198X Reviews
The game does leave you wanting more but ultimately promises more of Kid and their soul-searching adventure through video games in the future. If you’re looking for a quick jog down memory lane filled with nostalgia and a strong emotional core, then 198X will not disappoint.
It is indeed a great history lesson on the golden age of the arcades, but a short one, with low replayability.
Review in Italian | Read full review
198X is a heartfelt tribute to arcade games, a door with a neon sign that leads into a bright and pleasantly noisy game room. It is not only this, because the indie title also tells a story, a drama that, in some ways, has a lot in common with many gamers, not only those who have lived through the era of arcades, but also the younger ones.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The first episode of 198X is an homage to the best and most iconic arcade games of the 80s, but tells a really trivial and generic story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Instead it comes off more like a homage to similar tales.
While 198X isn’t going to blow you away with its story, it will make you nostalgic for the arcades of old. The pixelated art style, the impressive soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro that sounds like it was ripped from an episode of Stranger Things, and the incredibly short play time of right around 2 hours was a package that feels deserving of its $9.99 price tag, and even more so if it includes the yet to be dated Part 2. My biggest gripe is that you can’t select to play the 5 games individually from the main menu after rolling the credits.
Although it's fantastic to be able to experience 5 completely different gameplay styles, 198X's campaign is over within an hour or so and all you can do after that is replay its brief chapters again and again.
A mawkish attempt to glorify the 80s that features some gorgeous visuals and music but offers no real insight into the era's culture or games.
198X is a throwback mash-up of five very brief genre excursions with an overwrought story of growing up thrown on top.
198X is a true love letter to the old arcade genre : through a retro trip of five different mini games, Hi-Bit's celebration only manages to copy and paste tiny bits of classic ones. Thanks to a clich' narration, 198X does nothing but tell how good the past used to be, and how much the present suck. If you still possess the original, there is not much need to play this wanabee experience.
Review in French | Read full review