Did you grow up or yearn for the PlayStation 2 era and all the 3D platformers that were big during that time? Well then, the eight person team at Evil Raptor has a game for you with their love letter to the era with Akimbot. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve with you being able to see the comparison to games like Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank from the get go of pairing up a taller character with a rambunctious little sidekick.
The demo we got to experience was the first world of the game and saw the two main characters named Exe and Shipset meet for the first time and escape from a prison transport. The duo immediately gives off of having a Jak and Daxter type of relationship with Exe being a more serious and brooding type while Shipset is a wisecracking and more lighthearted little robot. Speaking of lightheartedness, the game has a very comedic tone. Even when you’re attacking the non-hostile robots in the world Shipset will start freaking out about it. There’s even a little robot beach party you can go to and dance at.
The gameplay is in the vein of Ratchet and Clank. You have melee and weapon attacks and there are shops scattered throughout the level to buy new weapons and upgrades. The weapons, while not as wild as the guns in Ratchet and Clank, are still out there as the first gun I purchased was one that shoots acid instead of bullets. There is also plenty of hacking we had to do to unlock more areas around the world and each time we had to hack something the mechanic to hack was a bit different. One time we had to find the right button after being mixed up and another we had to press a button a multitude of times.
Overall, Akimbot looks to be a true callback to the PS2 era of platformers, so if you’re interested in those then you don’t have to wait long as the releases on August 29, 2024.