Your first look at OTT arcade shoot ’em up I Hate Running Backwards

In a world of heroes running around and crossing paths with each other, a rumour spreads of an even bigger crossover event than the one you may immediately be thinking of.

That event is our new game, I Hate Running Backwards — our very own arcade shoot ’em up. Only we like to be really 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 thought that we didn’t stand a chance of getting them. I mean, who would trust a new indie developer with their own IP that they worked so hard to get established and recognized by hundreds of thousands, even millions of fans.

But alas, 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 people 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 trusted assault rifle to clear huge waves of enemies. When in a pinch he can always switch to his shotgun to thin out the enemy crowds.

Sams ultimate ability, Serious Bomb can be a good escape tool and an excellent skill to farm Mojo with.

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

Rambro’s weapons include his knives and the 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 is a well-rounded character similar to Sam. His only weakness is the dependency on randomness in regard to the Bro Bomb spawn chance, but the punch it packs and the ability to fire consecutive Bro Bombs make him a deadly adversary.

Richard (Jacket alter ego)

First Appearance:
Hotline Miami

Richard is a hard character to play. His only tool is his bat and while he does use an AK 47 and a standard shotgun to clear out the enemies the true potential of Richard comes from mastering the timing of the Bat throw.

Since you’re able to take only one hit in Hotline Miami, we did the same with Richard in our game as well.
He could be considered a hardcore character and he isn’t for everyone. If you are looking for more challenge in the game than Richard just might be the hero you’re looking for!

The Bullett

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 can use her ability to form a shield around her and deflect projectiles. The fun part is she can activate her ultimate ability even when the ultimate bar isn’t full. She can use her ability for a short while or she can hold 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 a more defensive playstyle.

Lo Wang

First appearance:
Shadow Warrior

Lo Wang’s ultimate ability is a fast charging ability that can be best utilized as an escape ability. When used, Wang dashes in the direction he was moving and fires a fast traveling Shuriken in the direction of the closest enemy.

Wang’s weapons are the uzi, that has quite a fire spread, but it also fires relatively fast. His automatic shotgun fires two bursts pretty fast but has a small downtime after the shot. It’s best to switch to the uzi while the shotgun is reloading.

Wang is a vulnerable character with only two health points, but he compensates with increased movement speed while he uses the melee attack and the fastest ultimate build up in IHRB.