30XX

Play it on: Switch (September 12), Windows (Steam Deck YMMV)
Current goal: Terminate the Capital Punishment boss

30XX is an action platformer roguelike where you blow up beautiful pixel art robots with crunchy energy blasts and laser beams. It’s Mega Man X by way of Dead Cells, and it’s super well-tuned. The Capcom series is beloved for its tight controls and satisfying animations that make navigating futuristic gauntlets of lava pits and killer machines challenging but fun. 30XX, like its predecessor, nails the look and feel of those 16-bit classics, while providing meaty, procedurally generated levels to prolong the experience and divy out power-ups. After spending a lot of time in Early Access, 30XX finally came out last month, which you might have missed amid the ongoing tsunami of blockbuster releases.

One of the biggest improvements is a Mega Mode that lets you dispense with the roguelike repetition entirely and play the whole game from start to finish without permadeath. You’ll still have to repeat levels if you die, but you won’t lose all of the progress you’ve gained up to that point, which is great considering that the retro game’s difficulty is no joke. I still don’t think the procedurally generated levels always come together that neatly, but the moment-to-moment platforming action remains top-tier. There’s even online and couch co-op. — Ethan Gach