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But by the gods, Apotheon is amazing. Let's get the most obvious pro out of the way--the artstyle is fantastic. With its blatant inspiration from ancient-greek artworks, its simplicity combined with fluid animation avoids a problem that stylized artstyles can find themselves in--getting old.The gameplay is core though. The game overall is a Metroidvania. It's simpler than the Metroid and Castlevania games that established this subgenre, but it makes up for that in combat. Taking after Castlevania's twitch reaction engagements, the foundation of Apotheon's combat is the same. Learn enemy patterns, smack and dodge.
It adds dimensions with additional maneuvers like rolling, blocking and contextual damage--enemies are hurt differently based on how you hit them, rewarding a complex approach. You can try to get that kiting archer with a long-range spear thrust, or you could blitz him with a club and aim to end the fight quick with an overhead smash. Soldier blocking your attacks? Brute force his shield away with repeated smashes or sweep up out from under his feet.
The main thing that gets me though is how item management works. Now every weapon has durability (thankfully armor doesn't) including special weapons. This is a brilliant mechanic that forces the player to mix gameplay up. You can't just pick one weapon and faceroll through the game with it--it'll break pretty quickly.
Because of this mechanic, you constantly find yourself switching weapons. This synergizes amazingly with the way ideal weapons for combat differs contextually. Because the player becomes used to varying up his weapon choice, the player is seamlessly trained to take advantage of the game's combat nuances. Although you could just use swords orjust use spears if you wanted to, the game rewards the player for a diverse approach in such a natural way.
Ok, so I say the above mechanic is brilliant, but that kind of thing often leads to a gameplay facet that I frankly dislike. This kind of item management usually leaves me more stressed out than having fun, so I like to avoid it when possible (really adds to Resident Evil HD Remaster's vibe though). The developers realized this and compensate. Weapon, ammo and crafting materials drop like the dickens. The devs weren't interested in artificial difficulty through drop rarity, but rather in the combat itself. This completely eliminates player fatigue that can stem from stressful inventory management. This is coming from the guy who ends up with 50+ of each potion in Skyrim because I'm "saving them just in case".
This even applies to the special weapons that you find. Once you discover a special weapon in-game, it'll be available for purchase in the game's hub market for a very affordable price.
Αυτό που λέει με το Skyrim το έκανα κι εγώ :P
