PAX Australia 2023: Hands on with Ancient Weapon Holly
PAX Australia is always loaded with plenty of indie games, and while I was only able to play a few at the show one of the ones I put some time into was a game called Ancient Weapon Holly. Now the name itself doesn't really give any indication as to what the game is about, the quickest way I can describe it is it's an action dungeon crawler.
So, Acquire Corp are the studio behind the game and what they've done is they've taken the concept of a dungeon crawler, which is by its very nature a very slow and methodical experience, but now there's action involved. The basic premise is that you play as Holly, a weapon from ancient times who after saving humanity was sealed away by those she saved and has now broken free and vowed revenge. Where she was put was at the bottom of a very dark hole, and your main goal is to fight to the surface in order to seek your vengeance. Games about revenge are always interesting, obviously the full story here will need to be equally so, but as far as premise goes, I'm on board.
The gameplay is a little different to what you might be expecting, each of the levels of the inverted tower that Holly is being trapped in are randomly generated. That means that each time you start a new attempt to climb out, things will be different which does mean there is infinite replayability. Holly’s main objective is to escape, but you can't just run straight to the surface, in the time since she was sealed away humanity has built portals to the various levels of the tower. As holly ascends the source of her power comes with her, an ancient obelisk, and should that be destroyed by the invading humans Holly's power will be removed and she will die. So while you're fighting your way out, you also need to be defending your way of fighting, it's an interesting concept.
Each of the stages feature a host of destroyable blocks, think Bomberman just minus the bombs, you simply need to destroy as little as you need in order to reach the targets, the portal 's humanities built. In your way are a host of enemies, skeletons rock monsters and even frogs that shoot fireballs, thankfully as a weapon holly isn't without defense. From the outset the basic attack is to launch a projectile, but even the weak looking skeletons will take a number of hits to destroy. Thankfully holly can also reshape the terrain around her summoning giant holes in the direction she's facing. Once an enemy falls into the hole you simply need to fill it back in and then continue on your merry way. The enemies won't wait for you to do this either they'll keep coming and I often spend a little time putting holes in spaces where I knew enemies would get stuck if I wasn't around there. This is not an infinite time thing enemies will chase you down if they see you and randomly humanity will start sending soldiers through the portals to destroy the obelisk.
As you defeat enemies or break special blocks, you'll obtain gems and there are a number of them to find. Located in each stage uh different obelisks which allow you to upgrade Holly's abilities, deal more damage, move faster or even unlock new attacks. As you start climbing to higher levels there are more portals and more enemies on each stage, so upgrading is going to be a crucial aspect to survival. I was able to upgrade the number of gems I could carry which was very handy, the amount of protection Holly's obelisk got, and even the amount of damage I could deal with my basic attack. With random stage creation, random enemy placement and a vast array of upgrade options, it seems replayability is at the forefront of what they're designing.
As always time with the game is never long enough, a demo ran for about 20 minutes which is pretty standard and when the thanks for playing screen appeared, I found myself sad because I wanted to keep going. My main concern right now is that the stages may not be big enough the more you get up they may just fill it with more enemies, which would be a challenge, but I don't know if it would be the right challenge. Either way as someone who's not a fan of the dungeon crawler genre, ancient weapon holly has certainly gained my interest.
Currently Ancient Weapon Holly is set for release in 2024 and it's coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, though an exact date has not been given
