Akka Arrh PS5 review

Akka Arrh is absolutely bonkers on PS5. Even now, I’m not entirely sure what I was doing and whether I was doing it right, but there’s an addictive quality to it, especially when you start watching the chains of destruction unfold thanks to one well-placed bomb. A fever dream, a hallucination bathed in neon, a chaotic flurry of colour and explosions. However I try to describe it, it won’t be enough to help you understand what you’re doing, but that won’t stop you from having a ton of fun.

Now on PS5 and PSVR2, Akka Arrh sees you taking out enemies with bombs on a smallish neon map. When you drop bombs and hit an enemy, they’ll set off a chain reaction that takes out other nearby enemies. This chain reaction will continue as long as enemy ships are nearby. At times I fired one single bomb and every ship on the map ended up getting taken out, leaving me to complete the stage with pressing fire a single time. Other times, I was engaged in a frantic dogfight with various shapes of all sizes. Bombs take out smaller enemies, but bullets are needed for bigger threats.

Every time you drop a bomb, your multiplier resets, making it important to place well-timed bombs as opposed to just spamming the button. There’s a level of skill involved that isn’t always obvious when you’re frantically trying to stay alive, especially in the later levels, but this crazy shooter brings Atari into the modern age in style. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot happening at any one time, but the fundamentals of its gameplay never disappear, so once you get to grips with it there’s a pleasant learning curve. It doesn’t seem that different to previous releases on other consoles, but if PlayStation is your only platform it’s a good idea to try it out.

Akka Arrh can be tough, especially when various enemies appear all over the screen. It’s important to keep your cool and not just spam the buttons. When it does get a little hairy, there’s so much text and clutter on the screen that it can ruin those cool moments of dense chains of attack, as well as leaving you a little lost as to where your floating rams head is on the screen (yep, your ship looks like the skull of a ram!). Flashing lights and no real guidance, psychedelic visuals and so many shapes: it can get confusing. Regardless, it’s still a fun experience, and with a surprising sense of skill involved, you’re likely going to spend a lot of time with it.

Akka Arrh on PS5 is an intense shooter with a surprising level of skill. While there’s often a lot going on at any one time, the fundamentals are what make it appealing. Getting chains of attack going thanks to a well-placed bomb is a site to behold, and going back in to beat your old scores provides that old-school Atari feel. It won’t appeal to everyone, but as far as indie games go, there’s plenty of replayability here, as long as you aren’t too sensitive to blinking lights and the visual intensity it offers.