The Axis Unseen Preview

During this year's Steam Next Fest, I dove head-first into quite a few demos, both familiar and new, in order to get a feel for what the future of gaming may look like. Though I usually tend to pick demos on a whim, once I noticed The Axis Unseen had one up, I knew I just had to have a look at what the “heavy metal horror” had in store.

The start of the game is quite the ride, as we live through the recent memories, or glimpses of our own future, at a hectic pace. Armed with a bow and magic arrows, we fight demonic deer and lupine creatures, learn how to cast spells and collect power, and finally face a foe too strong to take down. After this unnerving section, we are set loose with the aforementioned bow into the open world. With little idea of what to do or where to go, we are given free rein to meander the fields. The land itself is strewn with the skeletons of titanic creatures and towering cliffs, though there are a few points of interest to give an idea of where to go: a giant funnel of green light.

The moment-to-moment gameplay of The Axis Unseen is a mix of resource management, exploration, and stealthy combat. Though your bow is magical, it has only a small amount of arrows to use at the beginning. Luckily, the bow’s enchantment allows you to collect any arrows you come near, but if you stick an arrow into the flank of a demon deer and it bolts, it’s bye-bye arrow! You can restock your arrows at shrines, however, so it’s only a temporary nuisance. The combat elements are pretty simplistic, though there is some nuance to be had. Most enemies have weak spots to exploit and behaviours to learn, so learning to aim your shots and vary your approach can be the difference between a successful kill and a heap of trouble.

None of the creatures of the land are pushovers, however, as they will all fight to survive and may even try to hunt you before you find them! To help you keep one step ahead, your fancy bow will display how much noise you’re making at any moment and you have a handy bit of cloth to show the direction of the wind. As you meander the fields and take on foes, you’ll slowly unlock more skills, arrows, and a central hub area, where you can level up your stats and see the different gear you’ve collected and monsters you have bested.

My experience with the game was a bit brief and I did enjoy the experience, but regrettably, it was still very rough. The enemies seemed to spot me regardless of my methods and I ran into a very difficult encounter very early on without much chance of progression. The emergence of a big tree creature also tanked my FPS something fierce and a few bugged death puppies, which were stuck on walls, had me ending my session prematurely.

The design of the monsters was pretty great, with nightmarish wolves, ogres straight from the uncanny valley, and the aforementioned tree creatures that gave me a rough time. The world itself also feels interesting with its design being something akin to the cover of a heavy metal album, so I am cautiously interested but also would need to see some big improvements before any money is spent.

The Axis Unseen has some great ideas and has the potential to be a cool game of cat-and-mouse-and-cat hunting in addition to facing ferocious foes, but the current state of the game is not quite there yet. As I said, it’s still early days, so while I do recommend caution, I think this game has the potential to be great!

The Axis Unseen is currently available on Steam.