Mega Man may have recently had a new game announced, but there was a long time the series went without a game. In that time period there were those who tried to make spiritual sequels to the series, with the most well known being the infamous Mighty No 9. However, while that game got all the attention from the media, another game was slowly building up a fanbase and showing off some true indie spirit. That game was 20XX, and is what I feel to be the true spiritual sequel to Mega Man.
20XX is an action platformer like its inspiration, and perfectly captures the feel of Mega Man that so many others have tried and failed to do. It has a perfect art style and a wonderful soundtrack, but best of all, the gameplay is so refined that the game ends up feeling like a “Best of” Mega Man game, in that it takes the best parts from each game. Its obvious inspiration is the X series, but there are plenty of tributes to the other series as well.
20XX differs from those series in a major way though, in that the game is more akin to a 2D procedurally generated rougelike adapted to the Mega Man formula. This is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness, since each playthrough is different. Its a positive in that no two playthroughs will be the same, and this essentially gives us near endless variety of levels to indulge in. But its weakness is in the fact that with the Mega Man series, there was a familiarity to the environment. This is especially true in the X series that 20XX pays homage to, as the environments would be impacted by what you did in other stages. It is therefore a bit of a tradeoff, but while I personally prefer individually crafted levels, I can see the value in what was done here.
I also want to comment about the co-op modes. It was extremely fun playing online and this is an area in which 20XX far exceeds anything done by the series that inspired it. I have to say that while 20XX wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, it grew on me fast. Yes, I was not found of procedurally generated levels, but I did manage to learn to appreciate them in the game. if you have an itch for that classic game feel but with a modern bent, then 20XX is the game for you.
Note: A Code was provided as part of IndieXmas