20XX

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it's hard to miss that this action platformer is a love letter of sorts to fans of Capcom's Mega Man franchise. At first glance (and if you squint hard enough), it would be easy to think that 20XX is the latest adventure for Dr. Light's favorite son. After all, there are cute animated cybernetic "kids" blasting their way through lots of cartoonish robots. You've got platforming elements that require pinpoint precision in jumping and sticking the landing. You've even got a host of bionic upgrades for your intrepid heroes. But while 20XX might resemble Mega Man cosmetically, it's also got plenty of changes beneath the surface to differentiate itself ... for better or worse.

One of the big ways 20XX builds a name for itself is in its structure. Each stage is procedurally generated, pieced together randomly from a patchwork of parts. This keeps things relatively fresh, with no two playthroughs being the same. But the flip side is that those set pieces don't always fit together seamlessly. It's never enough to make things unplayable, but it does cause the difficulty to rise and fall like an amusement park roller coaster. The challenge is made harder by only giving players one life to live. Losing means starting over, although players can use Soul Chips to buy upgrades that help with subsequent attempts. That means the challenge peaks at the start and only gets easier over time. Fortunately, if things are too rough, you can select an easier difficulty level that provides three lives to work with but doesn't let you keep any achievements or trophies. Despite its sometimes-frustrating lack of consistency, 20XX is still a nostalgic arcade-style experience that can unofficially scratch fans' Mega Man itch.