For 21 years, a certain minimalist platformer has been building a legend – whether you know it as the Flash game N, the Xbox Live Arcade title N+, or its modern form in N++, it's been renowned for its deep physics, extreme difficulty, and ridiculous amount of content. 10 years on from the launch of N++, however, developer Metanet Software still isn't done yet. The studio has cooked up a new set of challenges so devious you might need another decade to beat them.
"It's hard to believe it's been ten entire years since N++ was first released," the devs say in a Steam announcement. "It seems like a lifetime ago, but also yesterday. We're really proud to have realized the definitive version of our take on hardcore parkour platforming, and are so happy that it has resonated with so many of you."
With the anniversary in mind, the devs say they've created "a gift" for fans: "some super hard super-secret Solo levels, a lot of quite hard multiplayer levels, a bunch of new colour schemes, and a few assorted bugfixes. Some of these levels are so challenging that it'll take you ten more years to beat them!"
The trailer above describes these new stages as "our most challenging levels yet," and argues that there's "no way anyone 100%'s it." I'm sure the community will take that bet, but that's no idle threat here – HowLongToBeat records suggest that it takes the better part of 1,000 hours to 100% the base version of N++, and I'm sure this update is going to add a whole lot to that total.
But perhaps the most intriguing of the promises in that trailer is that this update, dubbed TEN++, is "just the beginning." The studio's "next game is in development, and we can't wait to tell you more!" Of course, they will wait to tell us more – no details on the new game are available just, but at least you'll have a pile of uber-tough platforming challenges to bang your head against while you wait.
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