Is 20XX the next Mega Man?

Diving into early access titles on Steam can often be a mixed bag. Games still in development run the gamut from nearly finished to having more bugs than the disgusting innards of Oogie Boogie. Luckily, 20XX is more the former than the latter. It’s still going through regular updates, but the Mega Man X influence is unmistakable. I say influence because 20XX isn’t your dad’s Megan Man experience. No extra lives, procedurally generated levels, and a ton of power-ups set this title apart from the platformer that inspired it. So with the shift from classic platformer to roguelike engine of chaos, is there enough similarity to wrangle fans of the classic Blue Bomber?

If you’re familiar with the Mega Man franchise at all, then you probably get the not-so-subtle reference of the name, 20XX. The influence of the Mega Man X series is glaringly evident in the design of the two main characters, Nina and Ace. Nina (in blue with her N-Buster arm cannon) is a dead ringer for Mega Man while Ace (clad in red with his plasma sword) is the reincarnation of Zero. Charged attacks, dashes, and wall jumps are all present in 20XX as well. The soundtrack an awesomely loving homage to the old Mega Man games as well with its 16-bit retro goodness. In fact, the levels themselves draw numerous influences from various Mega Man games. Sadly, (for me) this includes disappearing and falling platforms. At least falling (be it into an endless pit or just onto a pit of spikes) doesn’t lead to certain death. Instead, it deducts one piece of oh-so-precious health. I’d have rage-quit long ago if I had to restart every time I botched a jump.

Choose your power up and then your next boss.

20XX does have a number of new (and challenging) twists on the classic formula. Outside of the roguelike one life challenge, only a limited number of subweapons can be carried at one time. Players need to pick and choose what unique powers they pick up from bosses at the end of each level. Thankfully, passive boosts are available in lieu of a new weapon if I happen to be satisfied with my current loadout. There are also bonus passives for speedrunning a level and completing it before the timer runs out. A big difference, however, is that bosses get more difficult the later they’re faced. Bosses that are child’s play when faced as the first stage can have far more complex mechanics (like splitting in two at half health, for example) when faced eighth in a given run. Additionally, the familiar stage select is also gone from this title. Instead, players are assigned a random stage to start and are given an option between three of the remaining bosses (unless fewer than three remain) after beating their current stage.

Collect all of the things!

There are two main modes of play in single player mode: normal and casual. Normal is a basic run where I start with nothing and fight my way through with only those items that I find along the way. Casual (my preferred mode of play) allows me to start the game with any three passive abilities that I’ve gained enough soul nuts (yeah, I chuckle at that every time) to unlock. I feel much more rewarded in casual mode and I like the feeling of strategy that comes with choosing a specific loadout before heading into battle. Now, if you’re an extreme masochist that disdains casual and scoffs at normal, there are always skulls. Skulls are modifiers to make the game even more difficult and you can turn on as many as your craven, punishment-seeking heart desires. There are, however, other modes of play. For those that wish to get their names on the leaderboards, there are both weekly and daily challenges. Both are seeded runs (everyone plays the same level) with the caveat that the daily can only be played once per day. And if those aren’t difficult enough, there are always the hardcore modes that add three modifiers to those challenges.

So what do I think? Is 20XX the next Mega Man? Not quite. While I like the variety and challenge presented by procedurally generated levels and an increasing difficulty curve, I crave the ability to memorize levels and follow my preferred boss smashing order. And while the need to collect and spend soul nuts (still funny) between runs is cool, I’ve unlocked everything currently in the game after about 6 hours of play. But it is absolutely worth noting that the game is fun and it’s still being updated on a regular basis. Just make sure you follow their recommendation and play with a controller. I tried to play it with a keyboard once and it wasn’t pretty. I said some things (loudly), the cats hid, and the neighbors complained. Admittedly, I haven’t had much of a chance to check out the multiplayer option so I can’t really speak to how well it works or how fun coordinating attacks against a boss are. If you’re a fan of Mega Man and roguelikes, then it’s probably worth the $12 to pick it up on Steam  early access and get your Rockman rocks off.