AK-xolotl Review
“Lotls of Charm” Written by: Hunter (ReaperHunter23) Review Copy Provided
I’ve been fascinated by AK-xolotl ever since initially hearing about it earlier this year. An axolotl with an AK is the sort of absurdist concept that I live for. I checked out a trailer to make sure that I wasn’t getting excited for no reason. Thankfully, I liked what I was seeing and began to eagerly await the release of this nonsensical axolotl rampage. But is this whacky roguelite worth checking out? Let’s find out.
Image Credit: 2Awesome Studio, Playstack
AK-xolotl is a top down shoot ‘em up roguelike game. The basics of the game are pretty easy to get a handle on. You are able to carry two weapons, have a cooldown ability to help you out in a pinch, and are able to perform a dodge roll when you need to be evasive.
The game has a respectable selection of weapons to choose from. The weapons are divided into eight different classes. These classes include: assault rifles, pistols, shotguns, and a few other classes to round out the selection. You get to choose your primary weapon before starting a run. These have infinite ammo, but are not very impressive when it comes to damage output. Your secondary weapon can be found during the dungeon runs. These do substantially more damage than the primary weapons, but have a limited amount of ammo. These weapon drops are random so don’t sweat it if you get stuck with a weapon you don’t like for a couple of rooms, as a new gun to try out could be just around the corner.
Alternatively. If you are enjoying your weapon selection, the ammo for secondary guns can be replenished by finding another of the same weapon. Weapon drops come from a myriad of places so it is pretty viable to just find a secondary that you enjoy and roll with that for most of your run.
The other piece of your arsenal that will help you throughout your runs are the buffs you can obtain from the star chests. A lot of these are pretty straight forward, such as basic shield drinks or the butter knife that gives a 10% increase to damage. The more interesting buffs come in the form of the ones like the Pea Adapter which trades off raw damage for a 40% rate of fire increase. Or the Shotgunifier, which provides a 40% damage increase but drops your accuracy by a pretty hefty margin.
Getting a feel for which guns mix nicely with these buffs is part of the fun. I quickly figured out that putting the shotgun attachment on the sniper rifle is a bad idea. The shotgun class was my go to sub weapon for my time playing the game, as I found it to be the easiest to adapt with when I would get one of these attachments. Stacking the shotgun attachment on the shotgun was great because it provides such a wide arc of damage that the accuracy decrease was hardly important. The same can be said about the Pea Adapter, as the lower damage was not an issue because of how fast I was able to pump the opposition full of lead.
Image Credit: 2Awesome Studio, Playstack
The home base area also provides expansions to both the selection of weapons and the selection of buffs that you can get. Each one has a respective shop where you can buy a weapon or buff with gems that you pick up over the course of your runs. Buying one of these will add it to the pool of potential drops when you go back into the dungeon.
The home area is also where you will keep all of the axolittles, which are the baby axolotls you find during your dungeon runs. Whenever you nurture one of these axolittles to adulthood you are then able to take control of it and play as the now fully grown axolotl. This provides a decent avenue for experimentation. Your axolittles can gain different traits depending on what kind of food you feed it while you are nurturing it. The game is nice enough to tell you what the corresponding trait is for whichever dish you decide to cook. Some of these traits affect your cool down special, so you could potentially opt to have a decoy to draw fire away from yourself rather than the periodic heal that the default axolotl has. Or you could opt for the Chonky trait, which forgoes the cooldown special entirely in exchange for starting the run with two shields.
The pond is also home to an NPC that will give you permanent upgrades. I’ll be honest, these felt mostly shoulder shrug inducing to me. With the exception of the healing rooms and the shop re-rolls, none of them really felt like they made a demonstrable difference to my success after I got them. It’s one area that could have probably used some more fleshing out, along with the fourth zone that seemed prone to damaging me with a source that didn’t seem to be visible.
Image Credit: 2Awesome Studio, Playstack
AK-xolotl is a rather charming game. The opening cutscene provides the set up for the game by treating you to a very humorous documentary style video about why it is a bad idea to come between an Axolotl and its food. From there the writing remains endearing through the goofy characters that you are introduced to. They all say pretty much the same thing after you initially meet them so there isn’t much to come back to in between runs. Thankfully the game’s charming writing is ever present in the myriad of goofy item descriptions you can read when acquiring buffs.
AK-xolotl also has a great visual style. Its pixel art is great at selling the absurdity of the scenario. Each creature looks distinct and they even do a good job at defining the mini bosses with their special projectile color. The visuals also pair impeccably with the sound design.
However, I think the sound design is where this game really shines. The sound effects on the guns all feel very tactile and satisfying. The enemies all have comedically over exaggerated death cries that kept me giggling at them all throughout the game. The soundtrack is filled to the brim with some amazing heavy metal tunes that contrast the cutesy visuals in a most amusing fashion.
Image Credit: 2Awesome Studio, Playstack
Summary
AK-Xolotl is a fun time. I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy roguelikes or are looking to try the genre out for the first time. It may not be quite as in depth as some of the other recent high profile roguelikes, but its core gameplay is enjoyable enough in its own right. There are things that could be improved upon, such as the enemy variety that could have used a bit of boost and most of the permanent upgrades feeling inconsequential. But at the end of the day, I think the solid gameplay loop and its charming presentation make AK-xolotl a game worth checking out.