Pow Pixel Games is breaking into the indie game scene with Abathor, an arcade-style throwback to the awesome belt sliders of the 80s and 90s. It’s an endearingly old-fashioned hack-‘n’-slash platformer that will bring back childhood couch memories.
Golden Ax is an obvious influence, despite the side perspective, but there are also shades of more recent pixelated homages. The heavy metal aesthetic is reminiscent of the dark fantasy of Slain and Blasphemous, though its tone is much lighter than those games. Character designs, power-ups, and enemies are taken directly from genre media. Abathor wears these influences proudly. It doesn’t try to do anything different and that makes it even more fun.
The story is set in the mythical land of Atlantis, where humanity’s arrogance has caused all kinds of beasts to overrun the world. A group of heroes must fight to close the gates of Abathor and send the demons back from where they came. Apart from it being a good excuse to use the word ‘whence’, the plot explanation is so simple. The game is made to jump in and get as far as you can with the lives you’re given – Pow Pixel wants to make things as simple as possible. There are some tutors available to study between levels, but nothing too deep.
The complexity comes through in your choice of heroes, with each bringing a set of moves that can significantly change the way you fight Atlantis’ horde of monsters.
Barbarian Crantor has a great sword swing and dodge that will carry him through enemy attacks, which will be a familiar tactic for Dead Cells veterans. Sais favors sword and board, with a time block that can deflect most incoming damage. Kritias, which has the coolest design, has a fast basic attack and a jumping kick. Finally, Azaes is a resident sorcerer – he can ‘rob the souls’ of enemies to boost his attack.
All the main characters are useful, their unique abilities make certain situations easier than it would be for the other three heroes. Crantor’s roll is perhaps the most useful as it applies to every encounter. Sais’s block is a frequent save, although it can’t deter everything. Kritias and Azaes take longer to master and their abilities require several runs to take advantage of.
Along with the hero’s skill level, there are traditional difficulty levels. They drastically reduce the amount of credits (a concept that contributes to that arcade feel) you’re given before the game ends.
In addition to the hero’s basic attacks and abilities, you’ll find summons scattered throughout the levels. These are designed to get you out of a tight spot and often come in the form of screen-filling weapons of mass destruction. Some are smaller but more useful, like a small totem that floats around shooting enemies from a distance, or hovering heads that aim at targets. You only get one slot for a bank of these summons, so it’s always tempting to save a good one for a boss fight.
As for those boss encounters, they adhere to the old arcade tradition of terrifying, colossal monsters. Each zone ends with Krakens, screen-filling lava beasts, spectral knights, and whatever else your nightmares can conjure up. These climatic beasts complement a healthy selection of normal enemy designs.
Facing the evil rampage in Atlantis is perfectly viable solo, but the big draw here is the four-player co-op. The old arcade titles that Abathor aims to emulate were always more fun with friends and that remains true here. It’s great fun blasting your way through monsters as a team, mixing up each character’s unique abilities and casting multiple summons. It also makes some boss fights much more manageable.
There is a reward system based on kills, which add up after each level. The player with the most kills gets a prize, like a crown in Super Mario 3D World. That’s the only competitive element, the game leaves it up to you to punish those who don’t pull their weight.
In the spirit of teamwork, lives are shared throughout the party and are only consumed when everyone clears. Hitting checkpoint crystals around the levels will bring other players back. You can happily relive all those moments when the other player is to blame for that Game Over screen.
But not everything is rosy nostalgia. Combat is often at odds with the limited movement of the player sprite. Jumping feels difficult, and the verticality of some levels doesn’t lend itself well to managing enemy attacks. You can end the run early by trying to hit a group of bats as they hang from the rope. This, however, is true to the difficult experiences of the past years.
It would also be nice to have some modern quality of life improvements during the campaign. Levels consist of themed zones, each of which contains multiple levels. Vendors along the way sell upgrades and special items that you can spend your gold on. Reloading a save returns you to the beginning of the zone, without any upgrades you’ve purchased since the start of the run. Co-op only has to be selected from the main menu, so if you’re deep into a solo run and want a friend to join you, you’ll have to sacrifice upgrades and progress to turn them on.
Despite these odd design flaws, Abathor is a successful approximation of the arcade-style side-scrolling action games of coin-op and early console generations.
Conclusion
An ode to the arcade hack-‘n’-slash genre, Abathor offers an old-school experience, for better or for worse. The added novelty of bringing four-player co-op anywhere with an untethered Switch, the simple controls mean four Joy-Cons are more than comfortable, and the gorgeous pixel art looks great on a smaller screen. It sounds great too, and the co-op is great fun with a few adventurers on the couch.
