Experience Neon and Chaos with Black Future ’88
It’s no secret that I’ve recently become a huge fan of roguelikes. I gave high praise to A Robot Named Fight!, The Binding of Isaac, and most recently, Moonlighter. Little did I know as I walked into my appointment at E3 to see Black Future ’88 from developer Super Scary Snakes, I was about to experience a roguelike with a twist. I only had eighteen minutes to live.
While that may seem like quite a bit of time considering it was a short demo, it definitely puts the pressure on right out of the gate. Yes, you have a timer ticking away in the upper-left hand corner of the screen, but it never feels like dead weight. In fact, you have the ability to earn more “time” as you progress. To add further risk/reward, you can actually spend your precious seconds like currency to enhance your weapons and equipment.
At its heart, Black Future ’88 is pixelated 2-d side-scrolling platformer with twin-stick shooting mechanics. If that sounds like a mouthful, you should experience the chaos with a controller in your hand. The gameplay is fast-paced, the neon setting flashes like crazy, and you barely have a chance to catch your breath during battles. And boy is it satisfying. Clearing a room of enemies hasn’t felt this good since the Smash T.V. days.
With a game as frenetic as this one, tight controls are a must, and this one delivers. Your character comes equipped with a dash and double jump which take almost no time to get down. Don’t think the game is a cakewalk, however, as you’ll be thrust into a flurry of neon bullet hell.
To add to the insanity (and to be clear, I mean that in a good way), you can team up with a buddy and play the game cooperatively. I had a chance to do just this with one of the creators, and I immediately wanted to share this with a friend. The potential to partner in a roguelike is a new experience for me, and it’s loaded with potential.
As far as the game loop is concerned, the developers themselves liken it to The Binding of Isaac. You run through a procedurally-generated map and work your way towards a boss. After defeating said boss, you’ll start another loop in an attempt to make your way to the “true” boss. Although my time with the game was limited, the possibilities seem endless.
Black Future ’88 is a game that I can’t wait to hone my skills and impress my friends. The sheer amount of action happening on-screen looks impossible to manage, but is surprisingly doable. It releases on PC later this year, so keep an eye out for it.
Watch the announcement trailer below, and be sure to check out our “E3 2018 | Day One Recap” episode where I discussed the game around the 38:07 mark.
