No Law sounds like Cyberpunk 2077 meets Atomfall, and its "opt in" narrative already has my attention: "If 100 players play the game, there should be 100 different user stories"

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No Law sounds like Cyberpunk 2077 meets Atomfall, and its "opt in" narrative already has my attention: "If 100 players play the game, there should be 100 different user stories" Features By Jasmine Gould-Wilson published 9 January 2026

Big in 2026 | No Law is an RPG where "you can shoot the main mission givers in the face at the beginning of the game, but you can still finish it"

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Set in a vigilante metropolis where you play as mercenary Grey Harker on a vengeance tour, No Law sets the perfect stage for a rollicking cyberpunk RPG. It might sound like an odd pivot for Arcade Berg and Tor Frick, co-founders of Swedish developer Neon Giant, which has become known for its top-down isometric games. But funnily enough, No Law marks something of a homecoming.

"This is actually what we're confident in doing," Berg tells me, referencing the dev duo's past work on games like Wolfenstein and Gears of War. "We're trying to take on some creative challenges outside of that [FPS] space, and for us, it's also very important that violence in this game is fun. It's the thing where you smirk and you can laugh a bit. We're not going for dark and angsty. That's not who we are. That's not how we write."

Town called malice

(Image credit: Krafton)Big in 2026

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

The Blood of Dawnwalker is one of the most ambitious games of 2026

Outlandish violence is nothing new to video games – I've played Dead Island 2, okay? – but it's definitely a first for what otherwise sounds like a gritty RPG."We have loud, punchy weapons. Feels good to shoot somebody in the face," laughs Frick. "You also have very sturdy boots for kicking people off rooftops and similar. But at the same time, we also want to have more exotic devices. So we want to give the player a wide array of tools to play with"

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With all these tools in your arsenal, it's important to Neon Giant that players feel able to "cause ultimate mayhem and destruction" in a veritable action playground. "Cyberpunk is such a friendly material to use for that kind of stuff," Berg interjects. "We're still trying to do something new creatively, both for the players and the [genre] fans, but also for our own sake. We started this studio eight years ago because we wanted to make certain types of games and make them in a certain way. It's very important that it is both technologically but also creatively very challenging for us, because that's what makes it fun."

(Image credit: Krafton)

Harker's adventure has an awful lot of garish blood and violence, true enough. But there's more to it than brutality, say the developers.In terms of the game's narrative shape, Frick describes it as "a game with a beginning and an end" – but what happens in between those goalposts and how you reach one of its multiple endings is completely your call. "You can shoot the main mission givers in the face in the beginning of the game, but you can still finish the game, so we don't really stop you from doing anything."

When I press for a little more clarity on what a game like that might look like – Atomfall feels most similar in my mind's eye, a story-driven game that lacks a traditional main and side mission structure – Berg clarifies that their aim is to "make a game for a lot of different types of players". Even those who are playing an RPG despite having limited interest in the story's fine print. "And what we are saying to players is: that is absolutely fine, and you will still have a good experience. It will always be fun to just shoot dudes in the face," he says of the different playstyles No Law will offer."But if you're telling me, 'I'm the kind of player that really wants to dig into that stuff', there is so much story and character building and other things happening in the world, but it's always opt-in."

This feeds back to the unique vision Neon Giant has for the roleplaying elements of the RPG. Berg confirms that, yes, "dialog choices you can make that will have repercussions down the road, but we think it's cooler to look at how you actually played the game and how the current world responds in a way that makes sense." Theoretically speaking, he says, "if 100 players play the game, there should be 100 different user stories," since the game is always reflecting choices back at the player through world state and NPC reaction.

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Suited and boooted

(Image credit: Krafton)

We're still pulling everything very far, stretching everything very far

Tor Frick

Ultimately, this comes down to how much of No Law hinges upon player exploration and agency, as well as inclusion of weighty choice and consequence.It's important to the developers that "whatever we want to do in gameplay can be rooted in the fiction within the universe," Frick continues. "It is not magic, it's science, but it's very important that we explain it right."

As for other beloved RPG elements like romance, I have bad news. Merc hero Grey Harker is "a bit too busy kicking butt" for romantic dalliances in this game, Frick says neatly, but relationships are still integral to No Law. "We're really trying to build personal relationships between the characters – not only [Harker] and the characters he interacts with, but also between, for example, the bad guys."Neon Giant takes that interpersonal worldbuilding seriously, whether or not you're invested in the domestic drama between renegade gangs. "We're trying to build a believable space with believable people. Like, we're still pulling everything very far, stretching everything very far, because we want an exciting world. We want spectacle. This is entertainment, right?"

(Image credit: Krafton)

In terms of No Law's map, Neon Giant tells us it's "more about density than scale." It's an "intimate" action adventure, and at times, you might even call Port Desire… cozy?"We have sunshine. There's cozy courtyards with jazz playing. There's an old lady living there. Like, we want that cozy vibe. Sometimes it's not all about, you know, this grim dystopia taken over by youngsters. We want to have a very wide variety of emotions in the city."

This, perhaps, is the biggest thing that sets No Law's world apart from Night City. The game looks and sounds a lot more optimistic than I expected from this particular sci-fi subgenre, where moments of levity might be found more frequently in a city that's lush with greenery, filled with connections and occasional glimpses of human warmth. It's still a gritty cyberpunk narrative, but to Neon Giants, it's about a balance. "We need those two extremes to have some contrast in the world," says Berg.

No Law is yet to receive a firm release date, but that leaves 2026 wide open for the taking. I don't think I've heard of an RPG quite like this one; intimate yet expansive, narrative-heavy yet with so much "opt-in" content. It speaks to the growing level of agency players expect from the modern RPG, and by the sound of it, No Law will work its hardest to deliver on that promise.

No Law is one of many upcoming RPGs to watch for in 2026

CATEGORIES PC Gaming PS5 Xbox Series X Platforms PlayStation Xbox Jasmine Gould-WilsonSocial Links NavigationSenior Staff Writer, GamesRadar+

Jasmine is a Senior Staff Writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London, she began her journalism career as a freelancer with TheGamer and Tech Radar Gaming before joining GR+ full-time in 2023. She now focuses predominantly on features content for GamesRadar+, attending game previews, and key international conferences such as Gamescom and Digital Dragons in between regular interviews, opinion pieces, and the occasional stint with the news or guides teams. In her spare time, you'll likely find Jasmine challenging her friends to a Resident Evil 2 speedrun, purchasing another book she's unlikely to read, or complaining about the weather.

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