Ride to Hell: Retribution

The player controls biker Jake Conway from a third-person perspective. The game's levels generally begin with a motorcycle driving segment in which only forward movement is allowed and obstacles must be avoided by using ramps and powerslides. Impacts and collisions lead to either a checkpoint reset (the screen fades and the player is sent backward to the last clear stretch of road) or death. Combat can also occur in these segments, consisting of quick-time event melee attacks, shooting from a sidecar while an AI companion drives, or getting close enough to allow an AI companion to shoot.

The main levels generally consist of a mixture of third-person, cover-based shooter, and beat 'em up gameplay. These levels are linear, usually guarded by several lower-level enemies with a high-ranking Devil's Hand member serving as the boss enemy at the end. The player can use a variety of guns and melee weapons, as well as throwing knives and dynamite. Unarmed combat actions include guard breaking, countering enemy attacks, context kills with environmental objects, and quick-time events based on instant takedowns. Weapons and ammunition can be scavenged from defeated enemies.

In 1969, Vietnam veteran Jake Conway returns to his home town of Dead End and his family of bikers, comprising his uncle Mack and brother Mikey. The latter is infatuated with his college friend and tutor, Ellie, and leaves angered when Mack refuses to allow him to go to a concert with her. Jake goes after Mikey, and after consoling him, they go to a diner. Outside, Mikey is confronted by the Devil's Hand biker gang, which includes members Colt, Meathook, and Anvil.

Colt recognizes the emblem on Mikey's jacket as of that of a rival gang's, Retribution. After chasing them, the Devil's Hand hold the brothers at gunpoint and Meathook threatens Mikey's life, forcing Jake to reveal the jacket was their father's, William Conway. Meathook kills Mikey, and Jake is shot and left for dead by Colt.

Deep Silver Vienna planned to use a film-style production model to develop this game together with Eutechnyx, a Gateshead-based independent games studio, as well as several other contributors.

It was originally conceived as an open-world game, allowing the driving of a large range of motorbikes and cars and various forms of combat (hand-to-hand and with guns, both on foot and on a bike) through the deserts and towns of late-1960s California. Concept art was provided for the lead characters by Massive Black. A story was written, dialogue recorded, and cut scenes completely motion-captured for this first incarnation of the game, and much of the vehicles, world, and locations were created (at least to an early stage) over the several years it was in development.

Ride to Hell: Retribution has received "overwhelming dislike", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. The site calculated weighted average ratings ranging between 13/100 and 19/100, depending on the platform. It has been panned by critics for its gameplay, graphics, voice acting, writing, artificial intelligence (AI), numerous bugs and glitches, and use of a linear structure instead of the originally announced open world element.

EGM said: "Other games may have offered less content for more money or come up shorter in specific, individual areas, but I don't think there's ever been a game that does so many things so universally poorly". The site rated it 0.5, with no positive remarks about the gameplay. Dan Ryckert of Game Informer said that "with the exception of some Kinect and Wii games that flat-out don't work, this is the worst video game I've played within this console generation". Daniel Starkey of GameSpot gave the game 1/10, calling it a "hideous, slapped-together action game saturated with poor, nonsensical design choices". It became the second game after Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing (2003) to get GameSpot's lowest possible score.