The fate of Mercia now lies in your hands in Battle Axe, available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Battle Axe is a retro-inspired, pixel art hack and slash adventure that has drawn inspiration from classic titles including Gauntlet, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara, and Golden Axe.

For starters, players will need nerves of steel and fortitude to fight their way through hordes of enemies, to dodge attacks and come out unscathed. You will inevitably die and die again, but perseverance and practice most certainly pay off, with each playthrough you will begin to recognize enemy attacks, and create new imaginative methods to attack them, you will find a way that works for you. The dedicated pixel art in Battle Axe creates a vivid world that enhances the authenticity of what the game is aiming to be, a top-down arcade adventure inspired by the classics. Animations are fluid and it is hard to be drawn into the world thanks to the fantastic craftsmanship from Henk Nieborg.

Bring a friend along and play in 2 player local co-op, select one of the three main characters each of whom have variety in their attacks. All of the available heroes have a projectile attack, melee attack, special attack and an item pickup slot allowing for one-off powerups to be used to clear out enemies in a pinch. Battle Axe focusses on a fun, core experience and the balanced mechanics encourages players to beat the game in an exhilarating fashion to get a higher ranking. It certainly feels like an old-school challenge getting your score featured on the leaderboard and to constantly keep aiming to beat your score adds to the replayability.

Infinite mode invites players to enter into a continuously sprawling, procedurally generated dungeon to fight off waves of enemies and rack up the highest possible score. After completing Arcade Mode and New Game+ players will most certainly want to test their skills to see if they can progress as far as possible. This is the true test for those who love to see their score at the top of the leaderboard.

The iconic acclaimed catalogue of successes from Battle Axe creator, Henk Nieborg, include Xeno Crisis, Contra 4 and Shakedown: Hawaii and further adding to the pedigree is Manami Matsumae who previously worked on the soundtracks for Mega Man, Final Fight, Shovel Knight and many other classics. Completing the team is Mike Tucker who has helped with the programming and additional design on Battle Axe but has worked on a number of titles including with Henk Nieborg on Xeno Crisis.

Battle Axe is out now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One so be sure to check out the game on the store. Discover more by visiting numskullgames.com or by following us on Twitter and Instagram, subscribing to our YouTube channel and by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Battle Axe

Numskull Games

☆☆☆☆☆ 14

★★★★★

$29.99

Get it now

For as long as you and your people can remember, your homeland of Mercia has been held in the tyrannical grip of “Etheldred”; a despotic sorceress in the distant icy wastelands to the north. Every seven years she sends her armies south to handpick inhabitants from each township who will be subjected to a life of slavery, and they are never heard from again. A call is sent out to champions across the land pleading with them to put an end to her rule. An elf, a wizard and a marauder answer the call. Join this band of heroes on their quest the vanquish evil from the land once and for all!

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