Rogue Flight is an arcade space combat game with StarFox somewhere in its DNA, “inspired by the groundbreaking style of the prestige anime of the 80s and 90s”, also known as “the only good anime”. It’s expected to premiere later this year, and the announcement trailer is below.
What the trailer shows reflects what Steam page says. You can perform acrobatic moves on your ship while shooting at enemies in nine stages. There’s a branching narrative path and an unlockable roguelite mode if you want to add – I suppose – certain permadeath to the proceedings. You can customize your spaceship and pilot a bit.
Much of the marketing focuses on the voice cast, which features Japanese actors known for their work on Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam, Naruto and One Piece. I don’t want to give the commenters even more bait, but these votes mean nothing to me because I’m a dubs guy, not a sub guy. I watch anime on a second screen while playing video games, which prohibits reading subtitles. (The English voice cast includes characters from Fallout 76, Overwatch, and League Of Legends, which may mean something to me, but honestly, who cares.)
Spinning, flashy, space combat in rock music is nippy, I like it, but I’m mainly interested in the aesthetics and tone. As much as anime annoys me when it comes to screaming and fan service, it delights me when it’s about depressed, doomed people and their terrible, terrible, very evil mechs or spaceships. Who doesn’t dream of manifesting their melancholy as a terrifying weapon with which we are cursed? That’s what I mean about my corporeal body, but anime robots and spaceships have much cooler control panels.
