Odd Tales originally debuted The Last Night, a pixel-parallax cyberpunk adventure game, a few months ago. However, during the Microsoft E3 press conference the developers managed to have their title showcased on the big stage in front of everyone, and people absolutely ate it up.

The cyberpunk game instantly began trending thanks to its unique take on the pixel art-style while combining it with a stark dystopian atmosphere and setting. The trailer that was on display during Microsoft’s conference was also published on the Raw Fury YouTube channel, the indie publishers helping Odd Tales get the title up and out for PC and Xbox One starting next year in 2018. You can check out the minute and a half long trailer below, featuring “Acid Rain” from Lorn.

Tiom Soret is heading up the direction of the game, and the mix of 3D environments and sprites overlaying vector actors helps give the game it’s really unique visual depiction.

Essentially the developers were able to use the sprites to undulate spectrums of light and shadows over them as if they were 3D objects. This is made abundantly clear with the one scene where various characters walk from in front of a neon blue-lit storefront that casts blue hues over their specular highlights, to under a blood-orange lamp where the highlights appropriately shift to red.

It looks gorgeous.

The added effects of god-rays and light bleeding also helps bring the atmosphere and cityscape to life. The added elements of dynamic shadows helps illustrate dimension and perspective, as evident in the image below.

Another really awesome sequence is the main character on a hovering car, where the foreground consists of tattered homes off to the side while the main character surfs the rooftop of the vehicle – some excellent use of dither and post-processing effects such as bokeh depth of field helps illuminate the focus of the scene.

This could end up being a surprise hit of the season when it launches in 2018.

While a lot of indie hipsters have worn out the 8-bit pixel style with a lot of cash-in games, Raw Fury and Odd Tales are moving in the opposite direction by using pixel inspired visuals to elevate them to the next level by infusing them with vibrant backgrounds that tell a story of poverty, excess, nihilism and apathy.

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more from The Last Night, and it’s right up there with A Way Out as one of my personal favorites from this year’s E3 showcase.