I Hate Running Backwards Launches May 22 on PS4

In a world of heroes and crossovers, we’re bringing our own crossover event into the mix. That event is… our new game: I Hate Running Backwards – our very own arcade shoot ’em up. Except we like to be cocky and say that we invented a new genre, so we call it a “shoot’ em down.” You’ll see why soon enough.

I Hate Running Backwards features characters from different franchises: Serious Sam, Hotline Miami, and Enter the Gungeon, just to name a few.

When we were reaching out to developers and asking them to let us use their IP, we didn’t think we stood a chance of getting them. I mean, who would trust a new indie developer with IP that they had worked so hard to get established and recognized by hundreds of thousands, even millions of fans?

But to our surprise, it did happen.

And we couldn’t be happier.

We wanted to stay true to the characters as they were created in their original games. So let me break it down for you and tell you what the famous characters in our game feel and behave like.

Let’s do this!

Serious Sam

First Appearance: Serious Sam The First Encounter

Sam is an all-around well-balanced character. He uses his trusty assault rifle to clear huge waves of enemies. He can also switch to his shotgun to thin out the enemy crowds in a pinch. Sam’s ultimate ability, Serious Bomb, can be a good escape tool and useful for farming Mojo.

His toolset makes him one of the easiest characters to play at the start of the game, but don’t be fooled – Sam can be a powerhouse in the right hands!

Rambro

First Appearance: Broforce

Rambro’s weapons include his knives and an M16 rifle. The M16 fires two bullets in a small spread with a decent fire rate, but it has a small delay between bursts, while the knives are used as a crowd control weapon.

Rambro brings a unique mechanic to the game. When Rambro is in play there is a chance for Bro Bombs to spawn, which can be thrown for additional damage. Only Rambro can collect Bro Bombs, and a maximum of three bombs can be held at a time.

Rambro is a well-rounded character similar to Sam. His only weakness is the randomness of Bro Bombs spawning, but the punch they pack and the ability to fire consecutive Bro Bombs make him a deadly adversary.

Richard

First Appearance: Hotline Miami

Richard could be considered a hardcore character and he isn’t for everyone. Since you’re able to take only one hit in Hotline Miami, we did the same with him in our game. His primary tool is his bat, and while he does use an AK-47 and a standard shotgun, the true potential of Richard comes from mastering the timing of the bat throw.

If you are looking for more of a challenge, then Richard just might be the hero for you!

The Bullet

First Appearance: Enter the Gungeon

The Bullet has no ultimate ability, but he changes his special weapon every few seconds, which gives him a tactical advantage in combat. He forgoes using normal weapons and uses his sword, the Blasphemy. Blasphemy fires one to three swords periodically. They may not deal a huge amount of damage, but he has an unlimited amount of them.

Crystal

First appearance: Nuclear Throne

Crystal’s ultimate ability is to form a shield around herself and deflect projectiles. The fun part is she can activate her ability even when the ultimate bar isn’t full. She can use her ability for a short while, or she can keep her barrier active in exchange for her ultimate charge depleting faster.

She can use her slugger to do more damage to single targets or switch to the Tommy gun when faced with more enemies. Overall, Crystal is a tank character that compensates for damage by having a more defensive playstyle.

Lo Wang

First appearance: Shadow Warrior

Lo Wang’s ultimate ability allows him to dash in the direction he was moving, and fire a fast-traveling shuriken in the direction of the closest enemy. This can be used to great effect as an escape tactic. Wang is a vulnerable character with only two health, but he compensates with increased movement speed while he uses the melee attack and the fastest ultimate buildup in our game.

Wang’s weapons are the Uzi which has quite a fire spread and fires relatively fast, and an automatic shotgun which fires two quick bursts but has a short downtime after the shot. It’s best to switch to the Uzi while the shotgun is reloading.