Abathor is an instant nostalgia trip from the moment you boot it up
Developed by Pow Pixel Games and published by Jandusoft, Abathor brings the hack and slash co-op gameplay of 80s and 90s titles to modern platforms like PS5. You choose from one of four heroes - each with their own weapons and abilities - and set off to explore the sprawling world of Atlantis.
This game looks exactly how you remember Golden Axe, even though when viewed side by side, they don't look the same at all. What I want to say with this is that Abathor evokes that same retro pixel art charm. From its oozing pixel art to thumping chiptune soundtrack, every element oozes authenticity and love for the source material.
The gameplay loop is simple - progress through levels hacking and slashing scores of monsters alongside up to three friends. Each character feels distinct in combat, from the barbarian's raw power to the assassin's agile strikes. Boss encounters, usually at the end of each "world" ramp up the challenge, requiring some well-timed dodges to overcome hulking beasts.
During specific levels, you will encounter the shopkeeper from whom you can buy permanent upgrades for your character along with single use consumables like health potions and whatnot. Also, as you progress through levels, you will come accross different chests that give you currency along with limited use special items like throwing axes, fire spells and even screen clearing dragon bombs.
As I mentioned it before, the game supports four player co-op. But unfortunately, that's only couch co-op, there's no online co-op and unfortunately, I did not experience playing it with a couple of buddies, so I can't really comment on how that feels. What I can say, however, is how Abathor disappointed me for not offering the option to change the character that I choose initially before each level. Once you select your hero, you are locked using them for the rest of the game. The recently released Streets of Rage 4 and even the latest side-scrolling Contra game allowed you to do just that and it made those games a lot of fun as you could test out the different heroes and find out the one you liked most. Abathor doesn't offer that and it feels like such a missed opportunity.
Should you give Abathar a chance? I don't really have an answer about that. If you have multiple controllers and a couple of friends, I guess it can be fun. For solo players, however, I don't think it has enough things to offer, nostalgia included, to warrant a purchase. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a PS5 via a promo copy provided by the publisher. Abathor is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
