Awesome Arsenals: The Cosmic Brilliance of Amid Evil’s Weaponry
How this “Boomer Shooter” Stretches the Limits of Creativity
Amid Evil is a masterwork of art. With its stunning visuals, its impressive soundtrack, and a wholly unique setting, this game should be on the wish lists of every boomer shooter enthusiast.
Even with a limited arsenal in its roster, each weapon not only provides a unique experience for the player in how they defeat enemies, but makes the player feel powerful as well – and they are all named like mythical weapons found in a roleplaying game! With a few exceptions, each weapon uses mana as its ammo source of three different colors. Each weapon vastly increases in power once Soul Power is used, a simple yet unique mechanic found in first person shooter games.
Because there’s only a handful of weapons in the Amid Evil Arsenal, we’ll go over all of them.
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Axe of the Black Labyrinth
The Axe of the Black Labyrinth is a mysterious weapon forged by the Old Gods, and serves as the main plot point to the prequel DLC of Amid Evil. It is a powerful axe that grants the user the ability to transverse dimensions. Not much is known about this axe, as its full powers are still a mystery. When the wielder perishes, this weapon will always return to its home in the Black Labyrinth.
This is the weapon the player starts out with, and is a perfect tool for fodder enemies. It requires no mana to use, and it pulls enemies towards the wielder. When its soul power is activated, it will spin and quickly mow down enemies like a chainsaw.
As the first weapon the player has access to, it helps sets the tone and the theme of the game going forward. Even though it is the starter weapon, and the player’s use of this weapon may be limited in the game, this axe has a lot of creative potential when it comes to its story.
Gauntlets of the Platinum Star
The gauntlets also have an interesting backstory. The wanderer (the player character) witnessed a meteorite crash into a mountain. He traveled a treacherous journey to find this meteorite through the fridged mountains. Taking all he could carry, the wanderer brought them to a blacksmith, who forged these legendary gauntlets.
This is the starter weapon for The Black Labrynth prequel, replacing the axe. It functions similarly, but it helps launch the player toward his enemies instead. With Soul Power, it will unleash a barrage of fists for a few seconds.
I find this one to be awesome for not just the brief backstory, but it’s obvious reference to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Staff of the Azure Orb
This staff is one of the first weapons you acquire. It shoots bursts of blue orbs that lock onto nearby enemies. When using Soul Power, it’s fire rate drastically increases and it’s magic turns enemies into water.
This weapon truly highlights the unique flavor in the game’s arsenal. As opposed to a type of shotgun or rifle, the Staff of the Azure Orb highlights the creativity game designers can reach in terms of simplicity. It fires consistently and predictably for the wielder, serving as a perfect introduction to the weapons of Amid Evil.
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Whispers Edge
What would be the fantasy equivalent to a shotgun, a weapon meant to deal with a lot of enemies in close range? This is the brilliant, creative solution Amid Evil came up with! Meet Whisper’s Edge, a magic scimitar that unleashes a blade of green energy with every swing. The first impression may lead you to believe this was a mere melee weapon, however, when fired, it’s energy blade travels a vast distance in front of the player, cutting down enemies.
When powered, the energy blades widen, and bounce off walls, able to hit many more enemies at a time. Tight corridors immediately become blenders, quickly mincing the forces of evil into pulp.
Voltride
A lot of games are lacking in a lightning gun lately. Amid Evil gives us that missing tool in the form of a trident. With perfect accuracy and no recoil, it becomes a perfect long-range tool. It can also stun enemies with electrocution, and if you overkill an enemy while they’re electrocuted by zapping them a few more times, they explode, and enemies within its blast radius will take damage and also get stunned. When charged, the lightning becomes a single continuous beam, inflicting massive damage and reduces the time needed to stun your foes.
When used in the right hands, the wielder can keep hordes under lockdown, rendering them helpless as you smite them with the Voltride’s lightning.
The aesthetic, the sound effects, and the abilities of this weapon blend wondrously to make this trident an impressively pleasing weapon.
Celestial Claw
The first, and only weapon to use orange mana, the Celestial Claw is the equivalent to a rocket launcher. But instead of launching missiles, this cosmic wand instead yanks planets out of their orbit, shrinks them down, and hurls them straight at your enemies. With Soul Power, it will take stars and cause them to go supernova when fired.
Forged by an archwizard of chaos, this powerful tool narratively helps cement the stakes of what the Wanderer is fighting for. While before, the other weapons and the enemies you face make you feel you’re merely in a fantasy setting. With this planet chucking weapon, you’re fully able to witness the powerful scale of the forces you’re fighting against.
Also, as a fun Easter egg, you have a small chance of summoning the planet Earth in your Celestial Claw!
Star of Torment
The Whispers Edge is akin to a shotgun, while the Star of Torment is a cousin to the Super Shotgun from Doom. A forgotten mace once used by crystal warriors, it would fire their essence in the forms of shards. The heavy mace makes the weapon slow to swing, but the force the shards have is enough to pin enemies into the walls in a satisfying execution. When powered, the wielder can swing it much faster and launch the entire clusters of shards which will seek out enemies. When the cluster strikes it target, it will detonate and send shards like a nail bomb.
Like it’s green brother, the Whispers Edge and the Star of Torment are unique takes of ranged weaponry not seen in other first person shooter games. The way these two weapons function fit perfectly in the fantasy world of Amid Evil, and highlights how a “Doom-like” game could play and feel in a wholly different setting.
Aeturnum
Functionally, this weapon acts as the BFG-9000, shooting a single orb of power that has purple lightning latch onto every enemy in front of you, completely obliterating everything in your path. While the visual spectacle is a sight to behold, the more impressive Soul Powered attack instead launches a black hole, swallowing all enemies who get close to it.
This is one of the most mystical and estranged weapons in all modern gaming in terms of design. It takes this alien form with its purple metallic lattice of twisting ribbons, with no clear answer as to what it resembles. The origin of this weapon is unknown, but this device was speculated to exist coterminously across various dimensions according to the lore. With its estranged design and its name, it makes the player wonder more about the mysteries that lies within this weapon.
Voidsplitter
This weapon in the prequel DLC replaces Aeturnum, but is still just as powerful! It’s blade cuts across dimensions and splits everything the player looks at on his screen perfectly. When soul powered, its attack is one of the most impressive spectacles of all of gaming. Everything on the player’s screen freezes as a veil of purple shadows takes over the entire screen. With a few swipes of the blade, it not only just cuts the enemies down, but instead completely erases them out of existence, leaving not even their souls behind.
This weapon’s lore leaves some interesting backstory to the Black Labyrinth. It belonged to a warrior who challenged the Black Labyrinth who fell in battle. The Watcher of the labyrinth keeps this powerful weapon available to other challengers to honor his memory.
Amid Evil has done a fantastic job designing weapons for the player to wield in its fantasy world, offering an impressive satisfaction for their use with the sounds and visuals. While there is not much written lore, the tidbits that is offered by the game can leave the player craving for more. The arsenal of this game is impressive both with its presentation, its unspoken lore, and of course, how masterful it translates the shooter genre into its fantasy setting.
If you are craving for a new game to try, you should definitely put Amid Evil on your list.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/673130/AMID_EVIL/
Thank you for reading! Got a favorite weapon? Any games you want me to cover next? Let us know in the comments section!