This arcade space combat game is inspired by the golden age of “prestige anime”

Rogue Flight is an arcade space combat game with StarFox somewhere in its DNA, “inspired by the landmark style of prestige anime of the 80s and 90s”, also known as “the only good anime”. It’s expected to be released later this year, and there’s an announcement trailer below.

What the trailer shows reflects what’s actually happening steam page he says. You can perform acrobatics 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 some permanent death to the proceedings – I guess. You can customize your spacecraft and pilot a bit.

Much of the marketing focuses on the voice cast, which includes Japanese actors known for their work in Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam, Naruto, and One Piece. I don’t want to offer even more bait to the commenters, but these voices won’t mean anything to me because I’m a dub guy, not a subs guy. I watch anime on a second screen while playing video games, so I prohibit reading subtitles. (The English voice cast includes people from Fallout 76, Overwatch, and League Of Legends; that might mean something to me, but honestly, who cares.)

Spinning, flashy, rock-music space combat is fun, I like it, but my interest here is more in the aesthetics and tone. As much as anime annoys me about screams and fan service, it also delights me when it’s about sad, doomed people and their terrible, very bad contraptions or spaceships. Who doesn’t dream of externalizing melancholy as a terrible weapon that we are cursed to pilot? That’s how I feel about my flesh body anyway, but anime robots and spaceships have much cooler control panels.