Landmark action game Flashback is getting a sequel 30 years later

Flashback, the cult 1992 platformer from storied French studio Delphine Software International, is getting a sequel 30 years later. On Tuesday, publisher Microids announced via Twitter that Flashback 2 is in production and set to arrive in 2022 on consoles and PC.

Further information is scant, but what’s curious is that Flashback already has a sequel: the 1995 PC/PlayStation game Fade to Black, in addition to a 2013 remake from VectorCell, a now-defunct studio headed up by Paul Cuisset, director of the original Flashback.

Both follow-ups lacked what made the first Flashback such a striking game: the novelty of its rotoscoped animation, which made protagonist Conrad Hart move with a realism akin to Prince of Persia or Another World. Combine that with an unusual focus on story for an action-platformer, and Flashback has all the markers of a cult hit, one that is remarkably easy to play, as a remaster is available on most platforms.

As its existing sequels have shown, it’s hard to follow-up Flashback in a modern style that doesn’t just feel like a generic action game — rotoscoping really went a long way in the early ‘90s. Perhaps Flashback 2 will surprise us all.