Fresh off PAX West 2024, Kotaku’s Alessandro Fillari was caught in the hype explosion for ANTONBLAST, the fast-paced explosive action platformer developed by Summitsphere and published by Joystick Venture.
The nostalgically designed platformer throws players into the role of Dynamite Anton or “cranked-out coworker” Annie and against a world full of hammer- and explosives-vulnerable objects and opponents to steal their spirits back from Satan.
What made AntonBlast such a thrilling little experience was that it felt equal parts like a high-energy ‘90s Nickelodeon cartoon and an early 2D PS1-era platformer riding high on the enhanced tech of the 32-bit console. Inspired directly by the Crash Bandicoot and Wario Land games, AntonBlast has you play as a pair of chaotic bruisers that plow through environments and baddies with reckless abandon.
“Plowing through environments” should be taken literally, as Anton’s anarchic activities aren’t restricted to a single lane of play. The demolition duo drags their hammers to both the foreground and background, allowing the rampage to expand to every aspect of the stage (and also open up new routes to scramble towards Satan a little faster).
Similar to Pizza Tower, the aim is to tear through levels as fast as possible while causing destruction to the levels and enemies in equal fashion—and in some cases, your wrecking journey will even take you into the backgrounds of levels to break stuff in the distance. Once I got into the groove of its high-octane platforming pace, I found AntonBlast to be a fun throwback, filled to the brim with raucous energy that I couldn’t help but admire.
Read Kotaku’s full list of their 12 best games at PAX West 2024 here.
ANTONBLAST is set to detonate on November 12, 2024 for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. Follow Summitsphere on Twitter/X or visit the website here to learn more.
