Ape Out

You will "go bananas" playing Ape Out. Actually, this game might make you go insane. It's a good thing "Ape Out" is not more popular because entire mental wards would be dedicated to people who went insane trying to complete it. Just going through the game normally and beating it takes less than five hours, completing the achievements takes 100-200 hours or more.

This game almost made me quit playing video games completely- I mean, I like a challenge but, what this game does is pure evil. It's pretty broken, even just selecting an option on the menu is somehow extremely frustrating. You are an ape who must reach the exit- there's no story, it doesn't matter. Sometimes you're being held captive by soldiers, sometimes you're in a cage on top of a skyscraper, it doesn't make any sense and you shouldn't care. The ape has no powerups, cannot heal, he can only grab and throw people. All of the enemies have a brief moment before they attack, as if they're lining up a shot. They shoot, you grab- see where the difficulty lies? 90% of the game is best completed just sticking to the bottom of the map so the enemies don't surround you.

The tough part is when you get to arcade difficulty, with achievement so hard you will basically land on the leaderboard if you complete them. Now there is a strict time limit and if you die, you start over from the beginning. Seems not so bad, but the levels are randomized, what worked once will never work again. Practice in this game is meaningless because it's so simplistic. What does work, even though it's kind of ridiculous, is developing different rules of thumb for each area because the layout is approximately similar. You will do over and over and over- there are hard games, there are frustrating games, there are completely broken games, and then there is Ape Out.

As a final, hateful attack on the player's self worth and meaning in life, a single banana is randomly hidden in the second half of each stage. You must complete the stage without dying to find it and then complete the level holding the banana. If you do this in all ten stages (One for each normal and hard difficulty) you will be treated to a minigame where you are the equivalent of donkey kong trying to kill a man for stealing his bananas. If you lose this minigame, you lose all the bananas. This alone can take 50 hours or more and took me four days of near-continuous play to achieve.

Was it worth it? God no, but this game was painful, and I felt the need to best it in a manner that is almost spiritually transcendent, as it goes beyond frustration and into a realm of psychotic insanity that puts it in line with games like Doom 2016 on Ultranightmare. It is perhaps the hardest game I have ever played, and that is not a compliment, as your deaths will all just be the inevitable failure of you, the game's poor coding or both. And while the game's inspired design - graphics that look like paper cardboard and glass that constantly hums as a bunch of fuzzy blue dots until you break, does make you think this will be a fun, relaxing experience, the game will eventually transform into a nightmare that you cannot fully comprehend. I suppose, the reason I give "Ape Out" a positive rating, is that it is not unlike life. Life is extremely unfair, with constant events where you can lose despite trying as hard as you can and doing nothing wrong. And, like life, you only get one shot, and if you screw it up you're done for. Also, like life, you must collect money, not unlike this game's bananas, but make one mistake, and you lose all your money, and/or bananas.

In summary, I appreciate the game's creative presentation and solo drumming soundtrack but it also made me want to bash my skull in repeatedly and continued playing of it almost felt like a form of self torture or the movie Groundhog Day with no ending in sight and little reward when you get there.

When I finished the game and the soundtrack exploded, I literally jumped out of my seat with goosebumps from neck to toe, dancing frenetically not knowing exactly why, with big smile on my face. One of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Hell yeah, I recommended it!

APE OUT is a percussion jazz album hidden inside a video game where the gameplay itself is the composition. The choice of instrument (percussion) drives home the ham-fisted gameplay. This purposeful use of basically exclusively percussion audibly entrances us to what our gorilla friend is doing and is likely feeling. Even the enemy variety and different levels provide different soundscapes as you smash them into the terrain. Visually, the game skips out on photorealistic fidelity for minimalism. Accomplishing the immense readability a game like this needs. All this to say, the game is primarily about the visceral feeling of simply smashing something against a wall. Whether that wall is steel or wood, it cares how that would feel. Overall, this game is incredible at accomplishing its visceral feeling. I cannot recommend it enough.

this game blew me away. the music slapped unbelievably hard. the system where the music follows your progression and your amount of aggression is unlike anything i've seen in any other game. the cool art style also fits the music, rough and sporadic. the ending hit me hard when the music exploded
my only complaint is the length of the game. both the A side and the B side together take less than 2 hours to complete if you aren't terrible at the game. don't pay $15 for this, wait for a sale.

Short, simple and fun game. Also, the sound track react to player's actions is a nice touch. Love playing it on Steam Deck.

One of the best indie games I have played in a long time. The premise is simple: this is a top-down game where you control a gorilla navigating through various levels of different shapes and sizes while evading what I would describe as policemen trying to shoot you down.

Aside from the basic gameplay, the game is structured around four jazz albums, with each level playing in sync with the tempo of the jazz song at that moment. The entire game consists of four double-sided albums that you must clear to progress, and it executes this concept brilliantly.

The art design is one of the standout features that sets this game apart from other indie titles. It masterfully blends contrasting colors, shifting from noir to vibrant orange within each level, giving the game a distinct and visually striking look.

10/10. Will definitely recommend.

To me this is like the perfect low budget indie game. The concepts are easily digestible, the art is minimalist but still quite eye catching, and the soundtrack is downright awesome. It's easy to start playing and understand, but further into the game it will also challenge you and force you to develop your techniques and strategies. Mechanics are super fun to play with too, it really FEELS like you're a rampaging murderous gorilla. The only negative thing I have to say is the main content is pretty succinct, so there's not a whole lot of game to play but the final level is still definitely a big highlight. I got this game on sale for less than $5 though so I'm not too chapped about it, I'll probably still go back to it again at some point anyways :)