Systems: Windows, Linux
Release Date: TBD
Publisher: JanduSoft
Developer: Pow Pixel Games
Time Spent: 42 Minutes
You know, I thought I was going to like Abathor even though I went through various stages of "Oh, this is going to be cool. Oh, wait. Oh, yeah okay. Oh, wait. Well, maybe. Hmmm. Yeah, maybe not. Maybe?"
When I first looked at the title card for Abathor while browsing available games during Steam's Next Fest, I thought I was going to be jumping into something akin to Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. A top-down dungeon crawling with Conan the Barbarian-styled enemies and settings. Then I saw that it was a side-scrolling platformer, and I was still fine with that choice. So it was going to be closer to maybe Golden Axe or Castlevania with pixelated characters and more of an ActRaiser style of action. And it kind of was that, but not quite, although there was a purposefully pixelated look to the characters and world design that I really liked. When I started the game, the title screen and accompanying music were exactly what I was hoping for. There was an arcade feel to the number of credits you start with, and the character select screen reminded me of something like The Chronicles of Mystara. The only potential hangup, which I will get to further down, is that this was likely intended to be played as couch co-op, not on a Steam Deck while lying in bed at 11:45 PM. So all of the ingredients were there before I even started playing for Abathor to be exactly what I wanted it to be.
But it wasn't. It was just kind of meh. I played two different characters, although I only made it to the second world with the mage Azaes, and I only made it past the first stage out of five with the Amazon/Valkyrie Tyrs Flare stand-in Sais. Both characters had their standard attacks although their specialization and class played a larger part in how the characters controlled and their respective abilities than those in Golden Axe. Here, Sais had a shield and could block and parry enemy attacks, while the mage Azaes had a dagger/shortsword that wasn't useless and could cast a basic spell as well as absorb elements from certain enemies and then use fire spells.
Scattered around the map were treasure chests of varying sizes and elaborateness which presumably meant that the fancier chests had more gold; I also assume that they might give out more gold and treasure if you're playing with other people, otherwise, there are going to be a lot of hurt feelings. The point of the gold, which only seems to come from chests and not from killing enemies, is to horde it like a miser until you come to a merchant who sells permanent upgrades and consumables. I would assume that the inventory is tailored towards a specific character and differs for each player so that someone playing the mage Azaes might opt for a 10% boost to magical damage compared to Sais. Or at least the inventory count is not, for instance, only one Ring of Mestor. But maybe it is that kind of game?
The last stage in each world, again I presume because I only made it to the first stage in the second world, ends in an artistically pixelly impressive boss fight that felt more intimidating than actually difficult. The fight itself was intense in the way that a boss fight in Dark Souls can be. You watch the move-set and figure out how far of a reach the boss has and how long the wait is between certain attacks, then you just try to get in as many hits while dodging its attacks. I know, it's a lot easier said than done and it feels like the game is trying to force you into making a mistake, especially when you've taken a few hits and the boss is down to fewer than 20% HP. It personally took me two attempts to take out the Kraken.
I can see the appeal in Abathor, especially as a couch co-op multiplayer game which is made more evident with the trailer featuring no fewer than three players at any given time. Some games are meant to be played with other people, as Abathor felt this way, leaving the solo player experience feeling unoptimized, bland, and uninteresting.
~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Live For Today, Gone Tomorrow
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