The planet is drowning in debt, the rich have stopped paying their taxes, and the entire population is facing extinction. Somewhere in a luxury penthouse, a billionaire is probably enjoying a very expensive drink while pretending none of this is their problem. Sounds familiar right? Unfortunately for them, the tax collectors have arrived, and they’ve traded their calculators for superpowers. There will be no polite reminders, no payment plans, and absolutely no hiding behind the accountant. This audit comes with fists.
Tax-Force launches into Steam Early Access today, bringing a wildly unconventional approach to tax collection. Developed by Outsider Games, this hand-drawn action roguelite combines challenging melee combat, mutant superpowers, and economic decisions that reshape the world. Your mission is to hunt down tax-dodging billionaires, recover their unpaid fortunes, and settle the planet’s Solar Shield debt before everyone gets fried. You’ve got exactly seven cycles to save civilization.
Tax Evasion Is About to Get Painful
Collecting unpaid taxes would be much easier if billionaires didn’t surround themselves with armies of mutant henchmen. Unfortunately, Tax-Force isn’t interested in making your job easy.
You’ll fight through procedurally remixed environments, using close-range, Souls-inspired combat to punch, kick, and batter your way toward your wealthy targets. The action draws inspiration from classic 1990s superhero comics, with hand-drawn visuals, exaggerated characters, and battles that look like they’ve escaped from the pages of an X-Men adventure.
You’ll also unlock mutant abilities to give yourself an advantage. These include Astral Projection, Optical Blasts, and Metal Man powers, letting you experiment with different approaches to combat.
Of course, getting past the henchmen is only half the job. You’ll still need to confront the billionaires responsible for the planet’s financial disaster. Unlike most boss encounters, beating someone senseless isn’t necessarily the end of it.
Your Money or Your Planet
Once you’ve tracked down a target, you’ll negotiate their repayment, making decisions that influence the economy and the world around you. The money you recover can be directed toward paying off the Solar Shield debt, but there’s another problem demanding your attention. Society itself is falling apart.
You can reinvest recovered funds into private businesses to accelerate debt repayment, or spend them improving public services and infrastructure. Those choices have real gameplay consequences. Investing in public infrastructure can create new bridges, safer routes, and additional ways to navigate dangerous environments. Healthcare spending affects the cost and effectiveness of healing items, while security investments influence weapons and criminal activity. Suddenly, deciding where to spend the money becomes just as important as surviving the next fight.
Do you prioritize paying off the debt before the deadline, or make life better for the people struggling to survive? It’s an interesting dilemma for a game where the solution to most immediate problems involves kicking someone.
The Economy Has Teeth
One of the more unusual features of Tax-Force is how economic decisions physically change the environments you explore. Fortuna City, one of the game’s biomes, suffers from toxic acid rain caused by unregulated mining. Its wealthy upper levels are exposed to dangerous rainfall and patrolled by armored guards, while the slums below are filled with explosive mutants.
Invest in public infrastructure, and you can introduce rain shelters, firefighter drones, and public transport to make traveling safer. Put that money into private businesses instead, and you’ll face increased security, hazardous materials, and more dangerous streets.
Even the enemies have some pretty ridiculous designs. Street Mine is a mutant with an explosive mine for a head, which you can kick toward other enemies.
Seven Chances to Balance the Books
Death in Tax-Force activates your time-traveling mutant ability, sending you back to the beginning of the seven-cycle timeline. You’ll retain knowledge of previous encounters and decisions, giving you opportunities to approach situations differently.
The Early Access release includes two biomes, several billionaire minibosses, a major boss, and an enemy wave room, with more content planned during development. Outsider Games expects Early Access to last approximately six to twelve months, with additional abilities, enemies, environments, and economic upgrades planned.
It’s an ambitious combination of roguelite combat and social satire, wrapped in a world where every financial decision can make your next expedition easier or harder. Somewhere in all this chaos, there’s a wonderful irony waiting to be discovered. The fate of an entire planet rests on collecting unpaid taxes from people who would rather unleash mutant monsters than open their wallets.