Crossniq+

This review won't be so much about the game itself as much as dumb rambling about its aesthetic, because the game itself is simple and effective enough to understand from reading "About This Game" and is more than effectively engaging like the best puzzle games are. I still hope what I'm going to pass along will be interesting enough, because while this game only portrays a sampling of what the "Y2K" aesthetic was really like, it would be nice to see far more of it, especially after the tiresome more than decade-long glut of narrow rose-tinted 80s aesthetics (and I can get nitpicky about how accurate and common those 80s aesthetics actually were overall, but that would be more appropriate when discussing another game with them).

While I say the "Y2K" aesthetic sampling here was a small part of numerous trends from around the time, which was actually burgeoning mostly before the new millennium as early as 1994 (possibly earlier), this game does accurately portray the specific tone it's going for. It seems mostly inspired by Dreamcast era gaming from around 1999 and 2000 and in particular what has long been dubbed "retrofuturism" which showcases futuristic vibes and ideas from an earlier era, "The future as seen from the past." Even then, this particular artistic movement at the time was still more appropriately dubbed "neo-futurism" because the 90s in general, but especially around Y2K, was seeped in an increasing sense of hope for the future, hence the interest in it. Despite any remaining problems in the world (and don't kids yourselves, there were still plenty of problems even then), people were optimistic about the times coming after the start of the new millennium, almost as if it felt like a new beginning, a dawning of a golden age for humanity.

And then 9/11 happened and virtually killed all of that overnight. Well, in-process stragglers were still coming here and there a year or so afterward, but the trend was essentially as good as dead even if it was still around at all (and thus isn't really a 2000s aesthetic, really don't like that it's at all mistaken as such since it barely survived into it). Since that time, a general sense of despair has hit much of the world, with not much having arrived to stem that tide despite some progress. Also, much of the fashion and media at the time was so ridiculously colorless it made the already dreary times seem even more dreary than they needed to be. This has partially led to a more widespread sense of nostalgia in younger people not so optimistic about the future - not that the 80s and 90s didn't have any nostalgia, it mostly stemmed from the 50s and 60s respectively - with particularly the 80s nostalgia, with it's ball rolling since the mid-2000s, somehow far outlasting its actual time period in some part due to this. It's almost as if the 90s is trying to butt in and have its time like some kid waiting for a ride whining, "Hey, it's my turn," with the fat, greedy 80s kid stubbornly hogging all of the room available (fitting considering greed was a trope of the 80s, after all). It's also telling that much of what widespread nostalgia of the 90s there is currently generally features the earliest years which tended to blend in with late 80s aesthetics, as if the fat, greedy 80s kid was like, "Well, okay, maybe you can get on the backside, but I'm still king here, okay?"

But the thing is, anyone who has actually looked into the 80s as a whole tends to realize the time period wasn't as great as people tend to remember. If anything, in hindsight, the time period kinda sucked, but it was also kinda colorful (though not quite as much as people remember) and kids growing up then had a blast, as kids tend to. Same with the 90s as well, but here's the thing: like with the 80s, much of what people remember about the 90s wasn't really the 90s. I'd argue if you want to know more of what the 90s was really like, it's actually more stuff like this game, Crossniq+, that represents it better, what with it pulling from an artistic movement that actually represented attitudes at the time even if that was unintentional. But at least that would be fitting, being nostalgic about a time period when people were actually optimistic about the future, in a future where optimism is dying if not dead. There are plenty of other tropes of the 90s that can be emulated, such as the anti-authority "counterculture" and hardcore grunginess, but either way this is definitely a breath of fresh air peeking out from underneath the fat, greedy 80s kid on the ride. Hopefully we can get more of this so that kid can finally be toppled from the ride and the 90s can actually have a proper turn on the damn thing.

also yeah this game is good and stuff, go buy