Let's Play: Apocalipsis - A Game Review

Today we are going to take a look at Apocalipsis. This game from Punch Punk Games promises the classic feel of a point’n’click adventure games, art style inspired by 15th-century engravings, a great soundtrack, and a great story. Whether it can deliver on these promises is a question we will try to answer today. Apocalipsis is available on Steam for 6 Euros and 99 cents or your regional equivalent.
With this review you have a choice of either reading it here in text form or listening to the video review. They both contain the same content.

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Video Review

Text Review

Before we go into the review itself, it should be noted I got the game for free from the developer.

When I first saw Apocalipsis in the Steam store I already I knew I wanted to try this. This completely unique art style instantly caught my attention. Then I read the description in the store and knew I just have to try it out. Inspired by Samorost and Machinarium. Two of my favorite indie games ever (though that is likely in part because the author of those is Czech and so am I). So I instantly wrote to the developer. And a few days later I got the review code and went into playing it.

Gameplay

So let's start, as it is the norm here, with how Apocalipsis plays. And if you ever played a classic point’n’click adventure game you will immediately know how it plays. You got a character that moves on the screen, collects items, solves puzzles using these items and is trying to get through the story.

And honestly, there really isn’t much else to the actual gameplay of Apocalipsis. There a few “action” scenes but to be truthful I don’t know whether I would really describe them as action scenes. To give you an example, one of the action scenes consists of you being in the water and a giant octopus trying to grab you. All you have to do is to swim slightly to the left and to the right to avoid its tentacles.

And I’m not complaining that these sections are in the game. They are actually nice a change of pace from the very slow-paced classic point’n’click parts of the game. But I do wish they would be slightly more complex and fast-paced.

Now when it comes to the classical point’n’click parts of the game, I gotta say these are done really well. The only real complaint I have with them is the way in which the main character, Harry, moves around the screen. Well, to be honest, I got two problems with his movement.

The first and the bigger one is the fact that you cannot really interrupt Harry’s movement when you misclick something. He just wanders around, goes to the object and sort of shrugs because he cannot do anything at that place.

The second is the way he moves. I guess this is just my preference but I would have loved if he moved at least a bit quicker. I mean waiting for a few seconds is okay, but having to wait a few seconds twenty times in a row gets quickly very tiring.

Now, when it came to the puzzling itself, I think that was actually very fun. Some of the puzzles were easy, some of them were hard. And I will admit that I had to open a video-playthrough once because I lost my patience with a puzzle, but I am also not the most patient person when it comes to video-games so I think that for the target audience the difficulty is actually very well set-up.

So, put all of these together and you get one pretty good point’n’click adventure game. The only thing that might be of concern is the length of the game. It took me about two hours to finish the game and honestly, that isn’t that much. BUT! There are multiple endings and if you are the sort of a person who likes to explore all the possibilities then the game surely has more to offer. And it should be mentioned that the playthrough I looked at actually was three hours long the guy wasn’t even half done with the game, so perhaps I just played well somehow and got through the game pretty quickly.

Graphics

Now onto a big part of why this game might be of interest to people contemplating buying it. The graphics of Apocalipsis. And I will come straight out and say, they are freaking amazing. The game totally lives up to its promise to follow the style of 15th-century engravings.

And I will also say that I’m not a big fan of historical drawings, I do prefer modern art, I’ll even admit I tend to like abstract art, something a lot of people say isn’t really art as it could be easily created by 5-year-old kids. And I’ll agree with that as well, I just find abstract art pleasing to look at.

But, I can also appreciate good, quality work created by talented people. And the art of Apocalipsis was certainly created by talented people and it shows in the results they put out.

Story

Now let’s talk story, the part that is always the hardest for me as I always struggle to convey whether it is a good or a bad story without spoiling it. But the gist of it: You are Harry who feels like the loss of his beloved is the end of the world and you embark on a journey where you meet many fantastical creatures.

The game claims to take inspiration from things like medieval philosophy or even the famous Divine Comedy. And...well, I can’t say I didn’t see any of these inspirations, but to claim such great sources inspired you…well... I’d say that’s maybe a bit too much. Yes, the story was decent but it certainly won't be remembered the same way Dante Alighieri’s great works are.

Music

Let us move on to the part of the game I’d say I actually enjoyed the most. The music and especially the narrator – Adam Nergal Darski, a polish musician from the death metal band Behemoth. I gotta say, his voice is just freaking amazing. And I do honestly wish he will do more voice acting in dark, gothic-themed games. His voice just begs for it.

And the music itself was impressive as well. Inspired by classical music, yet with these dark tones, it managed to ideally convey the atmosphere and complemented the graphics and the story perfectly. If I would be to rate the game purely on the sound design, it would be a resounding 10 out 10.

Performance

When it comes to the performance there really isn’t much to talk about. It’s a 2D game so obviously, it isn’t taxing on your computer at all. I’m honestly surprised this wasn’t released for tablets as well as I think it would run like butter on them and would play very nicely on them as well.

Conclusion

So… in conclusion. Apocalipsis is a good point’n’click adventure game with a unique art style, amazing sound design and it’s actually a good play. If you are a fan of the genre and like the art style I would definitely recommend Apocalipsis to you. But if you are a bargain hunter and are looking to get the best bang for your money you might want to wait a bit until Apocalipsis comes on sale. On the other hand props to the developer for coming on to the market with a very unique looking game and if you feel like supporting a talented indie developer you might want to buy it at full price. I am certainly looking forward to more games from him.

So, that’s it for today guys. Hope you like the review and if you did, please consider upvoting the review and following my blog. And comment, if you have something you would like to add. See you guys later with more gaming content.

Disclaimer: All the images have been taken directly from the Steam game page.