Antipole DX Lets you Get Flipped-Turned Upside Down

Antipole DX is a game that's well familiar to anyone who follows the Playcrafting scene. Developer Saturnine Games has been hard at work at this remake of 2011's Antipole, creating a whole new set of graphics, sounds, and levels to flesh out this revival of a decade-old indie title.

This particular game is well on its way to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a PC release to follow sometime after the fact. Now that we're getting closer to being able to buy this game, I decided to take a few minutes and try it out at Play NYC 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Om_VQLy5IQ

Gravity is Good

The overall concept of the game is simple: take Mega Man-style levels, add in a gravity-flipping mechanic, and have fun. The execution of the concept, however, is pretty darn good and much better than I had expected going in to this one.

Unlike VVVVVV, you don't just affect your own gravity; you also affect an area around you, comprising approximately 40% of the screen. Anything in this field—yourself, enemies, and even liquids apparently—will go straight up and stay up until you turn it off and the power meter runs down.

The gravity mechanic is perhaps best demonstrated in one of the early levels in the demo. Small wheeled robots went back on forth on platforms. They were easy enough to dispatch with my gun, but I wondered what would happen if I got a bit more creative with the spiked pits peppered throughout the map. I waited for one to approach an edge, hit the gravity button, and chuckled with glee as it exploded into pieces below. Wonderful.

Secret Levels and New Consoles for Antipole DX

Saturnine Games used to run deep with the Nintendo consoles; they released games for the DS and Wii U consoles. Come 2019, and you would think that a cool platformer like Antipole DX would be making its way to the Nintendo Switch.

For one reason or another, it's not. When I inquired about the platform, the developer indicated that they had removed all of their games from the Nintendo ecosystem. There wasn't much more to report beyond the fact that they just aren't making games for Nintendo's consoles anymore (and they probably won't be anytime soon, either). This is echoed by a cryptic blog post on the game's official website.

While Antipole DX won't be coming to the Switch (nor mobile, mind), it will be coming to the Xbox One and PS4. Coming with it are a bunch of cool new features, one of which is an intriguing bonus level system. Every level in the game will have three coins placed somewhere in the world. Collect all three of these and you'll unlock a shorter bonus level. Each of the core 25 or so levels will also have an associated bonus level that you can unlock to explore additional content.

I enjoyed my time playing Antipole DX and talking with Saturnine Games. If you like interesting platformers that pay homage to the classic Mega Man games, I think you'll find something to love here. You should be able to get your hands on it in the next few months. In the meantime, you can check out Saturnine Games' official website and follow them on Twitter.

What's your favorite game that uses gravity in an interesting way? Do you enjoy mechanics like these in platformers? Let us know in the comments below, and check out what else we saw at Play NYC by going to our Play NYC 2019 Coverage Hub.