Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Milanoir starts with a simple, satisfying promise: you are a framed convict out for revenge in a city that wants you dead. Its side-scrolling action has the right stripped-down attitude for that setup. You push through hostile streets using guns, close-range choke attacks, and stealth, with the game encouraging you to survive by whatever means suits the moment.

The variety helps prevent the action from becoming a pure shooting gallery. Sneaking and choking suggest a more deliberate route through danger, while the car chases break up the on-foot violence. That said, the different pieces do not always add up to a consistently sharp action game. Milanoir is more effective when it lets you enjoy its rough, fast crime-movie momentum than when you expect every encounter to feel polished or deeply flexible.

Local two-player co-op is a real bright spot if you have someone on the couch beside you. The Guy in Blue can join the Guy in Red against the same enemies, turning the game’s hard-edged brawls into a more social, less lonely kind of mayhem. Arena Mode also gives you a direct survival detour, where killing more enemies buys more time. It is a useful extra, though the campaign’s revenge chase remains the main reason to play.

Graphics

The pixel art leans into a dirty 1970s Milan mood, giving the city a deliberately retro crime-film look rather than chasing realism. The appeal is in that compact pixelated perspective: it suits a story about convicts, pursuit, and violence, and gives the game more character than a generic modern crime backdrop would have.

Story

Piero’s motivation is immediate and appropriately ugly. He has been released from prison, he was framed, and he wants revenge on the person responsible. That directness works in Milanoir’s favor. You do not have to wait around for the game to explain why this city feels hostile or why Piero keeps pushing forward.

Betrayal and greed drive the plot, with Piero hunting for the truth while trying to escape people who want him dead. It is knowingly indebted to Italian crime movies from the 1970s, and that is the story’s strongest flavor. The premise has a hard-boiled, distrustful energy: nobody is meant to feel safe, and nobody is meant to seem entirely clean.

Do not go in expecting a layered crime epic. Milanoir uses its revenge setup as fuel for action, not as a sprawling character study. Still, if you enjoy lean pulp stories that get to the point and stay suspicious of everyone involved, Piero’s trip through Milan has enough bite to carry you along.

Overall Experience

Milanoir is a scrappy, stylish action game that understands the appeal of a revenge story played at full volume. Its strongest asset is commitment. The crime-film influence runs through the premise, the violent methods at Piero’s disposal, the Milan setting, and the funky 1970s soundtrack. You can feel what it is reaching for from the start.

What holds it back is unevenness. The mix of shooting, stealth, close-range attacks, and driving sounds richer than it always feels in practice, and the game does not turn its influences into a genre standout. There are worthwhile stretches, especially when the chase is moving quickly or a co-op partner turns the pressure into shared laughter, but it rarely becomes as thrilling as its source movies.

Give it a chance if a compact pixel-art crime story, couch co-op, and old-school Italian cop-and-gangster grime sound like your kind of night. If you want exceptionally refined action or a more elaborate revenge drama, Milanoir will probably leave you wishing its punch landed harder. It is a decent cult-movie rental of a game: rough around the edges, occasionally exciting, and easier to appreciate when you meet it on its own pulpy terms.

Retro Replay Score

6.2/10