Akimbot Review: Making of a Hero

Akimbot may look like just any other 3D platformer with a futuristic setting, but there’s a whole lot more going on the inside. This game is a bundle of interesting storylines backed by many action sequences and engaging combat, and it has truly taken us by surprise.

Akimbot is an action-adventure platformer that was released on September 29th for PC (Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X | S. Crafted with love by Evil Raptor and published by Plaion, here’s our official review for Akimbot.

The Merc’s Biggest Gig

The game kicks off with your protagonist EXE being escorted in a prisoner vehicle along with a drone that speaks and talks way too much than he’s supposed to. But using his intellect for the right cause, he causes a prisonbreak.

The game begins with Exe and his unfortunately newfound sidekick – Shipset being thrown off in a very calm paradise biome. Initially, they’re running across islands in search of a spaceship that could take them off this planet. Occasionally stopping to groove on beats at various beach parties, the two bots were making the most of their freedom which turned out to be shortlived. They run into the territory of a local gang which was initially responsible for betraying and throwing EXE into prison. Revenge comes in different shapes and EXE made sure it came in blazing rifle rounds for them.

Shortly after dealing with the local gang hood and making sure they ceased existing, the world tore itself apart. A genius scientist turned rebel is now manifesting world domination, with EXE’s current planet being the first victim. A paradise turned into a dark warzone quickly changed the entire mood of the game.

Summoned by the heroic leader, EXE is now given an assignment to shape the future of the galaxy. Maybe his best gig ever as a mercenary has landed on his plate. This is Akimbot!

The Battle from Better Times

The combat and entire traversal in the game are linear while allowing the player to openly traverse the map and check for secret lores. This approach seems very similiar to the PS2 era and also shows many inspirations from Ratchet and Clank. Both of these things are a green flag for the game. Because when you’re shooting, you’re only going to be focused on shooting down hordes of enemies without taking a hit.

Although the game constantly treats you with loads of health regen, the difficulty in each segment has been tuned just right for a challenge. Fighting in a 3D platform comes with its own set of perks. Traversal, for example, gives an ample amount of opportunity to dodge every single fire coming in from enemies. On top of that, EXE eventually obtains an always usable arsenal of weapons including a rifle, Bolt Action Sniper, Minigun, and a special weapon of your choice.

The game’s occasional action sequences have always taken us by surprise. It’s a great way to break the long exploration sessions on foot and brings about freshness in the game setting. Akimbot is definitely addictive as the combat always evolves in a good way. But it’s the occasional puzzle that makes it a perfect platformer game. A great way to separate EXE’s adventure from a looter shooter.

Akimbot could’ve been a 2 Player game, but we’re glad with what we have. Especially when the fight is taken to space. The space combats of the game have been designed extremely well. The best part is when you’re flying close to an enemy ship and you have to manually fly a safe path and avoid causing a collision. Experiences like these are several in the game, ranging from racing to riding a T-Rex and much more.

The only few drawbacks come from the rather generic and limited complexity of enemies. It’s just point-and-shoot while focusing on your health. Having shields for an aggressive playstyle or stealth opportunities is unfortunately not a thing and you will have to stick to the general fight approach as the game intends you to have.

The Green Bot named Exe

Speaking of the graphics and overall performance, it does an unbelievable job for an indie studio. The opening sequence of the game looked promising but the sudden switch into the warzone blew us away. The future stages then just hit right on with the expectations and rarely ever disappointed us.

We mean it in a good way, but the UI, Menu and Cover art of the game does not do justice to the action-packed adventure inside the game. My first assumption from the cover photo was a 2D platformer with aliens. But I am glad I was wrong and all for good reasons in the end.

The OSTs are okay and do not do something entirely out of the box, it’s there, and it works. The voiceovers however really are hit out of the ground. The inspiration for Shipset seems very evident from Claptfrom from the Borderlands franchise. The yapping never stops, and the need to steal credit just brings a lot of nostalgia. The heavy, mostly quiet EXE speaks well only when he has to. This balances the narrative inside the game. Except for all those more than-needed “Tch, Tch, Tch” you’re going to deal with at the start of the game.

As for the quest design, it’s not doing anything new and to be honest, some quests which are simply about going and fetching different items are simply a bore. But when the right action comes along, we barely remember the bores, so it’s all good.

Verdict

Akimbot is a spectacular adventure that has simply blown us away. We found ourselves stuck on our screens and the deck while on the go, but couldn’t find a reason to not play. Akimbot sure has several missions which will throw you off, but for the most part, the action is amazing and the combat is really interesting. For what’s it worth, you don’t want to miss this space adventure at all!