Abathor Review

Welcome to Abathor, a game that takes place in Atlantis, when it ruled the oceans as one of the greatest empires ever seen. With the guidance of their gods and advanced technology fueled by orichalcum, a unique mineral, this civilisation had a great advantage over any challenge that they came up against; this was an era of greatness and glory. The Atlanteans didn't only want to control the known world but also desired an inexhaustible source of energy that was only found past the Gates of Abathor, home to demons that had been confined for aeons. The demons were thirsty for destruction, and once the gates opened, they wanted to annihilate everything in their path. The thousands of demons outnumbered and overpowered the Atlanteans, spreading death and chaos. When hope was fading, four heroes emerged to close the Gates of Abathor. This is where you take over.

Abathor feels just like a platformer beat ‘em up game that you would spend tonnes of quarters on at the arcade. The best part is that you don’t have to embark on this journey alone, as you can have up to three other players join your team, either locally or online. There are four different characters available to select, each with their own power, agility, and defence rating out of five stars. The nice thing is that if you are playing multiplayer, multiple people are able to select the same character, and you aren’t all forced to play as unique fighters. I found it easier to keep track of who I was when I was playing a four-player game by making sure that I selected someone unique!

The warriors available and their stats (out of five) are: Crantor, with a power rating of four, agility of three, and defence of four; Sais (the only female fighter), with three for power, three for agility, and five stars for defence. Next up is Kritias, with three for power, a full five for agility, and two for defence, with Azaes being the last character with the strongest power with five, agility of two, and defence of three. Each fighter uses a different type of weapon to attack, and their special ability is also unique. I appreciated that they all felt different to play and were not just reskins of the same base character.

Abathor has three difficulties available to select from, ranging from easy mode, which gives you 99 credits (lives), and extra assistance to get to the end of the game. Normal is the default, where the difficulty increases as you progress through the game, and Bravery mode will be available to play once you have completed the Normal difficulty. This is where you will be able to encounter the true ending of Abathor, along with an extra stage that you don’t get to see in the other modes.

I know some people are bored of the retro pixel look that a lot of games use, but since I am a huge fan of classic games, I welcome this, especially when it is well-done and looks crisp and detailed. This also makes the game feel like it belongs in an arcade, which is exactly how this game feels, as when you quit and walk away, you will be starting right back at the beginning, no matter how far you got on your last attempt. Abathor also allows you to turn a CRT filter on if you want to make it feel like you are playing on an old TV complete with scanlines. Accompanying the retro look is a chip-tune soundtrack made up of 40 different tracks. It was cool to hear the music change based on the stage you needed to face. The beach level with the pirate ship reminded me of the music you would hear in Donkey Kong Country on King K. Rool’s ship, and the levels where the sky was dark with a storm forming and raining felt more foreboding than when you were on the beach in the beginning.

I found that the controls were pretty straightforward: jumping, using your weapon, and the dash worked quite well. The only part that I found a bit harder was when you have a secondary weapon or item that you want to use, you have to hold up and then hit the left face button, and I found that when I was attacking enemies normally, I was accidentally using these special weapons that have limited times that you can use them before they are gone. There were more than a few times when I triggered a huge attack from Poseidon (by mistake) to eliminate all the enemies on the screen when there was just one little guy. It was such a waste!

While playing, you collect orichalum from defeating enough enemies, in chests, or as a reward when you complete a stage. This is the game's currency, so you will spend it with the Wandering Demon, who is a merchant who sells 14 different power-ups that you can purchase during your run. Some, like the Boots of Notus, increase your speed by 10%, Poseidon Bless gives you +5% sword damage and +5% critical hit chance; Zephyr Gloves will increase attack speed by 10%; or Jump Boost gives you +5% jump strength. You can only purchase each of the items once during your run, as you will meet up with the merchant multiple times as you progress, so you will be able to give your character a boost in all the different areas.

The enemies you face will run right past you until they hit a wall or something in their path, and then they will turn and come back towards you. Even when they attack, it is in a pattern that repeats, making it easy to figure out how to defeat them. Some of your foes, like crabs and rats, are small, so you will need to crouch to hit them. If you try to attack while you are standing, you will totally miss them, leaving you open to getting hit and taking damage. Cloaked enemies, vultures, and snapping piranha plants await you on the beach when you land. Most of the foes you will encounter can't walk off the platform that they are currently on, so it’s pretty simple to avoid their attack when you know exactly where they are going. At first, I was playing with easy difficulty, but I found this to be too easy, so I restarted in normal mode. The problem was that when I started playing with other people, it was a bit too challenging for them, so they would die and be unable to play again until I reached the midpoint of the stage where the Monolith of Life crystal was located, so they would come back to life. If I was further in the stage, it was me getting to the end by myself.

The part that I found hardest about Abathor was the fact that if you ever stopped playing, you were forced to start at the beginning once again. I get that it’s supposed to emulate the feeling of playing a real arcade game, but unfortunately, I don’t get many opportunities to have that many hours in a row available to play. I feel a code or option to continue would be beneficial, particularly if you have chosen the easy mode. There is a bit of a workaround if you play using the Steam Deck, as you can just turn off the system and use the quick resume to continue where you had left off; as long as it doesn’t freeze, though you won’t be able to play anything else in the meantime. If you do, your progress will be erased and back to the start you go.

I’ve had a fun time playing Abathor, especially with my family locally. This game captures the feeling of being at the arcade, feeding tonnes of tokens into the machine to keep playing. My main issue was the fact that there is no way to record your progress, so it’s not the best type of game to play when you don’t have a large chunk of time available. If it could at least remember the area that you were in, that would be great. I wouldn’t mind having to start on the first level from there, but being sent all the way back makes it incredibly hard. I will keep my eye on this title and see what changes are implemented when the game releases, and I recommend that you check it out if you have the time available to play and enjoy a classic arcade experience!