Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗Black Future '88
SUPERSCARYSNAKES · Published by Good Shepherd Entertainment, Surefire.Games · Official site ↗
Mostly Positive — 72% positive (750 reviews) · Metacritic 74 · 29 achievements
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
Black Future ’88 is a Synth-Punk roguelike 2D action Shooter. Vertically climb an always evolving procedural tower to reach the top and kill its insane owner…before your heart explodes. Shoot, slash, dash and upgrade yourself to survive the endless waves of Homicidal AI, Traps & Colossal Wardens.
£16.75
Lowest price we've ever recorded
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£16.75
Price history
3 Sept 2026Lowest: £16.75 · Highest: £16.759 Oct 2026
Action, Adventure · 2019 · More £15 - £30 games
Embark on an intense climb through Black Future '88's ever-evolving tower, fighting Homicidal AI and Colossal Wardens while upgrading your skills to survive endless waves of danger.
About this game
Black Future ’88 is a Synth-Punk roguelike 2D action Shooter. Vertically climb an always evolving procedural tower to reach the top and kill its insane owner…before your heart explodes. Shoot, slash, dash and upgrade yourself to survive the endless waves of deadly traps, homicidal AI, crazed junkies and colossal Wardens standing in your way in a stylish alternative version of 1988.
The world is reeling from a nuclear cataclysm, created by Duncan, the tower architect. The First of his bombs fell in the summer of 1988, and by December they had blacked-out the sun with endless rain. We decided to stop keeping time after this, and it’s been 1988 ever since. Everything that lived through the initial attack will die in the extreme floods that followed. These are the times after, where there are no more months, or even weeks…everything is measured in minutes left to live.
Take on the mantle of one of the last remaining misfit survivors, and fight your way to the top of the tower to kill the architect and stop the endless nuclear rain. Ascend to die, and die to survive.
Game Features
- Death Ascendant: Climb an always evolving procedural tower and fight for survival through a constant onslaught of death by fire, lasers, and slashes.
- Unique Synth-Punk World: Play through a unique take on a retro cyberpunk dystopia, and fight to survive through 5 distinct zones each with their own challenges.
- Pick Your Poison: Play as one of 5 playable characters, each with their own unique buffs- and weaknesses.
- Ruin Friendships: Test your wits and reflexes with a friend in couch co-op, and experience a completely unique take on the co-op roguelike.
- Kill the Wardens: Fight for survival by challenging the numerous unique bosses that guard each one of the game’s zones.
- Fog Machines and Laser Beams: Bring a gun and laser sword to a fire fight by arming yourself with a selection of the 50 unique weapons available in the game, each with their own unique effects.
- Evolve to Survive: The only way to survive when everything, including your own heart, is trying to kill you is to carefully boost or curse yourself by strategically choosing- and combining from 30 distinct buffs and curses.
- Dailies: Every day, a new challenge is generated with unique attributes that will test your mettle and allow you to see how your skills compare against other players in a global Leaderboard. Fight for not just survival, but supremacy!
