Apotheon: Does Everyone Hate Zeus?‏

I was able to pick up Apotheon for free with my Playstation Plus membership in February. I didn't go in with any expectations towards it, and sometimes that's the best way to approach a game. While the combat is at times frustrating and the story is as basic as it comes, the game still managed to suck me in. The more I kept playing Apotheon, the more I wanted to play it. My feelings didn't always start off like that mind you. Over the first, let's say 2-3 hours, if I had put down my controller and walked away, I would have OK with that. I muscled through though and now I'm really enjoying my time with it. But why is that?

At face value, Apotheon is a pretty basic side-scrolling action game. It’s set up like a metrovania game, but with a big emphasis on combat. You do get new powers, but it’s mostly passive abilities. There are 2 main city hubs which act as a sort of split between the first and second half of the game. Each hub allows access to 3 separate areas, each serving as a different deity's zone. As I said before, the game’s story is pretty basic: Zeus turns his back on humanity, humans become upset, and you go kill the gods.

The graphics are done in such a way that they look like the paintings on ancient Greek pottery. It's very simple, but very well done. Audio is pretty decent too: All the music is very fitting to the setting and despite the story being a little on the bland side, the voice acting is actually pretty strong and helps to elevate the story a bit with pure presentation.

Now I think the reason why I didn’t care too much about Apotheon at first is because of its combat— it’s finicky and complicated. However, once you get used to it, the game becomes a whole lot more fun. My problem with the combat is that they have this "flexibility" in place so that you can not only aim your attacks with the right analogue stick, you can also change how you attack with the left. So now, not only does the left analogue stick move your character, but by pointing it up, down, left or right, you’ll do a different attack. That sounds all fine and dandy except that it's pretty sensitive. So now if you are holding back—to dodge an enemy attack—but point the analogue stick diagonally a bit, when you attack it will do the most useless over head swing I've ever seen instead of the more useful thrust attack. The only reason this happens so often that it becomes a nuisance is because there are angled platforms everywhere; when you start walking up one at a 45 degree angle, your brain just puts your thumb in that direction automatically. Like many 2D side-scrollers, Apotheon is made to use the D-Pad, but instead you’re forced to use the analogue stick. I hate that so very much. I wish developers would just allow you to pick what you want to use, analogue stick or D-Pad.

Enough of my little rant; when you finally train your brain a bit to attack properly, Apotheon becomes quite fun! There are tons of weapons to choose from which is always great, and like any good metroidvania game, there's lots to explore. That's pretty much why I like it: The mechanics might not be sound, but the content that is there is entertaining. The locales are pretty varied and once you hit the second hub world, man does the level design start to get really interesting. For quality content, I can overlook a few annoyances. 

Final Thoughts

I've put in about 10 hours and I'm nearly done the game—that includes all the side quests. All that's left is to beat the head honcho of mount Olympus. If you do decide to play Apotheon and you feel as though you interest is waning after an hour or 2, I implore you to keep at it. It might not be perfect, but it's just simple fun.