Abathor PS5 Review. If you’re not watching Bluey episodes endlessly on repeat these days then what are you doing with your life? It’s a brilliantly put together cartoon that will have you nostalgically chuckling constantly.
So why do I bring up a kids cartoon here in a video game review I hear you ask. Well, simply put – Lucky’s Dad’s rules. Bluey Season 3 Episode 13: Pass The Parcel. While setting up a game of pass the parcel for a birthday party, Lucky’s Dad puts his foot down and refuses to put a present in every layer. “We’re raising a nation of squibs” he declares as he just puts one present in the middle – “the proper way” as he did it as a kid back in the 80’s.
Video games used to be hard. The ruthless nature of games with finite lives and challenging gameplay didn’t happen by accident. It was born out of the arcade era where the aim was to siphon as many coins from your pocket as possible. There was no saving, no memory cards or hard drives, when your lives and coins were gone that was it. Start from scratch again next time.
Abathor, a 16-bit action platformer from small Spanish indie developer Pow Pixel Games, leans heavily into the old style games like Golden Axe and Castlevania from my childhood.
Abathor Review (PS5) – Is The Axe You Grind Golden?
Throwback
Right from the character selection screen, you feel the influence of those old games, while the key art screams, Conan the Barbarian or He-Man even… “I have the POWER!”. Players have the option of playing as one of 4 mighty heroes with differing stats, abilities and rage of attacks.
There’s true variety here as each character feels genuinely different and unique to play as to the point where the choice can make for the feeling that you are playing an entirely different game. It can be played solo or multiplayer for 2-4 people, with the option for both online play or couch co-op. Imagine that… in real-life multiplayer!
Furthermore, you get to choose from three different game modes: Adventure Mode, Heroic Mode and Epic Mode. Heroic was absolutely my only way forward being the default option of how the game should be experienced. Beating this mode also opens up the locked Epic mode, offering up an extra stage and the true ending for the game.
The developer has been kind enough to include the Adventure mode for any squibs who want a present in every layer. Only cheat codes would get us 99 credits back in the day. It’s all-in retro style speaks to the Mega Drive blood that runs through my veins and I love it.
Retro Vibe
The look, feel and sound of Abathor is wonderful. Its world and characters are beautifully realised in detailed pixelart that is brought to life with exquisite animation. There’s mood, grit and minute detailing in abundance. Parallax backgrounds give depth to the world and the glorious beats of the soundtrack give an epic retro vibe to the adventure.
The colour palette used throughout gives an authentic presentation of the early 90s titles. If you told me it was running on a Sega cartridge I would believe you, no questions asked. Retro collectors will be glad to find here that there is a physical release of the game in both a standard edition and a collectors edition. You love to see it, and long may physical releases continue.
If At First You Don’t Succeed
Abathor sets you on a quest to close the Gates of Abathor, left open by the greedy Atlantean civilization who were thirsty for unlimited power. In their blindness to achieve said power they unleashed the demons that lay beyond the gates upon the world. The demons emerged hell bent on a flurry of destruction to annihilate everything in their path.
Playing on the default Heroic mode, you are granted five credits with which to achieve this task. Clear all levels in a stage and you are granted a checkpoint save. So your goal is clear: finish the stage before you lose all lives or else start fresh again from your previously hit checkpoint (if you managed to get to one at all).
You begin with your chosen characters base stats and can customise your build by purchasing upgrades from a merchant at different points throughout your playthrough. The currency to spend on your build are garnered in levels by opening chests and slaying demons.
On completing a level you offer up the souls of the demons to the Gods, and if you’ve defeated enough you are rewarded handsomely with a monetary bonus. It means that instead of just rushing past demons in the levels you are actually focused on killing as many as possible to aid your stat boosting.
If you die or exit the game any gear you are carrying is exchanged for a nice starting pot of cash. It’s a nice design as it allows for some experimentation with different upgrades for different characters as you plan your quest towards glory.
What may feel at first like a trivial set of enemy demons to tackle, ramps up in challenge nicely as you progress. Praise has to go to the developer for putting together not only a nicely balanced challenge but also delivering an array of nicely designed enemies and bosses with differing attack and movement patterns. It keeps you on your toes striving for mastery constantly.
A stand out for me was finally beating one of the bosses Hekatombe. It was a punch the air moment of gratification for honing my skills, keeping the belief alive and having faith in my abilities to slay all that lay ahead.
My go-to was playing as Kritias. His increased agility fitted my play-style perfectly and his Crecsent Slash attack had me satisfyingly slaying demons Shoryuken uppercut style. I moved towards grabbing the 15% merchant discount first for my build so that spending power would be slightly stretched. I’d then grab the health increase followed by the attack power to give a nice solid basis.
The journey is kept fresh with differing environments, bosses and level types. There’s even a good old minecart level; is a game even a game if it doesn’t have a minecart stage? Everything comes together nicely for a challenging and addictive adventure that rewards pushing through and honing your skills.
The only minor gripes I have are firstly with the presentation of the lore on the map screens. It’s quite text dense and could do with being tweaked to space out the large blocks of text for a more comfortable reading experience. Secondly, there are a couple of instances where hit detection felt slightly punishing. While not deal breaking, a little refinement in those spots would be welcome.
In an era of tribalism, fake outrage and review bombing we should have more trust and faith that great developers will make great games and Abathor is just that – a great game.
Abathor is available now on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by PR.