PAX West Spotlight: Jack Axe
By Rae
Fighting is a man’s work, right? Not if youre Jack – she’s got an axe and a whole lot of girl power... and she’s not afraid to use it!
Jack Axe is a platforming game from Keybol Games, featuring Jack and her sisters in a world and story inspired by a fusion of Norse and Filipino mythology. You’ll use your trusty axe to help you fight your way through levels and reach new areas. According to the website, Jack Axe is open world, so it sounds like there will be plenty of exploration available.
Jack Axe’s pixel art is absolutely lovely and reminiscent of the best of SNES platformer graphics (think games such as Yoshi’s Island - bright, smooth, and detailed). I really also enjoyed music that we got to hear – I’m fully expecting it to feel like the games I enjoyed when I was younger.
At first glance, Jack Axe looks like your standard oldschool-styleplatformer, and in a lot of ways it is. To clarify, this is in no way a badthing – I absolutely love platformers! I’m always down for trying out somethingnew, and if it’s got some nostalgia and familiarity to it, that’s great. Whatoriginally drew me to the demo was the bright, clean graphics, but what made mereally want to play was something that you don’t see a whole lot in platformers– multiplayer!
Good multiplayer games are few and far between – especially multiplayergames that aren’t local only. In Jack Axe, you can take up to four players onyour adventure. My friend and I played together, and really enjoyed getting toplay the stages simultaneously. The stage areas – at least in the demo – were rathersmall, so players were able to keep up with one another just fine. If oneperson died, they were able to function as an axe until either the level was resetor the next room was reached, allowing them to help with vines and enemiesstill. This multiplayer aspect – especially because it lets you play togetherinstead of just taking turns – made Jack Axe stand out a little more in a sea ofnostalgic platformers.
I do feel like the demo lacked a bit of information, and I’vesince heard that playing the demo on single player showed off more of thedialogue and story (which I suppose makes sense, but I would love to see storyas I’m playing the game, even if it’s with friends). We also had some troublewith the axe controls, though it’s a little difficult to tell if it would havejust become easier over time. Still, it was a ton of fun and I think it will bea blast for a game night with buddies.
We’re still quite far out from Jack Axe’s release, which is expected in April of 2020, so there’s still plenty of room for the game to grow! I really liked what I saw in the demo and am looking forward to the full release. You can also keep up with Jack Axe on Twitter!