Project Apidom is a Battle Royale MOBA that is filled with unique ideas and simply oozing potential.
Life is ever-changing, and the only thing we humans can do is adapt or be left behind. The same can be said about gaming and its various genres; if you don’t adapt to the times and are just cycling through the same old things, how will you ever expect to stay relevant?
The MOBA genre is a prime example; most MOBA-type games tend to follow the same gameplay loop and occasionally copy other games’ homework if they want to spice things up, but they usually follow the same structure… until Project Apidom showed up.
Project Apidom is a relatively unknown, obscure title that may have flown under the radar. The game is an interesting fusion of both MOBA and Battle Royale and pits teams of 3 against one another until one team rises and claims victory. Don’t worry, this isn’t the thing that makes Project Apidom so unique; that would be the character you play as.
Yes, character, as in singular. You see, unlike in other MOBAs or Battle Royale games that usually have a giant roster of diverse characters that all fill a unique role or special niche, every player in Project Apidom is given the same generic frame that they will then continually upgrade the more they play.
Each piece of armor and weapon you equip on your character will directly change the way your character plays, as well as what abilities they have access to. If grinding your butt off for a particular piece of gear isn’t exactly your cup of tea, don’t worry; you will still have the option to manually improve your stats. Granted, that is if you have the cash for it, similar to your more traditional RPG.
Project Apidom is the first game developed and published by Breach.gg. It may come as a surprise that the developers are, in fact, not a proper development studio but rather a social media website designed for gamers to connect with other gamers. It also has a nifty matchmaking service for when you’re looking for someone to play a game with.
The company is based in Vilnius, Lithuania, a city famed for its beautiful architecture and potato dumplings known as Cepelinai. Food aside, it would seem that Project Apidom is meant to share many of its developers’ ideals, and that is to create something made by gamers for gamers.
The story of Project Apidom is set in the post-apocalyptic world of Pangea, a world torn apart by warfare and conflict between the two rival factions—the Tech and Brute Factions. The two factions had to put their differences aside as their conflict had awoken the wrath of the Ancients, primordial beings of immense power.
The two factions created the Apidoms, mechanical vessels that hold the consciousness of the Pangeans. If they want to survive, they must now fight off the surface of their war-torn homeland and try to grab what little is left.
As mentioned in the story, there are technically two to three factions from which you can choose. The Brute, which is essentially a living machine, this faction has access to near-unlimited resources, but they lack the sophistication of their rival. Speaking of their rivals, the Tech faction is a faction of inventors and scientists that create quality gear and equipment despite their limited resources.
The third faction is the Remains. These are a small group of people who were caught in the middle of the conflict between the Tech and Brute factions. Unlike the other two, this faction has stayed true to its ancestors, and instead of using machines, it relies on nature and magic.
Depending on what faction you choose in the beginning, this will generally dictate what types of equipment you will have access to. It should also be noted that you will receive a special bonus that will have a major effect on your play style. If you choose the Tech faction, your character will gain an increase in their movement speed, which is great for fragile speedster builds.
Choosing the Brute faction will give you additional loot whenever you’re in a match. This comes in handy as it means you will be able to get your upgrades quicker. Finally, if you choose the Remains faction, you will gain the ability to use magic, which can either deal damage or support your teammates.
Now, it is important to note that Project Apidom is an in-development title, meaning that the game is a little rough around the edges. This is easily forgivable, considering it’s Breach’s first venture into the game development scene, meaning that the game will most likely actively improve as time goes on. However, the game has a bit of a major problem, and it could leave it dead in the water: matchmaking.
You see, Project Apidom is a team-based Battle Royale MOBA, which means you will need to play with other players, but sadly, there are hardly enough players currently active, which means you’ll hardly have a chance to go into a match.
To make matters worse, the game doesn’t have a bot mode, so you don’t have a way to experiment with builds and abilities. There is an official Discord that you can join, but even then, the game feels empty.
Again, this is to be expected, considering how few people know about the game, which is a shame given its potential. Even in its current state, Project Apidom is unique when it comes to player builds.
The upgrade system is clever and allows the developers to focus on adding new gear and equipment to the game instead of building brand-new characters from scratch. Players get full control over how their character looks, so they can make their character look as sleek or as edgy as they want… Well, with what’s currently available.
As for the visuals of Project Apidom, it is sadly a bit of a mixed bag. The setting for the game is a futuristic post-apocalyptic world filled with dust and neon. This is a pretty solid aesthetic to work with and lines up quite nicely with two out of the three factions’ looks, and it shows with their gear. The same cannot be said about the other gear you encounter in the game; with a ruined cyberpunk setting, the last thing you’re expecting to see is Roman gladiator helmets and leather loincloths.
This is meant to show the Remains’ connection to the past, but surely there must have been a smoother way of handling that rather than straight-up ancient-style clothing. Perhaps the developers should look at other “Punk”-type aesthetics, such as Eco-Punk, Solarpunk, or even Tribalpunk.
As it stands, Project Apidom is a game with phenomenal potential, but it needs more time to bake. The gameplay is incredibly freeform and dynamic, and focuses on player creativity, but the game does come across as a bit of a mess, especially in its visuals and character design. Breach needs to spend some more time growing a player base first because, as it stands, the game feels a little bare bones, and it would be a shame to see such potential wasted.
