PlayStation Experience Hands On — Apotheon

Apotheon

While At The PlayStation Experience I Was Able To Check Out Apotheon; A Side Scrolling Title That Lets You Play As The Greeks Told Stories

Apotheon was a title I heard about via the PlayStation Blog and something that piqued my interest from the start. In all honesty it has been the visual style of the game as well as the premise that Alien Trap is going for with this little PC/PS4 title coming out next year. It was these things that forced me to track the team down at the PlayStation Experience and actually get Apotheon in my hands to give it the really godly test as I should. There is a whole level dedicated to my main man after all. While the PS4 version is still being set up, read that as dev bugs were present, I was able to do just that. Here are my thoughts on Apotheon so far.

It’s going to seem a bit weird to start with as it isn’t completely noticeable for Apotheon at first glance but the first thing I played was the multiplayer for the game. Apotheon isn’t just a platforming title but it will actually let you play out some fun little battles against friends in a free for all on a Greek vase. It is interesting to see how all of the physics that Alien Trap put into Apotheon as it was more prevalent in the multiplayer than in the single player mode. Hurling a javelin doesn’t just go straight. You will need to compensate for all the things one would have to in the real world. This goes for all weapons too as most were just flung around as the combat was pretty quick that your standard stabby stabby motions weren’t as effective.

I was a bit let down at first as Apotheon quickly was looking like a multiplayer title instead of the game I thought it to be but that was when my demo swapped out for the campaign mode. Story was skipped for spoiler reasons but I was perfectly fine with that. Mainly because a lot of the story being told is pulled right from the source. That and if it isn’t in the main story there are collectibles and signs to read that have the source material to put things into reference. Yes, you can actually learn quite a deal about the real stories from the Greeks while playing Apotheon. Even if the gameplay didn’t keep you moving about and kept the fun level up at least you could walk away knowing you learned something.

Another nice touch that I only got to glimpse in Apotheon was that each deity had their own area tailor made for the being that they are. Or at least some of the stories about them. One that really stood out to me surprisingly was the area for Athena. The whole level was a constantly moving maze that required you to navigate around to find the next missions and what not. Not only that, but the mini-map followed suit so it really played up to the intelligence and strategy aspect of the Goddess. Really well done and I only wish I was able to see what other areas and deities looked like but I guess I’ll have to wait…

There was one failing for Apotheon though, hopefully it is due to being a work in progress still, but the controls of the game were a bit lacking. Mainly the vertical traversal of the scrolling levels. For the most part you could move up and down on the map if the character could make the jump or fall. The only issue was that the controls were so loose that I found myself running, pressing down on the stick, and button mashing the Cross button to drop down. That was the most frustrating part of the game only to be seconded by the hanging roof navigation. That would be like moving via monkey bars on a playground. Only in Apotheon to get the first hand hold was like trying to grab monkey bars after greasing them up with olive oil.

I think the PS4 version of Apotheon has a few extra bugs to work out in terms of platforming but the rest of the game is done extremely well. Even if they only basically fix the control issues at least when you are done with Apotheon you can ace your way through and World Cultures class in high school or college. That is if you are a completionist and need to find out about all of the stories being told during the game.