The Axis Unseen Review – An Undercooked Hunting Experience (PC)

Hunters, creatures, magic, and more—the premise of The Axis Unseen is certainly hard to ignore. Add to that the excitement of Metal music that syncs with your gameplay, and you have yourself an open world that serves as a promising venture for mystical adventures. It’s important to note that the game is crafted by one of the developers behind iconic Bethesda games.

Just Purkey Games has tried something spectacular with The Axis Unseen’s art direction and setting. Unfortunately, its poor execution leaves a bitter aftertaste once you’re over the much beloved “Skyrim’s stealth hunting” nostalgia. After my playthrough, I was left craving a nuanced experience for something that feels like a mod for a Bethesda title, rather than a fully developed indie game.

The Bewitched Hunting Grounds Call For You

The Axis Unseen’s setting is nothing short of dramatic. It’s rich with folklore, eerie environments, and monsters that haunt a mysterious world. Your place in this universe is often served as a reminder through journal entries and magical powers you unlock throughout the game’s progression.

Undoubtedly, the game’s atmospheric excellence is its biggest takeaway. Your bow has blinking icons that act as a heads-up display (HUD) for certain gameplay elements. Around you, forests drown in heavy silence while mountains hold a picturesque aura of beasts and creatures that came before you. And when it gets dark, you won’t be able to see anything, unless you’re guided by magic (such as Spirit Arrows).

The visuals and sound design in The Axis Unseen are remarkably impressive given the studio’s size. At first, I was surprised by how optimized the graphics felt on my PC, and how often I could adjust little aspects of the game like shadow distance, post-processing, field of view, etc. However, the game did stutter at many points, refusing to find a balance between visual fidelity and performance.

Despite these little hiccups, the game runs well overall and looks wonderful. Unfortunately, while I could adjust the game’s visuals and difficulty, there’s one thing I couldn’t find a slider for—how rewarding The Axis Unseen felt.

Drawing Inspiration Before Drawing a Bow

Since we must address games like Fallout, Skyrim, and Starfield (it’s not me, it’s the Steam description), talking about an open-world game that feels rewarding is essential. The Axis Unseen is a game designed to be a roguelike open world. This entails multiple “hunts” that you’re a part of, as you uncover the secrets of this world. In doing so, you unlock new powers and pieces of lore.

Sounds oddly familiar, doesn’t it? While it doesn’t look like any other Bethesda game, parts of its gameplay feel similar. Especially the stealth and bow-and-arrow mechanics. Going into The Axis Unseen, I was expecting a tightly woven combat experience that made the best of these lesser-explored areas of open worlds many of us grew up playing.

Sadly, The Axis Unseen’s combat system lacks in many aspects. Before I begin describing this, I want you to think of an archer. Visualize an archer who’s from a world rich in fantasy and folklore. You’ll likely imagine a professional who moves, acts, and draws a bow with precision. Naturally, that needs to be a part of a game that draws its inspiration from such themes. The game doesn’t do justice to that.

Firstly, shooting an arrow seldom feels focused or motivated. You could be shooting at anything or anyone, and it’ll feel like a rookie archer who only knows how to fire a bow in one fashion. Realistic? Sure. Exciting? Nuh-uh. Secondly, while enemies move and act in different ways, the kind of danger they pose seldom feels distinct.

Then, there’s that melee attack. It’s a little stab you do when you’re out of arrows, or painfully close to a creature. In my playthrough, I couldn’t find much variety in it. I would love to see different kinds of melee attacks, or something akin to the Unrelenting Force from Skyrim.

Finally, myth and magic do little for you when you’re up against different creatures. Even though I tried using unique abilities and arrows, none of them impacted how combat felt in any significant way. I wish there was a magic arrow that made enemies move, walk, jump, and exist better. Because in its current build, the bestiary is the only place where beasts have a decent animation (i.e., none).

A Fantasy Book Still Being Written

As you hunt new beasts and unlock new ways of braving this world, the hub (or, a respawn point) grows. Statues of creatures unlock, with journal entries that turn into a page straight from a well-crafted bestiary. The world’s exploration too rewards you with such lore bits. This central space then provides you with portals to places you’ve discovered before.

All in all, traversing The Axis Unseen becomes a bit interesting as you unlock these aspects, but eventually comes back to a slower, less enthusiastic gameplay loop that doesn’t give you any solid incentives. There are no major map markers or quest lines to follow, just exploration that should feel rewarding given the game’s all-too-frequent punishing nature.

The little quality-of-life mechanics such as arrows flying back to you (once you’ve used them) and inventory refilling on its own when you’re at a safe point feel oddly satisfying. If this kind of loop, along with a somewhat fulfilling sense of exploration is something you have the time for, do give The Axis Unseen a try.

Even though everything about The Axis Unseen looks and sounds charming, I wish I felt the same about its gameplay. It’s a shame to witness art that’s larger than life but feels shallow. I hope Just Purkey Games keeps working on the game’s core mechanics and builds a better combat system, well-incentivized objectives, and improved animations that will do wonders for the game.