Apotheon Coming to PS4

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Apotheon Coming to PS4

Looking back, making our upcoming action sidescroller Apotheon in the visage of ancient Greek pottery seemed like an obvious choice. Everything is already there. The 2D perspective, the awesome narrative and setting possibilities, heroes fighting monsters and magical goat-men with no pants… All we really had to do was figure out how to make the art on those pots move around and make it into an interesting game.

That’s taken the two of us almost three years now. But we’re almost at the end of our long road, and we’re super excited to announce our new partnership with PlayStation to help us out and bring our hard work to even more players, as Apotheon will be coming to PS4. Here’s a few things we think will make Apotheon a blast to play with DualShock 4 in hand.


Apotheon Coming to PS4

The combat in Apotheon draws mainly from our collective background as multiplayer FPS gamers. We were never much for button-mashy or combo based fighters, which I think have a bit of a stranglehold on 2D action games (especially melee focused ones). Instead of giving players a shopping list of moves and combos to memorize, we just give a set of basic actions. You can move, jump, attack, block, roll, and throw. Learned skills like timing, positioning, and reading your opponent’s movements are at the core here.

Once you start figuring out where and when to use each of these base abilities, come up with your own tactics, and how different weapons interact with each other, the sword n’ board warfare of Apotheon really begins to open up. Perfecting a devastating diving attack for more damage. Knocking your enemy over with a low blow to the legs, then following it up with a killing overhead strike while he’s down. Faking out the other guy with a feigned stab, only to block and counterattack when his timing is confused.

Jumping, rolling, and parcouring, untouchable all around the map while showering your foes with exploding arrows. Shooting the chain off a hanging lamp and sending the burning oil to ignite whoever’s unfortunate enough to be standing below. Shield bashing your opponent in the face because he got inside your speartip range with his axe, sending him reeling across the room, then chucking the aforementioned spear into his chest and watching him cartwheel down a flight of stairs in a fountain of artfully-styled gore. It’s all very satisfying, in a classical way.

While the combat is definitely the heart of what makes Apotheon a fighter, the world and contents therein are what make it an adventure. This is the bronze age here, and none of this equipment is all that durable (we tend to treat all our weapons the same way one treats ammo in an FPS, to retread our influences). Swords break, spears snap, and shields shatter. You’ve got a big mountain to climb to take on the Gods of Olympus, and keeping yourself in tip-top fighting condition requires a bit of exploring, looting, shopping, and crafting.

We’ve tried to stay pretty light on the RPG elements, so there’s no stat leveling or ability trees or anything like that, but you will certainly be sneaking into a lot of locked places for treasure chests, crawling through monster riddled caves just to see what’s ahead in the darkness, making potions that summon skeleton warriors, and breaking a lot of pots for coins. I think there’s something very meta about smashing pots, in a game that also looks like it’s painted on one.

We’re looking forward to fighting and exploring in 1000 BCE mythical Greece with you guys! If you’ve got any questions about the game or us developers (the release date is still to be announced, sorry) please ask them in the comments and we’ll try to answer as many as we can!

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28 Comments

  • Looks really neat, also First.

  • Really love the art style / motif you used. Is there really no HUD?

    Is there any local co-op or other multiplayer? Are there any time trials or other features to encourage repeat plays?

  • Glad to hear that you’re game is coming to the PS4.

    Question:
    I really enjoyed your previous game, Capsized. Did anything regarding the reception or feedback you got regarding Capsized influence your designing or technical work on Apotheon?

  • I saw this game 2 years ago at PAX East and I have been dying to play this!!! This is fantastic news to read that it’s hitting the PS4, congrats and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!!!

  • First time I’m hearing of this. I really like the look of the game and it looks like it might be very challenging. Count me in, I’m excited to play it myself.

  • love the concept! will pick it up when it comes out.

  • the art-style is glorius, definetely on my radar

  • This looks really good, looks like the combat has some weight to it as well. This is on my radar!

  • Wow, I love the art style and the combat looks really great too. I’m definitely watching out for this!

  • Reminiscent of Outland… and that’s a good thing.

  • When will this game release on PS4?

  • Looks awesome. Reminds me of Outland which was one of my favorite games on PS3. Hope it makes it to Vita as well :0)

  • I definitely wouldn’t complain if this came to Vita.

  • ooh la la, it definitely looks cool. first we got a living painting with child of light, and now it looks like we’re getting living greek art! greek pottery art is already so neat by itself, and it looks even more neat animated. combat looks a lot more interesting than the button-mashing i was expecting. i’m keeping my eye on this.

  • Any hope for a PSVita release?

    Nevertheless it got me hooked,just it would be cool to be able to play it on the go too.

  • looks awesome :) and looking forward for news about Vita version :D :D :D

  • Brilliant Artstyle! You have my attention :)

  • You’ve got my attention for sure. Looks very interesting

  • This is really something unusual … No words just emotions. May give it a try.

  • I just don’t want to control the game like if I were using a mouse or something like that, by what I’ve seen from the video it looks like this is how it is going to be, but besides that it seems like the game is going to be pretty awesome. I wouldn’t mind playing it on Vita also.

  • This game looks like a day-1 buy for me, but can we please see some PS4 gameplay? Pretty sure what we’re seeing in this trailer is PC gameplay. That’s a no-no here.

  • What do I have to do for a Vita version.

  • This game looks really great. Can’t wait to see more!

  • This looks like it will be fun. I really appreciate the sentiment regarding combat mechanics. The use of the shield and sword is going to be awesome. I’ve always loved the Bronze age and the Dark age, shield and sword, spear and bow. I can’t wait for your release!

  • Love the setting and art style. Not to mention the awesome combat mechanics. DAY 1! This and Nidhogg are pleasant surprises. Love how people are exploring fighting styles for their games.

  • Looking forward to the combat mechanics. Can’t wait to see more!

  • I like the art style of this game a nice approach to the style of it another winner for gamers everywhere. And to think people said they would wait a year or two for more games to come out for the PS4 lol.

  • The art design is awesome.

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