I Hate Running Backwards

I Hate Running Backwards
Developer(s)	Binx Interactive
Publisher(s)	Devolver Digital
Programmer(s)	Denis Mraović Nikola Đurinec
Artist(s)	Matko Šimecki Bernard Bachrach Filip Kovač
Composer(s)	Damjan Mravunac
Series	Serious Sam
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release	WW: 22 May 2018
Genre(s)	Top-down shooter, roguelike, shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

I Hate Running Backwards is a top-down shooter roguelike endless runner developed by Binx Interactive, produced by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital. It was developed for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is an indie game which contains characters from the Serious Sam, Nuclear Throne, Broforce, Shadow Warrior, Enter the Gungeon and Hotline Miami series of video games. The player picks a hero, who runs backwards and shoots downwards at enemies. The aesthetic is described as similar to that of Minecraft. In addition to guns, the player will also be able to destroy obstacles, deflect projectiles using a melee weapon. The world of the game is completely destructible. The game was released on 22 May 2018.

Gameplay

Crystal's ultimate ability in I Hate Running Backwards

Jungle Environment in I Hate Running Backwards

I Hate Running Backwards is a top-down shooter roguelike endless runner. The game has two main game modes, single player and local cooperative multiplayer mode. Single player mode can be extended with the daily run which has its own leader-board. The daily run can be played only once a day, it has a random character (even ones that the player has not unlocked yet) each day, and the generated world is predefined for all players to have a similar game-play experience. The player controls one of 12 characters, 9 of which must be unlocked through game-play. Each character has two different primary weapons they use, except the character "The Bullet", which has only one weapons. Each character also has a unique ability be it an ultimate ability that he/she has to charge or a passive ability that is always active. These abilities offer a different play-style for each of the characters.

The player progresses through 5 different environments that are procedurally generated. The environments follow a set path, the order is always Sand, Jungle, Medieval, Mines, Greek. At the end of every environment the player faces one of the games 6 bosses. The last environments boss, Ugh Zan, has two different forms, and it is fought as two different bosses. After killing the final boss the player enters a time portal that teleports them to the first environment but with increased difficulty. Loops can be run endlessly and get more difficult each time. Loops increase the number of enemies and all the games enemies can be spawned on all environments after the first loop. The increase in difficulty also raises the number of environmental traps that can kill the player.

Killing the games bosses unlocks shrines in the games lobby that can activate curses. Curses add additional mechanics to the game that makes it more difficult. The curses range from additional environmental traps, like poison, to death lasers that follow the player around the game world. Each curse also adds a modifier to the final score. The curses add a way for the players to naturally increase the difficulty to the point that suits them.

The player character starts of with a basic pistol weapon that has infinite ammo and a melee weapon. During gameplay the player can pickup ammo for his primary weapons or destroy weapon crates to get special weapons. The 34 special weapons each have a unique twist to them, for example the biomedic sniper can heal the player, while the gravity gun can group up enemies and make short work of them. The player unlocks new special weapons by completing different tasks in the game.

While playing the player defeats enemies and destroys the environment to gather Mojo, the games equivalent to experience. When enough mojo is gathered the player level ups and gains a perk which he can select from a group of three different perk per level. The perk he/she will get on the next level up is also indicated to make it possible to plan out builds one level in advance.

Plot

I Hate Running Backwards is set in the universe of Serious Sam at an undisclosed moment in time. One of Mental's subordinates, Ugh-Zan has been put together from the parts of Ugh-Zan and Hugo and sent to the future to stop the group of heroes from fighting Mental. Ugh-Zan's mind was uploaded to the new mechanized body and he can also transfer it to the tank module that is stored inside his body as a last defense mode.

Sam and his group of heroes travel through time to defeat Mental's minions once and for all.

Characters

Serious Sam

I Hate Running Backwards features characters from different franchises that were published by Devolver Digital, with the exception of Nuclear Throne, which was published and developed by Vlambeer. The characters that are featured in the game are Serious Sam, Dancing Denzell, and Fast Finger Freddie from the Serious Sam franchise, Richard from Hotline Miami, Rambro from Broforce, The Bullet from Enter the Gungeon, Crystal from Nuclear Throne, and Lo Wang from Shadow Warrior. The other 4 characters in game are unique characters from I Hate Running Backwards.

Development

Development on I Hate Running Backwards started in 2016. The developers of the game, Binx Interactive are a small team consisting of five developers who worked on video games as a hobby, but were showing up to game developer conferences in Croatia. On one of the Conferences Croteam's CEO Roman Ribaric and CMO Damjan Mravunac decided to give Binx a chance in their new incubator program. The idea of the program was to provide local developers with the support and equipment to make full-fledged video games.

The idea for the game came from Serious Sams catch phrase: "I hate running backwards" alluding to him constantly having to run backwards from enemies to avoid them killing him. The game was first structured as a simple action endless runner game with the focus on leading enemies into environmental traps that were spawned behind the player. The challenge in the game would come from the player having to avoid the same traps he would have to lead the enemies into. One of the games programmers, Denis Mraović came up with the idea to add the hammer swing mechanic into the game at one point, as he felt that the constant shooting tired him out, and he wanted to have something more to do during gameplay.

The game was first shown to the public at Reboot-Infogamer in 2016. where the game won the best game-play award. The games hammer mechanic led the developers to introducing a redesign in graphics and the world. The whole game world was made destructible with the goal to make the experience more hands on. During the development cycle the game took shape as a rogue-like endless runner that turned the shoot-em-up genre on its head.

Somewhere during 2017. Croteam and BinxInteractive got Devolver Digital on board as the games publisher. As the development moved on the team felt that they needed more distinct characters to fill the rooster of heroes. Devolver came up with the idea to use characters from their other IPs. Many of the games that inspired the team like Nuclear Throne and Enter the Gungeon had ties to Devolver directly or from previous projects. The game features twelve characters. Three characters are from the Serious Sam universe (Sam, Denzell and Fast Finger Freddie), Richard from Hotline Miami, Rambro from Broforce, The Bullet from Enter the Gungeon, Crystal from Nuclear Throne, Lo Wang from Shadow Warrior and 4 unique new characters (Dumpster Dave, Zombie Zed, Chux and Lady Death).

Reception

The game was named as one of the best games at PAX East 2018 by GamesRadar.

The game received mixed reviews upon release on the PC platform, holding an aggregated score of 69 on Metacritic. PC PowerPlay gave it 8/10 stating "The game is really quite brutal, but individual runs quite short. It's a perfect palate-cleaner game – quick to load, easy to switch to from other applications, and over pretty fast. Unless you're good at it, which, you know... I'm pretty much not. But it's also just wonderfully silly fun. Bright, chaotic in the all the best ways, and always surprising."