Aeon Drive (2021) [Switch]

Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Several terms make themselves useful to us when discussing Critical Reflex and 2Awesome Studios’ Aeon Drive: kaizo, brutal, reflex platformer. None of these quite visualize this title’s short bursts of gameplay. It’s nowhere near the arrogant level design of kaizo Mario. The trappings of brutal platformers are here, though.

Circular saws, moving platforms, switches, spikes, blind falls… Aeon Drive’s toolset will likely be familiar. Beyond the nuts and bolts, the gaudy stylishness of Blade Runner is mixed with ’80s synthwave, Barcelona architecture–indeed the setting of the game is Neo Barcelona–and a dash of Japanese-embued cyberpunk. The Spanish studio nailed the fusion of cultures in Aeon Drive’s presentation, from the futuristic cityscape to our protagonist, Jackelyne, who finds herself stranded in this dimension of mazes and hazards.

Jack be nimble

Jack is armed to the teeth, though. She’s swift as a shadow in the night, wall-jumping like a ninja, dashing under dangers, leaping through the air. She comes equipped with a sword that can cut down any foe and a dagger that she can throw and teleport with. Lodging the dagger into the wall on the other side of a laser barrier allows her to jump right through it. Handy!

But she has to be quick. She’s only got 30 seconds to complete each of the game’s 100 stages spread out across 10 sectors.

Like tears in rain

Fortunately, Jack’s personal A.I. computer, Vera, can hit rewind the temporal continuum itself, bending mere seconds in a game where reaching the exit of a stage can come down to a second. 30 seconds can be extended in increments of 5 seconds at a time, provided Jack can nab enough items in succession to power the ability. Aeon Drive’s emphasis is on speed, honing your reflexes. 30 seconds becomes 40 seconds, or maybe you’re fast enough to finish these stages in less than 30?

A leaderboard the game refuses to let you forget about serves as a constant reminder that you can always better your time, unless of course you want to grab all the game’s collectibles, unlockables, and secure yourself the “good” ending. Further complicating matters are the various routes Jackelyne can take in each stage. Each of them leads to the same exit but which of them is easiest and which is hardest? Which route leads to the most items?

If you die, that’s alright. Sure, the game keeps track of how many times you get impaled, fall to your death, get sawed in half, blasted to bits, burned to ash, or sucked into an angry chrono-vortex should your time run out, but… you can always start over again! Aeon Drive’s stages are short enough that you never lose too much progress having to restart them.

Failure IS an option

And should you fail, you’re presented with perhaps one of the greatest gifts any video game can ever give a human being: a chance to learn. Figuring out what went wrong and not making the same mistake allows a player to see themselves improving with practice, especially in Aeon Drive, if they don’t give up. No doubt there’ll be frustrating moments. I could breeze through certain levels first try whereas others would see Jack perish a dozen times at my hands.

But when you can turn back time, it’s a great opportunity to confront your regrets.

The 8-bit Review

Visuals: 7/10

Crisp and polished pixel art, lavish backgrounds, bright colors that (mostly) inform what is or isn’t dangerous or useful without those objects blending in with the surroundings… it’s clear a lot went into the visual philosophy of Aeon Drive. Everything from the title screen to the menus to the cutscenes shows dedication to a concept and a studio interested in the craft of eye-catching graphics. Occasionally overwhelming but not frequently uninteresting.

24-hour geishas spotted in Spain

Audio: 8/10

Jose Mora did an excellent job conveying the percussive synthwave befitting this cyberpunk environment. Actually, when I was playing the game, my wife asked “Is that River City Girls?” Well done, Jose Mora. Megan McDuffy is one of the greats when it comes to this style of music. Come to find out, she actually did compose a single track for this game, used in its trailer and during its credit roll. Obviously, there’s more to a game’s audio than music. However, I could say the voice acting was a little too perky whilst simultaneously being a little flat, but the soundtrack is overall front and center here.

Gameplay: 8/10

Beyond the 100 stages of the single-player campaign, there’s also a co-op mode that would take advantage of a stage’s multiple routes, though zooming out can make traversal more challenging. Aeon Drive is fun to play. Its reflex platforming and short burst gameplay make the invested players mutter “just one more time”.

Challenge: 8/10

I’ll admit, Aeon Drive isn’t normally my kind of game. I love platformers but brutal platformers are a little outside of my buzzsaw wheelhouse. That said, I actually witnessed myself easing into it, getting better at it, learning its somewhat unusual movement mechanics that really come down to mastering the teleportation dagger. You can do crazy maneuvres with that thing. It’s a fairly unique mechanism. That said, whenever I died, I felt like it was my fault, for the most part. A few blind falls onto turrets or barbed wire were irritating but overall, very fair difficulty. Some early deaths while I learned the controls, then smooth sailing until the difficulty climbed again toward the end.

Accessibility: 4/10

There’s kind of a lot going on here. Players will of course be introduced to new hazards as they progress through the game, but learning the game’s basic movement, while I wouldn’t call it difficult, it comes off as slightly unusual. This is not your typical 2D run and gun, nor is it a game where you stomp on enemy heads in order to advance. The teleporting will take a little getting used to, as will dash-sliding, wall-jumping, and using your sword to cut bullets. Yes, bullets. However, it’s a wonderful thing if you take the time to get these mechanics working in unison.

Replayability: 8/10

There’s a diamond in each stage. Gathering hot dogs unlocks previously locked world-building articles. Each stage features multiple routes. There’s multiplayer and the leaderboard to consider. If you’re into brutal platforming, this may be a neat little appetizer sampler with a lot of playtime to enjoy.

Collect drive cores before they blow up the planet. Oh and you have 30 seconds.

Uniqueness: 7/10

Aeon Drive follows up on Dimension Drive, also by 2Awesome. Dimension Drive was a vertical shmup that involved hopping between the parallel dimensions displayed side by side on screen, and so with Aeon Drive (“eon” meaning a period of time), the teleportation concept was taken a step further and implemented for use in an action platformer. Aeon Drive may combine a lot of things that’ll seem fairly familiar, inspirations and influences, but its core ideas feel truly special.

Personal: 6/10

I was skeptical if Aeon Drive was truly for me before I started it. After finishing it, at least to secure the “bad” ending, for now, I can safely say I had fun. It was an enjoyable romp that had me sitting on the edge of its seat. Given its adrenaline-pumping mode of play, I can say that I’m glad it didn’t overstay its welcome. 100 stages is a lot but they’re designed to each be completed in less than a minute, plus I found the movement design more than a bit novel.

I still wouldn’t say I’m all too into the genre of platforming that Aeon Drive juuust barely overlaps (again, it’s not exactly kaizo), but I warmed up to it quick and had the sense to recognize it for what it was. The emphasis is on momentum and though Aeon Drive doesn’t do a lot of things, it does the things it does do pretty well. Just be forewarned that it’s a strong flavor of a different kind of platforming.

Thank you to Critical Reflex and 2Awesome Studios for giving us a copy of their game for this review.

Aggregated Score: 7.0

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.