Apotheon

Apotheon is a 2015 action role-playing platformer video game developed and published by Alientrap for Microsoft Windows, OS X, GNU/Linux and PlayStation 4. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on February 3, 2015 and on OS X and GNU/Linux on February 10, 2015. Apotheon is Alientrap's second commercial game and utilizes a unique art style based on ancient Greek pottery, particularly in the Black Figure style.

Name

The name Apotheon means “exalted to the state of godhood,”^[3][4] which reflects the deification of Nikandreos, the protagonist, at the end of the game.

Gameplay

Apotheon is a fast and brutal 2D action game with an art style and heroic narrative based on Ancient Greek mythology.^[2] The player controls Nikandreos, a young warrior who, with the help of Hera, fights the Olympian gods. Nikandreos can use different weapons of the Ancient World, including swords, spears, bows and knives. Apotheon can be played in three different difficulty settings.

A screenshot of Apotheon, with the player character on the right.

Plot

In the time of Ancient Greece, the Iron Age draws to its end. The Gods have begun to punish the humans of Earth, resenting their arrogance and defiance among their societies. Zeus, the king of all the Gods, has forced his children to stop giving their gifts of life to the Earth, so that all humans are soon deprived of animals, food, and even daylight. With most of the Earth cast in darkness, man begins to fall prey to the savage destruction of their cities.

Meanwhile, in the village of Dion in the foothills of Olympus, invaders ransack the entire area and lay waste to most of the village. A young warrior named Nikandreos awakens to find his home destroyed and many of the raiders killing Dion soldiers and citizens. Arming himself up and with the help of the leftover soldiers, Nikandreos is able to cast away the invading forces and slay their leader. In the temple, Nikandreos meets face-to-face with Hera, the wife of Zeus, who congratulates him for his victory in saving the village. Hera informs Nikandreos of Zeus' anger with the humans, as well as her hatred for his many affairs with other Gods and mortals. Wanting revenge as well as a way to help Nikandreos save his people, Hera tasks him to slay Zeus and his siblings so that Nikandreos might bring back their gifts and save humanity. Nikandreos agrees and ascends to Mount Olympus to begin his hunt against the Gods of Greece.

Nikandreos first enters the Agora of Olympus, where he must find and take the gifts from the gods Artemis, Demeter, and Apollo. Heading into the Forest of Artemis, Nikandreos completes many hunts of fantastical creatures to gain her attention, and soon kills her to gain her magical Bow and the power embedded within. Subsequently, Nikandreos meets Apollo, who spends his days playing lyre in his extravagant palace. Apollo is thoroughly unimpressed with humanity's achievements and gleefully condones Zeus' decision to let all people die. Nikandreos attempts to slay Apollo, but is knocked unconscious by his arrows and imprisoned within a cell. With the help of the Sun-god Helios, who was also imprisoned by Apollo and stripped of his solar powers, Nikandreos escapes the dungeon. The hero eventually slays all of Apollo's captains and saves the transformed tree nymph Daphne, whom Apollo has torn from the earth and planted in his private gardens for his perverted enjoyment. Grateful Daphne gifts Nikandreos with a Sun shield, in which last sparks of Helios' original power were preserved. Thus empowered, Nikandreos faces Apollo and slays him for his lyre, absorbing his powers. The last deity to confronted is Demeter. The matronly goddess pities humanity and reveals she would like to bless the fields back to their former glory. However, she cannot do so, as her powers lie with the ripening of plants already set in motion: the power of renewal and generation she gave to her daughter, Persephone, whom the decree of Zeus is keeping in the Underworld. Nikandreos finally descends into the lair of Hades to find Persephone, his wife, who instead of fighting back, willingly relinquishes her power of renewal so that Nikandreos may bring life back to Earth. Upon the hero's return to Olympus, Demeter sympathizes with Nikandreos' plight and recombines hers and Persephone's shares of divine power, gifting Nikandreos with an enchanted sheaf of wheat.

