''20XX'' is a

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

developed by American studio Batterystaple Games. The

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

version was released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

on October 12, 2016, and in full on August 16, 2017.

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

, and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

versions were released in July 2018. A sequel, '' 30XX'', was released on Steam Early Access on February 17, 2021, and in full on August 9, 2023.

Gameplay

Inspired by ''

Mega Man X is a series of Action game, action-platformer, platform games released by Capcom. It is a sub-series of the ''Mega Man'' franchise previously developed by the same group, with Keiji Inafune acting as one of the main staff members. The Mega Man ...

'', players must defeat enemies and complete difficult platforming challenges to finish a stage. In contrast to ''Mega Max X,'' stages are proceduraly generated based on level segments, or "chunks", and allow for both local and online

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

. Rather than giving several lives, the game has

permadeath Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore. Depending on the situation, this could require the p ...

, but is a "

roguelite Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most rogue ...

" in that the player can use Soul Chips earned during the level to unlock new types of passive upgrades to buy, and gain upgrades for the next attempt of that particular run. During levels, players can use bolts gained as currency to buy passive upgrades or to restore health or energy in vending machines. They can find upgrades in treasure chests and other places. Upon beating a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

the player can choose between multiple rewards: the boss' power (granting them a new special ability), bolts, or a random passive upgrade.

Plot

The game follows Nina, an armored girl armed with a power blaster, and Ace, an armored boy with an energy sword, in the aftermath of a robotic uprising. Traveling from their base on the Ark, a space station orbiting the Earth, they have been hired to clear dangerous locations infested with robots running amok.

Development

''20XX'' began development after a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

in the spring of 2014, when the game was called ''Echoes of Eridu''. Following a successful Kickstarter, the game joined the Fire Hose Games accelerator program and appeared in the Indie Megabooth at

Penny Arcade Expo PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Previously, it was also held in San Anton ...

2015. The game was developer Chris King's first commercial game, and its development was prompted by the belief that it was his last chance to do such a risky thing as game development without a family to support, as he was in his late 20s. The idea behind the game was due to his belief that

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

had ceased to make enough ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'' (known as in Japan) is a video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the Mega Man (character), protagonist of the same name. The Mega Man (1987 video game), original game was released for the Nintendo Enter ...

'' titles, and that he and other fans desired more of that style of gameplay. The developer's main focus was on the

game feel Game feel (sometimes referred to as "look feel" or "game juice") is the intangible, tactile sensation experienced when interacting with video games. The term was popularized by the book ''Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation'' w ...

and getting it to play similarly to ''Mega Man''. The most difficult aspect of developing the game was

debugging In engineering, debugging is the process of finding the Root cause analysis, root cause, workarounds, and possible fixes for bug (engineering), bugs. For software, debugging tactics can involve interactive debugging, control flow analysis, Logf ...

its

netcode Netcode is a blanket term most commonly used by gamers relating to networking in online games, often referring to synchronization issues between clients and servers. Players often blame "bad netcode" when they experience lag or reverse state tr ...

that allowed for online play. Chris believes that

Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

program was essential to the development of the game, and he "couldn't imagine" releasing the game without it.

Soundtrack

The game's

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

was composed by Brandon "Cityfires" Ellis and includes

chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...

and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

elements to make it resemble that of a

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

game.

Reception

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...

'' described the gameplay as addictive, and, although they felt some aspects were a bit repetitive, they said the upgrades and customization made up for it. ''Nintendo World Report'' recommended it to fans of ''Mega Man'' and platform games, but they felt it should have more story.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Mega Man 2016 video games Action games Early access video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Kickstarter-funded video games Windows games PlayStation 4 games Xbox One games Nintendo Switch games Platformers Indie games Science fiction video games Video games about robots Video games set in the 21st century Video games about artificial intelligence Video games featuring female protagonists Video games using procedural generation Video games developed in the United States