30XX, a game inspired by and expanding upon the elements of Mega Man X, recently came out of early access on Steam and is coming soon to Switch. Revamping and improving on every element of their last game, 20XX, Batterystaple Games has created a truly special action platformer.

The game’s depth is truly impressive. It’s basically the ultimate Mega Man game without the titular character. With a robust level editor, the game will have bounds of content outside of the developer-created levels for the foreseeable future. For this feature, Batterstaple found a perfect fit for the job, the creator of the fan-made game Mega Man Maker.

I sat down with Chris King, creative director of BatteryStaple Games, who shared his pure excitement for the new feature.

“We have exactly the tool kit we want players to be able to make their own stuff out of so very selfishly, I get unique, fun, fresh stuff that I’ve never played.”

This all draws back to the root of why King set out to make the first game: he wanted more Mega Man.

The game follows the two protagonists from the first title who awake 1000 years later, but that’s about all you really need to know from the story. 30XX is not a narrative-focused game—the gameplay is what takes center stage and you will need to master the movement and combat if you hope to progress further than a few stages in this game.



The game’s Steam page emphasizes three words, “Jump. Shoot. Forever.” That may sound simple, but mastering those mechanics is anything but. It feels good to jump and dash around stages in single-player or co-op, but sooner than later your reflexes and platforming skills will be put to the test.

Three fleshed-out modes give players of different preferences room to breathe. That standard mode is available in which you explore a series of stages with only one life while gathering resources and power-ups with bosses awaiting at the end.

Players looking for a more relaxed experience may enjoy mega mode, where the roguelike consequences of death are removed and you can progress through the game’s procedurally generated levels at your own pace. This mode came out of feedback from 20XX in which players wanted an easier, more classic Mega Man experience.

The game’s aforementioned third mode lets you access the level creator and play other user-created levels, which will undoubtedly give the game a vast amount of content outside of the game’s other two modes.

The game was in early access on Steam for over two years, which gave the 6-person team based in Seattle time to respond and implement community feedback and continue to polish the gameplay and art style.

“Over those two and a half years, our early access community’s feedback is one of the critical design iteration voices in our process,” said King, “Our player feedback is critical to us—it is a huge reason why the game has become as good as it is.”

King said they hope to keep supporting the game with new content for the foreseeable future. 30XX is available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch for $19.99, a 10% discount is currently available on the Switch version.



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Kelton Burns is a freelance games reporter and recently graduated with his degree in Journalism. You can find him talking about the latest gaming news on his podcast Press Why or reach him on Twitter at @KeltonBurns His favorite game is Alan Wake.

Posted: Sep 06, 2023 7:23 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: Kelton Burns