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Roguelikes are a dime a dozen these days, whether due to the grind’s compelling nature, the rise of speed running as a concept, or because gamers are gluttons for punishment I cannot say. I can say that I suck at them, mostly because they’re designed to be difficult until you master the controls whilst I have no patience whatsoever. Typically, if a game doesn’t make it easy for me to play, I get bored/frustrated very quickly.
This obviously does not lend itself to doing an in-depth review of 30XX, but I have given it my best shot, nonetheless.
30XX feels heavily inspired by the Mega Man series, from its look and feel to the nature of its combat. I have never played a Mega Man title, but I did watch the cartoon in the early 2000s so I’m clearly an expert in such matters.
You have the choice to play as either Nina or Ace, the protagonists from 20XX have returned, so feel free to choose which combat style you prefer. Traversal seems to be the same regardless so it’s mostly just whether you want a gun or a sword. Playing on PC, I found the key mapping to be fine even if I’m not sold on D being the attack key, but traversal and combat are tricky at the best of times, but the game does a good job at indicating what you need to do, it’s then up to your reflexes and problem-solving skills to handle the rest.
One unique aspect of 30XX is that all its levels are procedurally generated, meaning that each time you die and have to start again, the experience is different, therefore it’s less about memorising play patterns, but rather mastering the game and its mechanics to help you deal with any situation the game can throw at you. For people who hate this idea, there is Mega Mode, which fixes levels and saves your progress through them when you die, allowing for a smoother ride through 30XX’s sometimes brutal difficulty spikes.
No matter which mode you play on, the challenge is real, in the early hours of the game I died many, many times and it never gets less irritating. This is why I don’t play these sorts of games usually but at least 30XX does it with a solid base of interesting graphics and sound design.
Whilst I am always one to disparage pixel graphics, they are well done here, hearkening back to the days of Mega Man in everything the game does. Even the dialogue has that tongue-in-cheek quality that really takes me back to the days of getting in from school and watching Mega Man (without the slightest idea what was happening mind you).
All-in-all 30XX is an excellent example of the genre done right whilst also accounting for people’s varying skill and taste. The graphics are good, the music is superb and the game does exactly what it sets out to do, emulate Mega Man with all its might whilst still creating a fresh experience for veterans of the roguelike circuit.
