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Rogue Flight is an arcade space combat game with some StarFox somewhere in its DNA, “inspired by the landmark style of ’80s and ’90s prestige anime”, also known as “the only good anime.” It’s due for release later this year and there’s an announcement trailer below.
What the trailer shows mirrors what the Steam page says. You can perform acrobatic moves in your ship while blasting at enemies across nine stages. There’s a branching narrative path and an unlockable roguelite mode if you want to add – I presume – some permadeath to proceedings. You can customise your spacecraft and pilot somewhat.
Much of the marketing is focused on the voice cast, whihc features Japanese actors known for their work on Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam, Naruto and One Piece. Not to offer commenters even more bait, but these voices won’t mean anything to me because I’m a dubs not subs guy. I watch anime on a second screen while playing video games, thus prohibiting the reading of subs. (The English voice cast features people from Fallout 76, Overwatch and League Of Legends, which may mean something to me but frankly who cares.)
Spinny, flashy, rock music space combat is fun, I like it, but my interest here is mostly the aesthetic and tone. For as much as anime annoys me when it’s about screaming and fan service, it delights me when it’s about sad, doomed people and their awful horrible very bad mechs or space ships. Who does not dream of externalising their melancholy as a horrifying weapon we are cursed to pilot? That’s already how I feel about my flesh body, but the anime robots and spaceships have much cooler control panels.