AK-xolotl Review

You know those Snickers, you’re not you when you’re hungry, commercials? Imagine that but instead of Joe Pesci or Betty White, you are hangry, and instead of funny, you become extremely violent. Also, you are a deceptively cute animal wielding unnecessarily large firearms.

Developed by 2Awesome Studio, after an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign that absolutely smashed their goals, AK-xolotl is a top-down, roguelike, twin-stick shooter featuring super cute but hyperviolent axolotls (a creature I only thought existed in Minecraft via my 8-year-old). As for the story here, think John Wick’s revenge tale but instead of a tiny dog, food and babies, but more importantly food, were taken. In the words of the immortal John James Rambo…

AK-xolotl features two very distinct types of gameplay. There is, of course, the “hyperviolent” twin-stick shooter portion of the show, and there is the camp half of the game which deals with everything that happens when you are not out on a rampage. The shooter side of things is a relatively simple affair where you make your way through multiple arenas until you reach the end of the biome boss. The game does begin with the titular axolotl and their AK rifle. As you progress further and further, additional weapons become available to start each run. Every starter weapon has infinite ammo but suffers from a reload. At a certain point in the game, you will have access to up to 8 different weapons to choose from.

The very first arena encounter always ends with a loot chest containing a weapon. Unlike your existing weapon, this weapon has limited ammo but no reloading is necessary. You can freely swap back to the starter weapon if you so choose. I was partial to the sniper rifle. Although it had a slow fire rate, it packed quite the punch. If that first loot chest provided a weapon I thought could be useful (you learn as you go what fits your playstyle best), I would swap back to the sniper rifle and save all my ammo on the other weapon for the boss fight. Picking up any other weapons replaces your current secondary weapon but picking up a duplicate increased the total ammo. If those 8 starter weapons were not enough firepower…

As you clear each arena, you are presented with anywhere from one to three paths. The paths all have symbols guiding you to your destination with the exception of the ? which can be any of the others. Your choices are guns, doraditos (this is a per-run currency that can be used at the item shop), the item shop, diamonds, food, or cookies (all used at the camp), health, a power-up, and, last but not least, a baby axolotl. What you get is totally random but having the option of focusing on advancing the run or upgrading back at camp made each run feel fresh.

Speaking of the camp, you start off with just a cooking pot which makes sense since most of the axolotl’s rage is as a result of the missing food. The more runs you undertake, the more amenities open up at the camp. Nugget the chicken (seriously) acts as a guide/runs the nursery. If you manage to find a room with a baby axolotl during the run, said baby will appear back in the camp (I have been unable to confirm it but new babies have appeared every time I cleared a biome for the first time). Nugget keeps track of every axolotl you have unlocked but taking care of the babies is up to you. Babies need to be nurtured which means changing diapers, feeding them, and burping them (all simple button presses but amusing enough).

When a baby’s happiness meter fills, you can select grow up. Most babies will grow up within a few runs. Adult axolotls can then be swapped out to use on a run. Why? Well, each one can have different properties. My starting axolotl had the ability to heal and doing damage would recharge the ability. Others have abilities such as spawning a decoy to distract enemies or increasing the drop amount of doraditos at the cost of dropping them when hit. Some are born with a trait but others can be taught it via food you cook. Additionally, at the cost of 8 cookies, axolotls can be taught a weapon specialization which will increase their damage with that weapon type by 10% and increase the drop chance of those weapons. Dough the Dog sells items (for diamonds) that become part of the item pool for both the power-up chest and the item shop. Items include increased damage at the cost of accuracy, damaging enemies whenever you take damage, increasing your speed, or dropping bombs whenever you dodge. Junkcat the Cat sells weapons that have a chance of dropping from chests or appearing at the item shop. Bababoon the Monkey keeps track of everything you come across and acts as a reference guide (he has descriptions of any guns or items unlocked and enemies encountered). Last but not least is Blisstaker the Crow. Like his namesake, he steals the happiness from the baby axolotls in exchange for hearts to provide you with permanent upgrades like a flat damage increase, quicker reload speed, and higher chances of rare quality weapons appearing. No baby axolotls are harmed in the process. I even kept a few babies from growing up just so I could bring them to Blisstaker every few runs for more hearts.

AK-xolotl takes the basics of a twin-stick shooter and adds its own unique twist. Most games of the genre spend the majority of time on the shooting sections. Here, there are decisions to make outside of just upgrading, running, rinse, and repeat. What about that “one more run” appeal that is so crucial to a game with a roguelike tag? Admittedly, I was a bit concerned after a few runs. I did find a baby axolotl but I could only cook one type of meal. There was no clear way to upgrade either. Usually, you just die, upgrade, get a bit further and then die, upgrade, until runs go from 2-3 minutes to 15-20 minutes. Once the first vendor appeared, it started to make sense and then I began to understand what was necessary, and “one more run” was in full force. Hell, at two points during the finalization of this review, I needed to check something in the game and temptation reared its ugly head into two 20+ minute runs. This is how you do a twin-stick shooter the right way. There is a massive cast of enemies, some comical in nature, to take on, and a slew of bad puns (the best guide). There are even axolotlfied (did I just create a word?) memes in-game plus a rickroll. AK-xolotl is a must-buy for both fans of the genre and those who wish to take a cute creature on a murderous rampage. The game is available now on PC and consoles with a physical release releasing in the near future. Save the food, save the children, but SAVE THE FOOD!