Pottery in Motion | Apotheon Review

Ancient Greece isn’t an unknown realm for video games. The David vs. Goliath concept is one that has been explored time and time again. Apotheon pits you, a simple man, versus the Gods of Olympus. As humanity’s last hope, it is your duty to strip the gods of their powers and fend off their inevitable wrath. Fighting with sword, shield and bow in hand, you will make your way through some beautiful and unique environments that heavily draw inspiration from Ancient Greek pottery. Despite the excellent level design, setting and artwork, Apotheon fumbles over the finish line because of its convoluted story and some inexcusable technical issues.

As mentioned above, Apotheon is a 2D action platformer with an art design that is inspired heavily by ancient Greek pottery. The world consists of ten different open world areas, including two different hub worlds and a number of regions that are influenced by different Greek Gods. Set sail and command a ship across the ocean in Poseidon’s area or step into a beautiful forest where nymphs and wildlife run wild in the Wild Goddess Artemis’ stage. These locations act as stepping-stones up the ladder to finally duke it out with the almighty Zeus.

Humanity’s last hope falls in the hands of a Silent Sam protagonist named Nikandreos. After the gods have abandoned him and his people, Nikandreos is taken under Hera’s wing and tasked to take down those very gods who have deserted them. Spanning from the depths of Hades’ Underworld to the heights of Mount Olympus, throughout this tale you won’t learn much about your hero apart from his overall mission. Sadly, the story does lack any real depth and is more of a vessel to allow you to battle it out with these gods. Littered throughout the different areas, there are a number of steles with ancient stories or quotes that will teach you a thing or two about these Ancient Gods.

The combat in Apotheon is simple, yet effective and most of all satisfying. There are only a small handful of enemy types throughout the 10-12 hour campaign and fighting the same enemies over and over can get repetitive. To combat this, there are a large number of melee and ranged weapon options for you to try out. You will soon find a weapon that best suits your play style, whether it is the Doru, a versatile soldier’s spear that will keep your enemies at a distance, or get up close and personal with the Sagaris, a powerful heavy axe used to devastate your opponent. Along with the standard set of weapons, there are also rare weapons that come with their own special abilities such as a Bloodthirsty Mantis, a sword that heals you every time you strike an enemy or a burning sword that lights every person it hits on fire. Considering each weapon has limited durability, saving that special rare weapon for some of the tougher battles is usually the smarter option.

Each of the two hub worlds in Apotheon are home to a market where Nikandreos can use the money he has collected along his journey to buy new weapons and potions and upgrade both his armor and his weapon proficiency. This adds a nice little RPG touch to the campaign and makes taking on those tougher bosses in the latter half of the game a bit easier. Nikandreos also has the ability to craft certain items, from the more common healing potions and repair kits to grenades that blast down unstable walls and concoctions that summon undead soldiers. New recipes can be purchased at these markets and can make Nikandreos’ arsenal even more deadly.

Puzzles are featured heavily throughout Apotheon and they break up the combat nicely. The puzzles are quite simple and will usually have you finding a key or hitting a hidden switch in order to progress further. Athena’s section was definitely a highlight of mine and I assume any person who is a fan of puzzle platformers would more than likely agree. There are also a small amount or side quests and challenges throughout Mount Olympus adding some extra breadth to the campaign.

Apotheon also comes with its own local battle mode where you are pitted against one of your friends in a one-on-one arena battle. As we tried each weapon out on one another, jumping and dodging during the fast paced frantic action, there was definitely some fun to be had. With a short supply of different maps and only one mode, the fun we were having dissipated pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, I ran into quite a few bugs during my time with Apotheon. Common crashes kicked me out of the game entirely at times, although due to the frequent auto-saves I never really lost any progress. Despite this, being kicked out upwards of twenty times is a big issue and almost inexcusable. Along with the crashes, some of the games trophies are also glitched and therefore unobtainable. This probably won’t be a big issue for most players, although I know for some that will be very frustrating.

Even though the concept has been explored numerous times before, the art design of Apotheon is what ultimately shines through. The pottery inspired artwork is unique and the level design draws inspiration from classics such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Testing out all of the weapons and deciding on what suits you best is satisfying as you battle your way up the Mount Olympus ladder. Despite the vapid story, and being plagued with some pretty nasty bugs, Apotheon manages to pull off a great 2D action puzzle platformer that pays an excellent homage to old-school 2D adventure titles.

This review is based on a retail copy of the PlayStation 4 version of Apotheon developed by AlienTrap Games