20XX

Every run in 20XX begins with a choice of character and ends in permanent death or a cleared gauntlet of procedurally assembled stages — but the distinguishing pressure is that each level is built fresh every time, so no two playthroughs share the same layout, enemy placement, or item offerings. Developed by Batterystaple Games and Fire Hose Games, 20XX released on August 16, 2017 as a fast, precise action platformer drawing heavily on the structure and feel of classic Mega Man games.

Each run takes the player through a sequence of stages culminating in boss fights, and death returns them to a hub called HQ. There, earned Soul Chips can be spent on permanent upgrades that persist across runs and also expand the pool of items available to find mid-run. The standard mode uses a single life, while Reverent Mode grants three lives for players who want a more forgiving structure. Seeded Daily and Weekly Challenges offer fixed-seed runs that let players compare results against others on identical stages.

• Over 100 collectible powerups discoverable within runs
• Full 1–2 player co-op, both local and online via Steam
• Permanent upgrade system funded by Soul Chips earned across runs
• Reverent Mode as an optional three-life alternative to standard permadeath
• Seeded Daily and Weekly Challenge modes for competitive comparison
• Multiple optional difficulty modifiers and play modes

The game received steady patch attention through 2018 and into 2019, moving through the 1.30.x series across mid-2018 and reaching the 1.40.x series by mid-2019 with continued test and release builds into late that year. A final patch in July 2020 brought the version to 1.42.0. Around that same period, Batterystaple Games began publicly discussing a successor, announced as 30XX, with early visibility at the Steam Summer Festival in 2020.

20XX fits naturally with players who grew up with action platformers and want that reflex-driven precision inside a structure that rewards repeated attempts — the run variety keeps stages from feeling memorized, while the permanent upgrade system ensures that even failed runs contribute something forward.