Apotheon

Apotheon is a 2D action game with an art style and heroic narrative based on Ancient Greek mythology. The player controls Nikandreos, a young warrior who, with the help of the goddess Hera, fights against the Olympian gods, using various weapons of the Ancient Greeks.

In Ancient Greece, the Gods have begun to punish the humans of Earth, resenting their arrogance and defiance among their societies. Zeus, the king of all the Gods, has forced the Olympians to stop giving their gifts of life to the Earth, so that all humans are soon deprived of animals, food, and even daylight. With most of the Earth cast in darkness, man begins to fall prey to the savage destruction of their cities.

Meanwhile, in the Village of Dion, invaders ransack the entire area and lay waste to most of the village. A young warrior named Nikandreos awakens to find his home destroyed and many of the raiders killing Dion's soldiers and citizens. Arming himself and with the help of the surviving soldiers, Nikandreos is able to cast away the invading forces and slay their leader. In the temple, Nikandreos meets face-to-face with Hera, the wife of Zeus, who congratulates him for his victory in saving the village.

Apotheon received generally favorable reviews from critics, with a score on review aggregator Metacritic of 78/100 and 76/100 for the Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 versions respectively. Critics generally praised the game's aesthetic and entertaining combat. Writing for Game Informer, Bryan Vore called Apotheon a "damn fun game and one of my surprise early favorites of 2015". Patrick Hancock of Destructoid felt it "more than backs up its aesthetic prowess with rewarding combat and exploration systems in place".

Many reviewers noticed a Metroidvania influence; John-Paul Jones of GameWatcher applauded its "homage to the engrossing Castlevania and Metroid games pioneered back in the 8-bit days". Nicholas Plouffe of Canadian Online Gamers also recommended the game to fans of the Metroidvania genre.