giant robot and dying.
Lukida then wakes up and laments that she died and was forcibly resurrected by a company, which adds the cost of the resurrection to her already massive debt. Lukida then goes to her boss, who says the above line as much as a threat as anything else. The message is clear: Capitalism will not let you rest until it is done with you.

This moment reframed the whole game for me. I had been excited for Starbites when I arrived at PAX West; I made sure I had enough time to try it out on the very first day of the convention based entirely on the art and the prospect of a good turn-based RPG, which has always been my jam. However, seeing that they were going hard, right from the start, on such an anti-capitalist message, paired with the vibrant colors and character designs, shifted this from a neat-looking game to one of my most anticipated games of 2026.

It is the juxtaposition of such a serious, hard-hitting message with such a fun, unthreatening art style that got me and wouldn’t let go. Again, this is very similar to Jak and Daxter, particularly Jak II, where the cute-looking characters from the first game were suddenly thrust into a dystopian world of death and oppression. The first five minutes of Starbites immediately recreated that feeling for me and had me wanting more.
This is why I love going to conventions like PAX, where games I might not know much about are laid out for me to try. Sometimes you get exactly what you expect, but sometimes you get surprised. Sometimes you get hit with a game that is so far up your street it might as well move in. Sometimes you find a game that feels like it was made especially for you.

Again, I’ve only played a little bit of Starbites – maybe 10 minutes – so I can’t comment on whether it can deliver on that cyberpunk promise. What I can say is that it has my attention for delivering a line that feels far too real in such a perfect way. “Debtors do not have the right to die” hits harder than just about any line I’ve seen in gaming and turned this game from a “that’s cool” to “must play” title for me.

Starbites is out for PC, PS5, Switch, and Switch 2 in 2026.

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