Abyssal Axolotl Review- the Dark Souls of the Collectathon genre?

Originally published 17^th November 2017

A fundamentally mixed game containing a blend of cute touches and details; with frustratingly tedious gameplay. If Abyssal Axolotl has one first for gaming, it’s the first video game I’ve ever played which has singlehandedly given me carpel tunnel. My doctor’s appointment is next week.

The objective and controls of Abyssal Axolotl are simple. You swim around in a graphically gorgeous underwater environment (thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 4) from a top-down perspective, collecting a certain quantity of glowing eggs which illuminate through the darkness of the water’s depths. However, the game’s week long development cycle is incredibly evident in areas, considering slippery movement are the only controls the game seems to represent. As long as you meet your egg quota before the time limit ends, you’re free to proceed to the next stage and purchase upgrades from the in-game store between rounds.

The gameplay cycle of move, collect, upgrade as you gradually improve your character is fine, if slightly barebones. The obtainable upgrades tended to always be the same price, ranging from things like a brighter light, better character control and a longer-lasting brightness bar. From a balance perspective though I saw no real reason to NOT invest entirely in the movement speed option first, watching my Axolotl character blitz through the ocean’s depths and meeting the time limits every single time. It wasn’t until after I’d maxed out the speed stat with my character giving Sonic the Hedgehog a run for his money as the fastest thing alive that I considered upgrading every other element of the Axolotl’s shallow toolset. And all these upgrades provided afterwards was a supplementary aide in blasting through the waters gathering everything fortunate enough to be in my path.

Even if you happen to not gather enough collectables within the time constraints, there is little penalty for doing so other than trying again and hoping that the RNG (random number generator) decides to be more fortunate in its blessing this time… Not that this was much of an issue for me personally, considering I “””completed””” Abyssal Axolotl with an S ranking overall in the time span of half an hour. The only reason I knew about the consequences death provided was due to an explanation from the developers themselves after I’d already “””finished””” the endless game with the best rank possible.

To conclude; Abyssal Axolotl has a lot of potential to be something much greater. Given a year’s development cycle, a larger and more diverse team of developers and generally a greater scope, it’s a game I could see myself purchasing. However that dream has a lot to live up to from the barren demo which currently exists, only offering around 5-10 minutes of enjoyment before repetition begins to take its toll. Throw in a variety of enemies, different maps and more structured gameplay elements, and you’d have a very competent Collectathon here. Which is why I regret to give the game such a low score, as it must be objectively rated for what it is in comparison to every other video game on the market, not what it could be.

Overall score:

2.5 / 10

Pros

-Charming main character

-Good framework for a sequel

Cons

-Poor controls

-Shallow gameplay depth

-Lack of replayability