- Ear Candy: Death never sounded so good thanks to an all killer original analog-synth soundtrack.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
Minimum:
- OS *: Windows 7 or later
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 (2*1866) or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: GeForce 7600 GS (512 MB) or equivalent
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Supported Languages
English*, French, German, Russian, Simplified Chinese
*languages with full audio support
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
OST Update
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32335434/417ee959d0777fd21afcb0300c8e5e2f757d0703.jpg Greetings All, We've heard your many requests for the new music tracks that were introduced in the last two content updates to be officially added to the standalone Soundtrack here on Steam. We're happy to report that the Soundtrack has been updated and the following thumping new tracks should now be automatically available for anyone who owns the OST here on Steam: Track 14: Oh Shadow Track 15: Young Miranda In addition to this, we just updated the game's looks with a brand new cover art featuring everyone's favorite misfits. We hope that you are as in love with it as we are and really look forward to hearing what you think of the new coat of paint. These are all just small sparks that we hope will lead to exciting new fires soon. So please keep an eye out on this space for future new announcements/releases. Stay Tuned!Read full article on Community Announcements (Good Shepherd Entertainment)AnnouncementsOfficial
Pre-Order the LP Original Soundtrack from Black Future '88
Happy weekend everyone, We’re thrilled to share that you can now Pre-Order the addictive LP Original Soundtrack from Black Future '88 by developer Don Bellenger. It’s a great way to appreciate your favorite synth-punk score from the game of a dystopian future envisaged in an alternative past… or just simply chair dance. 😉 13 tracks have been specially mastered for vinyl and pressed onto a heavyweight 180g LP in traditional black. The sleeve artwork is by 2D artist Zac Bolubasz (who is also the game’s lead artist.) The sleeve has a special metallic gold and silver finish and is printed on Mirri board. Plus, it just looks sick. Shipping in October 2020. Order here. While the music is amazing, there are many more aspects to the game we are focused on. We'll be sharing more news about Black Future '88 itself in a later update. Stay tuned! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32335434/ec79a6fbcac100adf54246293ecff8bff52bdfa1.pngRead full article on Community Announcements (Good Shepherd Entertainment)Patch NotesOfficial
Black Future '88 Content Update 2
Greetings All, We're continuing to listen to your calls for new content and are loving your videos and comments. We plan to continue to update and add content in the future and keep the momentum going, so please let us know your thoughts in the Steam Forum and on Discord. Here's the latest! Level cap extended to 75 New Weapon: The Big Brother Macro-doser. A slower but heavier grenade repeater. New Weapon: Thick Repeater: A heavy melee weapon that will reap through enemies when you hit a stasis'd (that's a word now) target. New Buff: Fever Dream: Regain deadlock time when killing enemies while at high combo levels New Tower Buff: Austerity Measures- Tower Wardens no longer drop health and ammo packs {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32335434/16ca910b1df1a2c509fa78504c19976ff6fae394.pngRead full article on Community Announcements (Good Shepherd Entertainment)AnnouncementsOfficial
Black Future '88 Content Drop
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32335434/216593575fa4173d96d3d78702e81f2a4879dc94.jpg We've read your content suggestions in the forum thread here and in Discord. Now from the twisted mind of Super Scary Snakes, we introduce the Heavy Culture Update. About the Heavy Culture update This update focuses on more time-based mechanics. The big feature is that the timebank has been changed to not cost health, but to allow the player to grow a deadlock culture that takes some time to grow. Example: Iota Culture costs 4 minutes to start, and it will take 6 minutes to grow, but upon collecting it it will give the player 5 minutes back. This gives players more ability to invest in their late game at an early point in the run, and also alows more players to feel the joy of time pressure. Players must pick up their culture from a different fixture that started it. Players can now sometimes find the Tower Hacker in the tower next to the P.E.R.X. stations. She costs money to interact with, and she costs more money each time you talk to her in that run. She'll hack the P.E.R.X. station to hack buffs away from skymelt, but doing so means the P.E.R.X. can't be used for player buffs. New Content! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32335434/802be6adcf1aa72f8cbb0ae1852235611cb0bd0d.gif Deadly Cultures: Alpha Culture- Costs:2m, Grow Time: 3m, Total Yield: 110% Beta Culture- Costs:8m, Ggrow Time: 6m, Total Yield: 125% Tau Culture- Costs:4m, Grow Time: 3m, Total Yield: 120% Iota Culture- Costs:4m, Grow Time: 6m, Total Yield: 125% Gamma Culture- Costs:1m, Grow Time: 1m, Total Yield: 100% Omega Culture- Costs 14m(!!!), Grow Time: 2m, Total Yield: 120% {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32335434/d76e5518bdee193c818e160286f0d62e27f279e2.gif Weapons: Rail Spike- New melee weapon type, does more damage at the tip. Ceramic Spike- A breakable version of the rail spike Blak Spike- A Rail Spike weapon that costs time to use, but gives time refunds when striking enemies with the tip. Stasis Spike- A stasis version of the rail spike that stuns e...Read full article on Community Announcements (Good Shepherd Entertainment)Press Coverage
Daily Deal - Black Future '88, 25% Off
Today's Deal: Save 25% on Black Future '88!* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Sunday at 10AM Pacific TimeRead full article on Announcement (Valve)
