Midnight Fury - Early Access [Impressions]
VHS-era 1980s-inspired bloody zombie mayhem fuels Midnight Fury.
Midnight Fury. Credit: LizardWish
Midnight Fury is a 2D shooter from developer LizardWish that plays like a 1990s arcade game, features a retro VHS aesthetic, and draws on 1980s dystopian film influences, particularly Escape from New York. It’s a spin on arcade and console classic Smash TV, itself inspired by 1980s film classics Running Man and Robocop.
From Steam:
In a parallel timeline, Vietnam veterans unknowingly brought a virus back to their countries. Several years later, this virus began affecting some people, turning them into semi-intelligent zombies. The government confined them to quarantine zones. Max Cobra, a former Vietnam veteran, was lucky enough not to be affected by the virus, but he needed to make money. He turned this disaster into an opportunity. While cleaning zombies in different quarantine zones, he illegally turned these actions into a local TV show. He found some sponsors and teammates to support him. The show became so popular that it still breaks viewing records on VHS tapes.
Midnight Fury. Credit: LizardWish
Midnight Fury’s protagonist, Max Cobra, is Escape from New York’s Snake Plissken, except in a wheelchair that can be upgraded to have rocket boosters. He rolls around in a 2D arena, with zombies encroaching on both sides. You must kill as many zombies as possible within each round’s time limit to earn money, with bonuses for things like headshot chains and corporate ads that run based on your performance.
The wheelchair makes the game mechanically interesting because it introduces a limitation you must manage. Since Max needs his hands to operate the wheels, he can’t fire his gun while moving along the ground. It makes you manage space and timing far more carefully. Getting headshots quickly becomes essential if you don’t want to be immediately overwhelmed by the undead.
Midnight Fury. Credit: LizardWish
Between each game, you can buy upgrades and weapons from a shop with the cash you’ve earned. This adds a roguelite progression system to the game, as you’re allowed to keep all of the upgrades between each of your runs. In the game’s current version, there aren’t many upgrades available. There are a handful for Max’s wheelchair, including horizontal and vertical rockets, extra fuel, recoil protection, and a powerup magnet.
Likewise, there are only a few weapons that function as temporary powerups; if you call in a weapon drop, you’ll use it until it runs out of ammo, then return to your default gun. After getting some necessary upgrades, you can also call in teammates inspired by other film characters of the 1980s—John McClane, Mr. T, Rambo, Robocop, Doc Brown, and more.
Midnight Fury. Credit: LizardWish
I enjoyed the game’s aesthetics and visuals. The graphics are all pixel art, and together with the gameplay, they make the game feel like something I could have played in an arcade in the early 1990s. Of course, this game would have turned heads at that time for how bloody it is, but the fountains of blood that come out of zombies are a nice touch. Midnight Fury features AI voicework, which bothered me at first, but its robotic, clipped sound is spot-on for the kind of voice samples a game of that era might have had.
If you enjoy arcade shooters, Midnight Fury is worth checking out. I think the game needs more content in terms of progression before it’s ready to leave Early Access and I can’t wait to see what 1.0 looks like six months from now. I’ll be keeping my eye on it.
Midnight Fury is available now on Steam Early Access.
Played on: Steam Deck
