‘Akimbot’ is a fun action-adventure platformer brought to you by ‘Evil Raptor’ and ‘PLAION’ ready to rock your socks off. MKAU were lucky enough to grasp their hands on this one and oh my was it a great experience thanks to the quirky characters, energetic music, fun storyline, and most importantly GUNS.

Starting off with BANG, Akimbot is set in a sci-fi world inhabited only by robots. Set forth on a mayhem-filled adventure as ‘Exe’, an outlaw robot assassin, and his witty sidekick ‘Shipset’. Upon escaping the prison spaceship, you set out on a quest to escape Data-bay. Follow this unexpected duo, and travel the galaxy hacking, dashing, and blasting your way through armies of robots to save the universe from peril. Akimbot is a fresh take on a platformer that I am thrilled I got the chance to experience, with explosive non-stop action, fully sick beats, witty humour, and guns, this game is onto something and admittedly I am hooked!

Blasting into controls I’ll dash straight to the point. See what I did there? Blasting into controls? Dashing straight to the point? Ahh nevermind… Controls were super easy to learn thanks to the tutorial as soon as you break out, that’s right, no fending for yourself or having to read settings to figure out controls. Assuming you know how to move, E attacks with your sword, LMB shoots, and Q uses your special weapon.

There are 4 main weapons available Rifles, Snipers, Rocket Launchers, and Machine Guns. There is a plethora of other weapons such as a sword, which you have as your melee attack and akimbo pistols for a special weapon. Emphasis on that these are only a few examples, there are heaps of weapons to use on your explosive-mayhem-filled adventures.

Helping you on your quest to save the universe from impending doom are also upgrades for your special weapon that you can purchase using Botcoins, which are obtained from destroying highlighted crates scattered throughout the environment, these upgrades and weapons can be purchased from the shop that is available on each level.

These special weapons however do not use regular ammo, they use Volts. Volts can be acquired when killing enemies which automatically fills up your special ammo. Akimbot blends platformer and action-adventure perfectly, each level is crafted in a way that isn’t too difficult but does have a certain level of challenge to it while also having the added pressure of enemy robots shooting at you.

While Akimbot is a single-player only, there are heaps of things to do to keep your mind busy such as ‘LOST DATA”. Each level has three hidden pieces of ‘LOST DATA’ which are collectables revealing a small story about the robots living on the planet. Overall, Akimbot is super easy to master the controls and blast through each level with a plethora of ways to slash and explode those enemy robots.

Akimbot’s style and colours are quite cool, with pastels and heaps of vibrant colours jumping out at you, it provides a fun and quirky atmosphere that aids in a pleasurable experience. Each level has a mesmerizing scenery scattered with enemies, shootable platforms, lovely bright oceans, and heaps of enemy robot ships. The atmosphere in Akimbot is something spectacular and fresh in the world of platformers, I thoroughly enjoyed dashing around the levels and busting a move to the beat at the various clubs on the beach.

Now onto my favourite part, the sounds. The sounds in the game are very notable, as each gunshot and explosion are perfectly suited to the weapon, such as the robotic shots from the rifle you pick up early in the game and the arcade-like sound from the explosions. My favourite and most enjoyable part was the soundtrack itself, the upbeat techno vibes had me grooving as I slashed my way through those robots.

The bars and clubs in the game that you come across allow you to stop and bust a move as the DJ lays those sick techno beats, we all secretly crave. Not to mention the soundtrack also changes depending on if you’re in a fight or just jumping around. For example, on Data-bay there is a nice Carribean-style soundtrack that gets more intense as you slash through enemies. Thanks to the arcade-like sounds, crisp dialogue, and hectic techno beats, Akimbot is a fantastic experience I’m sure you will love.

Overall, Akimbot is a great mix of platformer and action-adventure bringing a blast from the past of PS2 platformers. Due to the simple controls, beautiful scenery, intense music, and numerous explosions and firearms, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game.

Akimbot is finally something different that successfully scratched that itch I had for something new that managed to keep my attention span longer than two seconds. Releasing on PlayStation 5, Xbox series X/S, and PC (steam) I’m sure players of all experience levels will love this game due to the challenging yet forgiving play style.

Written by: Larry