There's a certain cadence that governs most roguelikes. Considering how these games only give you one life and have you start at the beginning of the game at every run, most players tend to take their runs slowly and methodically to avoid careless mistakes. Black Future '88 does away with this mindset, and the result is intriguing.

The story starts off with a person narrating how everything started with the expected dropping of the atomic bombs in November of 1988. One month later, a tower named Skymelt was erected that blocked out the sun and brought forth endless darkness and rain. This caused people to believe that time had been perpetually frozen in 1988, with minutes being more tangible than days or months. As one of the hopeful members of the resistance, you make it your mission to infiltrate the tower and take out its creator Duncan in the hopes that it'll return life to normal.

For the most part, Black Future '88 takes on familiar trappings. Whether playing alone or with a friend, you'll engage in a side-scrolling affair where you go from one large room to another as you ascend the tower. In the beginning, the characters you choose will give you access to different weapons and different powers, but those can be swapped out with the weapons you find from downed enemies or purchase in shops with the cash you pick up from foes. Level layouts and boss encounters are randomized, and if you die, you lose all of your loot and have to restart the location. You keep your earned XP, which unlocks more powers and weapons upon each new run.

The game sets itself apart from other roguelikes in its two major additions to the genre. The first is the ability for the tower to gain power during your run. Killing enemies might leave behind ammo, cash, and health, and you may not think twice about picking them up, but anything you leave behind or let disappear is picked up by Skymelt instead. Let the tower pick up enough items, and it'll get buffs for the run, such as increased enemy health, swapping out weaker foes for much stronger ones, or giving everyone explosive shots. While you can slow down Skymelt's leveling, you can't completely stop it, since any weaponry left behind also counts toward the leveling process. Since you can only possess two weapons at a time, the whole thing becomes a race to be powered up enough with the appropriate buffs and weapons to prepare for a heavy-duty Skymelt.

The other element that makes Black Future '88 stand out is the time limit. You only have 18 minutes to complete a run before you die, and while going into shops will freeze the timer so you can make more informed decisions about what to buy, you can't gain more time to complete the run. You only have one life to work with, so the time limit merely becomes a secondary way of expiration instead of the primary one. To make matters even trickier, you can exchange some of that time for more health or better buffs, so you have to decide whether you want to be strong but need to rush through the course or maximize your time while you're generally weaker.

When combined, these two elements create a unique roguelike experience. The usual tactic of slowing down and being thorough in exploration is thrown out the window, since you need to ascend quickly with no way to extend your time. To a point, recklessness is what gets you far, so the game transforms into a more arcade-like experience, but with luck playing a factor due to random buffs. In conjunction with the hard hits each enemy delivers, the chances of you dying before your 18 minutes are up are rather high, so the game is more suited for a few quick play sessions rather than a long, sprawling run.

Should all of this become too overwhelming, the title does have one more trick up its sleeve in the form of the Assist mode, which is available after your first run of the game. The mode doesn't decrease the overall difficulty, but it does help you manage the experience better, with assists like the ability to slow down time. It is a welcome addition to the genre, since it makes the game more inviting to those discovering the genre for the first time or those who are initially put off by similar titles that bump up the difficulty without remorse. You still need to get good to make any real progress, but at least you're eased into the state thanks to this.

The title has some minor design flaws. The backdrops for each section of the tower look rather nice, but don't expect much in terms of variety. You may only have around 18 minutes to get through it all, but some significant background changes would go a long way toward making tower progression more obvious. The story setup is also fine, but the more narrative-focused players will be disappointed in the lack of satisfying resolution should they make it to the end. Again, none of these things are major game-breakers, but they are worth noting nonetheless.

The presentation bleeds style but not at the extent of functionality. The pixelated style means lots of good animation and color use to produce effects like fog, smoke and bullet light bloom rather well, and it all looks nice even if you get the feeling you've seen it all before. The constant movement of the background, especially with shadows, is a neat trick that makes the environments in the tower feel deeper than most 2D games would deliver. What works well here is how large and noticeable all of the characters are, so it becomes quite difficult to lose track of where you, your partner, and your enemies are at any time. Audio-wise, the synthwave soundtrack fits the game perfectly; anyone familiar with '80s sci-fi movies will feel right at home, since every track fits every mood, and any repetition of tracks goes largely unnoticed. One of the more fitting elements is a voice that plays whenever you pick up a new power, as it integrates into the soundtrack and acts like a subtle mocking from the tower developer.

The main hook in Black Future '88 is enough to recommend it to roguelike fans who want something a little different from the norm. There's a nice balance between trying to be thorough about collecting everything and rushing to make the most of your time, which is good enough to push most players out of their comfort zone. Those wanting something quick and different in the genre will find some joy in this title.

Score: 8.0/10