If Hotline Miami is a synthetic fever dream, Anger Foot is the same dream with five espresso shots and a white monster chaser.
Developed by Free Lives (Broforce, Genital Jousting), this first-person kicker turns supercharged, choreographed chaos into an art form. A game that’s less about survival and more about using momentum as a weapon, it’s silly, wonderful, infuriating, and wildly addictive.
First off, never ask questions
The premise is surprisingly simple. You are Anger Foot, a sneakerhead whose valuable shoe collection has been stolen by a group of perverted criminals from Shit City. So, like most great video game characters, you seek revenge. Kick down every door, kick down every thug, and slowly recover the shoes from the various thugs around the city, one at a time.
Every level offers a new claustrophobic encounter with tense microbursts of dopamine-inducing combat. Unhing the door, blow up the enemy’s room before they blow you up, and try again. Even though he has god-like instakill legs, he’s not invincible. Enemies can overwhelm you if you don’t keep moving, and syncing up to the level creates a hypnotic flow.
Once again, the famous feet are the star. It offers one of the most satisfying melee mechanics I’ve experienced in a while. It’s the perfect blend of comic book exaggeration and tactical necessity, as doors become projectiles, enemies become pinballs, and the sound design sells every impact with a meaty thump.
gospel of shoes
The sneaker obsession isn’t just for laughs. It’s built into the foundation of the game’s loadout system. Each shoe has its own modifiers, such as sandals that respawn once per level and loafers that activate slow motion on impact. Some are clever, some are intentionally terrible, but together they form the rhythm of the experiment and maintain high reproducibility.
Each mission also comes with optional challenges. By finishing within a time limit, avoiding weapons, and using specific shoes, you can remap your muscle memory and find new solutions to old problems. You need to break out of the flow state that begins after a few levels and try new approaches. It’s a compliment to this game that it’s fun to try new things and it doesn’t feel like a chore.
controlled chaos
The levels are short and most can be completed in less than 2 minutes, but require full concentration. The best runs feel like well-timed ballets, with every kick and shot perfectly timed with the pulse of the music. The worst runs, on the other hand, end with you getting wiped out on entry and watching your enemies start doing a smug little dance over your corpse.
That’s part of Angerfoot’s masochistic appeal. I know it’s frustrating. The biggest drawback is the mere 3-second delay between dying and restarting, but it’s long enough to get annoying and make your blood pressure spike.
A world called shit city
It’s tempting to dismiss the humor in Anger Foot as childish, but to be fair, it is. But it’s actually quite self-conscious. Sight gags ranging from catching enemies in toilets to skeletons holding board meetings create a completely absurd cartoon world that’s as slapstick and dramatic as the gameplay.
The soundtrack is also a relentless barrage of pulsating nightclub beats that propels everything forward. It acts as a constant metronome that synchronizes your blood pressure and BPM. Combined with precise sound design, it’s one of the most immersive audio experiences in recent memory for a game that’s all about kicking people and breaking things.
kicker
When Anger Foot gets stuck, it’s almost never because the prerequisites are reaching their limits. Often it’s because we sometimes forget to have fun. Some late-game encounters can lead players into overly harsh rooms that inhibit improvisation, turning chaotic situations into routine. The balance between authority and frustration can be precarious, especially when your best-laid plans blow up for reasons that feel cheap rather than rewarding.
But when it outstays its welcome, Anger Foot hands you a new weapon, a new pair of shoes, or an entirely new gangster’s hideout to smash. From sewer shantytowns to flashy corporate high-rises, each of the four major zones twists the formula just enough to keep things interesting.
final thoughts
Anger Foot is a fever dream of aggression and absurdity, a first-person action game that weaponizes rhythm and repetition for pure kinetic joy. It’s not quite as sharp as its inspiration, and its humor sometimes veers too far into juvenile shock value, but its core loop of flawless running and cathartic violence never loses its impact.
Like its protagonist, Anger Foot is loud, messy, and impossible to ignore. You would swear by it. It’ll be funny. you will die But it’ll probably reboot and kick down the next door anyway.
4 stars (out of 5)
Highlights: Exhilarating, fast-paced combat. An incredibly satisfying kick-based melee system. Creative shoe modifiers that encourage experimentation.
Highlight: Occasional balance spikes that punish improvisation. Short but frustrating restart delay after death
Developer: Free Lives
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC
Available: Currently
Review was conducted on PlayStation 5 using an activation code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
