Shakedown: Hawaii is Over-the-Top Parody Action by makers of Retro City Rampage

Vblank Entertainment has released a new gameplay trailer for their newest game, Shakedown: Hawaii. The independent game studio is best known for their 2012 game Retro City Rampage. Similar to their first game, Shakedown: Hawaii is a top-down open-world action-adventure game basking in nostalgic aesthetics.

Shakedown: Hawaii is once again sporting pixel-art visuals but looks highly improved compared to Retro City Rampage’s decidedly more classic low-fi style. The parodical portrayal of an aged CEO who has zero morals and whose only goal is to become mega-successful by any means, fits just perfect with the colorful island setting, reminiscing of the wild 80s. Check out the newest gameplay trailer!

As the game’s title might suggest, you will play the role of a white-collar criminal, a nefarious businessman who uses all tricks in the book to establish a corporate empire. The setting is pretty funny, with the game’s anti-hero being a washed-out ex-TV personality who grows angry after realizing he’s no longer the Big Guy on the island. Now, he’s on a quest to own the entire island and destroy all competition. Obstacles in the way will be dealt swiftly and without mercy by any means necessary. Whether it’s sabotage, manipulating the markets, acquiring property by force or arbitrarily re-zoning land, no tactic is too low for you!

Developer Vblank initially unveiled Shakedown: Hawaii a couple years ago and it took the team another year until we got some more meaty details in 2017, but it once again got quite around the game ever since. Being a small game studio and aiming at a large open-world with various gameplay elements meant a lot of work and time. From creating tools and adapting engines to enable driving, shooting and more, to the actual crafting of in-game assets and time-consuming pixel-art, Shakedown: Hawaii is an ambitious project that just needs lots of time.

As such, it’s a very nice surprise that the developer has released a new gameplay trailer during last weekend’s PAX West gaming expo. Check out the most recent blog post where the developer details the setting, tone and mechanics of Shakedown: Hawaii extensively.

Shakedown: Hawaii will release on PC, PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS but there’s no release date as of now.