The day has finally come for 20XX, as it has finally left Steam Early Access. For as long as I’ve known and played this title, it was apparently stuck in Early Access and I’d never think it would left. So I’m happy to see that Batterystaple Games has finally accomplished this feat – good job gang!
20XX is a title that takes a large cue from Mega Man titles, tosses in procedurally generated levels, co-op, and rogue-like features. It definitely is the wildest take and the first I’ve seen of any game type. Yet, oddly and surprisingly enough it works out very well. Truth be told, however, I know that the permadeath part has been known to tick a few people off – still, it’s worth checking out.
In addition, they’ve released their latest patch for the game, patch 1.00.0. This patch will delete your previous game save, which is sadly required. But Batterystaple Games mentions that it will not touch any leaderboard data, for now. Included in the patch is the much-requested endgame content, Steam achievements, trading cards and more. Full patch notes for the 20XX update are posted below.
BIG CHANGES:
- The Endgame!
- Added the Station, which comes after Level 8. The Station is comprised of two levels (9 and 10). Each of the two stages always has the same boss, but is otherwise randomly generated like the other levels.
- Added two ferocious new bosses, Drs. Brighton Sharp and Arlan Flat, who’ll stop at nothing from holding you back.
- Added *six* new music tracks! Both levels 9 and 10 have unique level and boss themes, and we’ve added two more you’ll hear when the time’s right.
- Added a new cutscene! All good things must end. (Or is it more than one cutscene?)
- In Endless play, players can opt into the Endgame content at any time after Level 8, after which they’ll finish the game as normal.
- Achievements!
- 20XX has 50 Achievements, most of which are pretty difficult. Good luck!
- Achievements cannot be earned on Reverent.
- Since we’re not wiping your stats file, some achievements may trigger faster than you’d expect.
- Trading Cards!
- Every Steam game does this, so we will, too. Come get your cards! They’re tradeable!
- Dally can now be pet if she’s seen slinking around (or sleeping in) HQ.
SMALL CHANGES:
- Updated charge-up visuals.
- Charged shots from Nina’s Wave Beam are now slightly wavier. (This is a nerf.)
- Nina’s Forkalator and Star Beam now count forward-facing shots separately from other shots – this means either hitting an enemy (or a wall) with just the forward-facing shot, or with every other shot will count toward freeing up the available shot, instead of having to hit them all. (This is a buff!)
- Vile Visage’s attacks have a new projectile, and the his eyeball-pop-out bullet cone attack is now a substantially slower.
- Enemies near you when you enter a teleporter (to a side-area like a Glory Zone, not a Frostor portal) should now stay put until you come back.
- Added an additional one second grace period after an enemy spawns where it can’t deal contact damage.
- Dropping back from either player’s keybinds menu now returns you to that item on the options list (instead of the top).
- The Game Over screen no longer shows Final Score in non-score runs.
- Seed Racer no longer requires Destiny.
- Earthmetal Plating reworked. Now converts your already-acquired +ATK and +PWR into both Health and Energy. System Restore restores lost ATK/PWR.
- Tweaked some Glory Zone rooms. Glory Zone types (in Normal/Reverent/Defiant) are now limited by a few game progress flags, so stuff like first-time players getting a Lock the Blocks! room doesn’t happen.
- Oxjack’s Blitz (Air Dash Leg Core) no longer dashes up from the ground. (Removed by popular complaint!)
- Sharply reduced the game’s loading time.
- Tweaked wall-jump physics a bit to remove some inconsistencies. Wall-jumping in general may be a little stronger for some players – other players will notice no difference.
- Air dashing tweaks:
- Air dashing now prefers right/left (instead of up/down) if you’re holding a diagonal on a D-Pad. If you’re using a stick to control, the game now detects which direction you’re closest to pressing, and chooses that direction.
- You can no longer air dash immediately after jumping off a wall in the direction of that wall. (You never want to do this, and it feels bad.) You can still air dash in the other three directions immediately.
- Rush Job now locks Toxin instead of Final Destination.
- Bracer of Battle is now slightly less common lategame.
- Resurrection Capsules (co-op) now go away 5 seconds after resurrecting your partner if players don’t move off of it.
- Maceknights now have a maximum detection range of 12 units (down from too many), meaning they’ll only swing if they can actually hit you. (Sorry, Nina!)
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a cutscene-related crash.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when loading a saved run.
- Fixed a bug causing Powers that can hit multiple enemies with the same individual projectile (Force Nova, Shadespur, Boomerang Blade) to occasionally hit enemies with complex hitboxes more than once per frame, resulting in higher-than-intended damage.
- Fixed a bug causing Spirits to sometimes have ineffective attacks.
- Fixed an issue where Vera could, under a certain control setup, fire down without boosting the player.
- Fixed an error with displaying controller names.
- Fixed an error preventing some players from setting P2’s keybinds.
- Fixed an error causing Windows to indicate more controllers are connected than actually are.
- Corrected Rollster Beta’s spawns not showing their HP correctly for the client.
- Fixed a bug causing new clients to sometimes not be able to jump for a bit after joining a game.
- Fixed a case where the game could sometimes ignore alt-f4, closing the window but keeping the process alive.
It’s been a long ride, but I’m happy to see this game finally get to retail. It’s a fun and enjoyable game, especially for those who enjoy rogue-likes and Mega Man titles. Currently, the title is only available for PC, however, the team had expressed interest in getting it over to other platforms. Now that it’s finally going retail, we’ll just have to wait and see.
For more info on 20XX, check out the official website at www.batterystaplegames.com.
