14 DAY TRIAL // Next up in our Softpedia Game of the Year 2014 series is my most expected game of 2015, an unknown indie side-scrolling action role-playing game titled Apotheon.
There are a handful of great AAA games that I should be looking forward to next year, but instead, I always find myself keeping tabs on various indie gems that manage to capture my attention much more than what the likes of Rainbow Six: Siege or Dying Light are capable of.
Sure, I can't wait to get my hands on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but doesn't everybody? Tom Clancy's The Division looks interesting enough too, but what I'm really itching for is something much too modest to fly high on many people's radars.
One of the games I'm most looking forward to in 2015 is Alientrap's Apotheon, a 2D action platformer set in ancient Greece, with a unique graphical style inspired by ancient pottery art.
That art style was what caught my attention first and foremost, and I was then seduced by the promise of epic journeys through the fascinating canvas of Greek mythology.
I used to read a lot of stories inspired by the woes of man and the gods when I was a kid, and it's still something that strikes a resonating chord in me, with the exception of the "Clash of the Titans" films, the God of War games, or the other ungodly adaptations that lack any kind of soul and are seemingly created for people who routinely watch Jersey Shore fist pump tutorials.
The perfect storm
In any case, whenever I see something that tackles the subject, I get excited instantly, in hopes of finding that elusive gem that will capture the epic feeling of Hercules' labors or Theseus' adventures and be able to convey it in a satisfying manner.
As any third-person clickfest is pretty much the same to me since playing the Legacy of Kain series and I don't even remember how many Prince of Persia titles, I would really like a different incarnation of the action-adventure genre, and 2D platformer fits the bill perfectly, as I have an irrational fondness of the old-school classics, like Blackthorne or Another World.
In addition to this, I also enjoyed DrinkBox Studios' Guacamelee a lot, as it represents a good mix of interesting gameplay mechanics married to a superb visual style that I would heartily recommend for anyone to try.
All in all, Apotheon meets every criterion for my Spidey sense to tingle like crazy, and I am already waiting for the damned thing to come out for around a year now, so it's also tricking my brain that it's something worthwhile, since my brain is periodically thinking about it and it has to justify the spent resources somehow.
A lot of potential
I followed the developers' blog and noticed several things that hold a ton of potential, at least in theory. The trailers released so far are very well put together, with fantastic music and simple but compelling visuals, that hold a surprising variety, in spite of the fact that they're basically just colored silhouettes.
Apotheon is touted as a role-playing game, in the vein of the old Metroid and Castlevania games, where you had to explore a lot, gained special powers as you progressed, had to solve puzzles and defeat bosses, and it's hard to resist when nostalgia has you in a chokehold.
The culture of ancient Greece is a rich one, as their society spawned a lot of writers, poets and philosophers whose works are still famous today, not to mention an interesting mythology, where the gods were deeply flawed and interesting, kind of like spoiled children with machine guns, and not the all-knowing but surprisingly in need of money and oblivious of microscopes, marsupials or dinosaurs gods of today.
Apotheon begins with the gods abandoning mankind and taking refuge on Mount Olympus. You have to somehow procure their powers and use them to bring back the natural balance to the land, saving it from the cataclysmic events that will spell the doom of man.
The game brings a ton of melee and ranged combat, including using swords, shields, spears, hurling javelins and firing bows.
One of the things I liked best was that the world seemed to be somehow alive, you go about your own path, an adaptation of the herculean labors where you have to defeat gods and mythical beasts, and you don't just kill anyone you see, like in the God of War games.
In addition to this, I'm very curious to see how the source material is utilized. I always enjoy seeing familiar elements such as myths and tales used creatively.
What I don't like is games where grinding mobs is a purpose in itself. Combat, as any other action like fashioning a pot out of clay, is a utilitarian activity than can be embellished with various flourishes, but ultimately serves as a tool, a means to an end.
I remember, for instance, how Fallout: New Vegas had crops outside of settlements, and how much that helped flesh the world out as a real place where other entities actually existed in a congruous manner, not just and arena for my power fantasy to play out in.
That made the decision to haggle with a merchant instead of just killing him to take his wares have more weight, due to the fact that he/she was portrayed as a survivor, a member of the community, and not just a talking vending machine.
I hope that Apotheon will live up to my internal hype and that the end to which combat serves is an interesting story about humanity.
