There has been some activity by Capcom in the Mega Man series in recent years, but not enough to satisfy the many fans who remember annual releases under numerous different names. This audience wants more, and several indie developers have tried to provide that style of game. One of the more interesting cases lies is with Batterystaple Games and 2017’s 20XX, which took the base gameplay of Mega Man X and combed it with procedurally generated levels, providing an unending supply of Blue Bomber action. Now, the team has returned with 30XX, a sequel with some new ideas that’s on its way to the same retro greatness as its predecessor.
30XX‘s two main additions are the “Mega Mode” and a level editor. The former provides an interesting alternative to 30XX‘s normal roguelike progression. Instead of just moving through random levels until death, players can now generate an entire set of levels and run through them over and over. There are still no checkpoints, so players have to play in the NES style, but they can restart levels and slowly grind their way through the game.
It’s a novel concept that will certainly draw people in who aren’t normally interested in roguelikes, but it also suffers from a common problem with procedurally generated content. Some of the handmade level chunks currently don’t fit together as well as one might hope, leading to situations where the difficulty spikes when it’s not supposed to. In a regular roguelike, that’s just bad luck, but Mega Mode players will have to either persevere through unintentionally bad level design or regenerate an entirely new game from scratch. Neither option is really ideal, and it seems like there should be some resource-limited way to refresh individual levels.
![30XX Early Access Preview: Alternate Rockman](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/30XX-Mega-Mode.jpg)
The included map editor is a great addition to any game of this type, and a voting system and some curation could help solve the issue with random level generation if the community crafts enough good segments. As for the end result of the generations, the levels feel like they start towards the middle of the difficulty curve from 20XX. Each stage feels prolonged from the last game, and it’s much harder to get to a boss fight in fighting shape. This could be due to the Mega Mode providing more casual players a method to enjoy the game their way, but it ultimately feels like it hinders the roguelike mode unintentionally.
In 20XX, upgrade items and health pickups are far more plentiful, and there are more opportunities to upgrade your character between runs. In 30XX, not only is it tougher to get to bosses with enough health to beat them without some serious practice, but there’s far less to interact with outside of the plentiful enemies. It feels like a good number of players interested in the roguelike mode will go through a few runs making no progress and then throw their hands up in the air, never to return to the game again. Great procedural games like Risk of Rain 2 always offer something brand new through either progression or an impressive number of variables. 30XX as it currently stands has retained progression in Mega Mode, but the upgrades feel less impactful than they should, and come too slowly to feel like they’re the key focus they are.
![30XX Bouncing Ball Enemy](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/30XX-Bouncing-Ball-Enemy.jpg)
Something 30XX does have over its predecessor is a much improved graphical style. While 20XX is fine for what it is, the flat sprites made the game look like it belonged on a Flash gaming portal rather than the Super Nintendo. 30XX fixes this problem with a beautiful graphical overhaul that places the game precisely alongside its inspirations. The soundtrack, which was filled with pitch-perfect chiptunes in the first game, remains memorable.
As 30XX stands now, it’s a game built for those already invested in the Mega Man roguelite idea. Despite offering a great concept for more novice players with the Mega Mode, the overall difficulty spike in the sequel makes it hard to recommend to those who don’t have experience with this type of game. However, there’s plenty of time to improve, as 30XX has released on Steam Early Access. The team at Batterystaple Games has proven themselves adept at improving their releases over time with 20XX, and it’s easy to assume that 30XX will truly surpass its predecessor at some point in the future.
30XX is available in Steam Early Access now. Screen Rant was provided with a PC code for the purposes of this preview.