Summer Game Fest surprised old-school gaming fans with the announcement of a sequel 30 years in the making.
Flashback 2 was announced during the show, and it's coming to practically every video game system on the market. It marks the first appearance of the popular sci-fi adventure franchise in three decades, following a 1995 sequel that has been largely lost to time.
In the original 1992 game, Flashback: The Quest for Identity, players take on the role of Conrad Hart, a man with no memory and no identity. Eventually, players discover a recorded message with clues and hints, pointing towards an invasion of shape-shifting aliens that only he can stop. The game was a cultural and critical smash hit with releases across MS-DOS, Amiga consoles and, most notably, the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.
Despite the sequel's surprise announcement as one long in the making, Flashback has maintained a healthy presence in the gaming market. A sequel, Fade to Black, was released in 1995. It didn't receive the same explosive success as the original, but it was still well-received. A remake of the original Flashback was also released in 2013 to middling reviews. While the original and remake versions of Flashback have been re-released on PC, Fade to Black has fallen into obscurity and is now considered abandonware. It's not yet known if Fade to Black will factor into Flashback 2.
Flashback 2, slated for a 2022 release, will release for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles, as well as for PC. The game is being developed by Microids, who is perhaps best known for the Syberia series and 2020's XIII remake.