Gameplay-wise, instead of trying to emulate the rough edges of old games, HUNTDOWN removes multi-directional aiming to focus on horizontal aiming, but masters it. The references are everywhere, in the gangs and their style, in the cool one-liners from the main characters or their bounties, in the music, and of course in the dirty neon-infused levels, as the fights will be taken from the subway to the rooftops. This is a perfect melting-pot of Blade Runner, Judge Dredd, The Terminator, RoboCop, Mad Max, The Fifth Element, Akira, and everything that is holy from that glorious era of science-fiction movies depicting an ultra-violent future. While the story is appropriately barebones (and consequently will not go in the way of replayability), the world, rendered in gorgeous pixel art, is incredible. The end of a level is always crowned by a boss fight against a “bounty”, often a gang leader that marked the level with their footprints.

The backstory is minimalist, and there won’t be more than a few occasional lines of text or short cutscenes to introduce new threats. You (and a friend in COOP) choose a mercenary upon the three available and get offered a campaign in the form of 4 consecutive areas each populated with a unique colorful gang.

HUNTDOWN is not trying as hard as fellow modern/pretty action platformer Katana ZERO to tell a story.

Huntdown gameplay