While attempting to head back to his village, Nikandreos is halted in the Olympian gates by the assembly of remaining Gods. Hera denounces Nikandreos to Zeus, who accuses the hero of arrogance and stresses his mortal origin. Zeus smites Nikandreos with a thunderbolt, hurling him back to Earth.

Nikandreos lands to find Dion in more ruin than before, with the wrath of the Gods now extending to physical aggression on Earth. Hera descends and apologizes for her earlier apparent betrayal, but warns Nikandreos that Zeus has now tasked the remaining powerful gods Poseidon, Ares and Athena to wreak havoc upon the Earth and obliterate the last of humanity. Heading toward the Acropolis of Olympus, Nikandreos proceeds to slay Ares and Poseidon, in return becoming more and more powerful from stripping each of them of their powers. The last deity on his path is Athena, who does not attack him, but decides to test his wit and cunning by placing him within an enchanted, ever-moving labyrinth. Nikandreos successfully navigates the maze and confronts Athena in her throne room. A surprised goddess admits that she has been repeatedly bested by mortals: the world has changed and she no longer holds the mastery over the powers of cunning and craft. Casting her sword at his feet, Athena bows in front of Nikandreos and gives away her aegis, only hoping that she will be remembered as a good goddess.

Upon returning once more to Dion, Nikandreos finds his home and his entire people annihilated. Hera finds him in the ruins and exhorts him to strike Zeus without delay, with most of his children and brethren slain and the power now in Nikandreos' hands. In a final single raid on the Fortress of Zeus, Nikandreos boldly ascends to the summit of Olympus. He finds Hera chained: Zeus learned of her betrayal and is now ready to battle the man who usurped the honours of the gods. Nikandreos successfully hurls Zeus down to Earth and absorbs the royal power from Zeus' thunderbolt that was left behind. Hera, jubilant and prideful, boasts at her victory and demands Nikandreos to free her at once. However, Nikandreos has by now realised that Hera's rule would be as bad or even worse than the one Zeus had inflicted on the Earth: unwilling to unleash Hera upon the dying world, Nikandreos can either kill her with Zeus's bolt or simply refuse to cut the chains that hold her and leave her atop Mount Olympus to drown in the rising storm waters.

Descending back to Earth, Nikandreos finds out that Zeus has survived his fall and used whatever powers he had left to enlarge himself to a giant size. Zeus reminds him that he has battled deities and monsters for millennia, refusing to believe he could ever be defeated by a mere mortal. With all of the powers of the Gods within him, Nikandreos also grows to the size of Zeus. Using his own power against him, Nikandreos defeats Zeus in single combat and eventually manages to kill him for good.

As the sun returns to shine over the wasteland that once was the Earth, Nikandreos roams the empty landscape. With all the powers of the gods at his hand, nature slowly returns to its former glory, with plants and animals reappearing around the village. Finding some clay, Nikandreos forms a human being and imbues him with a spark of life, signalling the rebirth of humanity and the fall of the Gods as Nikandreos apparently becomes the basis for the monotheistic God worshipped to this day.

Reception

Apotheon received generally favorable reviews from critics, with a score on review aggregator Metacritic of 79/100 and 77/100 for the Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 versions respectively.^[7] Critics generally praised the game's aesthetic and entertaining combat. Writing for Game Informer, Bryan Vore called Apotheon a "damn fun game and one of my surprise early favorites of 2015."^[9] Patrick Hancock of Destructoid felt it "more than backs up its aesthetic prowess with rewarding combat and exploration systems in place."^[10] Many reviewers noticed a Metroidvania influence, John-Paul Jones of GameWatcher applauded its "homage to the engrossing Castlevania and Metroid games pioneered back in the 8-bit days."^[11] Nicholas Plouffe of Canadian Online Gamers also recommended the game to fans of the Metroidvania genre.^[12] Writing for Hardcore Gamer, Alex Carlson felt the gameplay mechanics were shallow. He concluded "Apotheon is a classic case of style over substance."^[13] Other reviewers of the PlayStation 4 version experienced crashes and bugs that hampered their experience.^[14][15]

References

External links

• Official website