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The Axis Unseen: Everything We Know

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The Axis Unseen, the brainchild of Just Purkey Games' “heavy metal” mindset, is gearing up for a loose 2024 release on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Conjured by a single developer, the Monster Hunter meets Metal: Hellsinger vessel will seemingly connect the dots between classic survival-horror games and rhythmic rock operas. Quite the concoction, then.

Of course, we're still a fair ways off from seeing it land on PC, which means there are still one or two components we can't actually visualize. Having said that, we do know enough to paint something of a portrait of it. Curious? If so, then read on for all the key details. The Axis Unseen: what is it, and why should you be pinning it on your wishlist ahead of its 2024 launch?

What Is The Axis Unseen?

The Axis Unseen is an upcoming “heavy metal horror” game by Just Purkey Games, an independent studio formed by one rather prestigious developer—an individual who has worked on both Skyrim, and Fallout. Unlike the aforementioned games, however, The Axis Unseen instead casts its focus on hunting various beasts torn straight from folklore tales.

There's a few gaps that need to be cemented over, but the general consensus is that The Axis Unseen will be something of a love letter to The Forest, yet another survival-horror game that divides its time between hunting and scavenging. Its only blatant difference that separates itself from The Forest, of course, is its heavy metal soundtrack, which will teeter more towards the likes of Metal: Hellsinger—only without the gore.

To summarize, in Just Purkey Games' own words: “The Axis Unseen is a heavy metal horror game created by one of the developers of Skyrim and Fallout. Hunt nightmarish monsters from ancient folklore in a mysterious open world, collecting their enhanced sense powers and discovering elemental arrows. Beware, the hunter is also the hunted.”

Story

The Axis Unseen casts you as a lone hunter in a seemingly vacant world that's home to countless beasts torn straight from folklore. In a bid to stop the creatures from escaping into your world, you must venture out and acquire sacred knowledge left behind by long-forgotten hunters, all the while hunting for “sense powers”—elemental magics that effectively boost your awareness and repertoire of abilities.

As it stands, there are a few missing pieces left to unearth in regards to the story, so an additional pre-launch trailer certainly wouldn't go amiss. For what we do know, though, you will spend a great deal of your time locked in a monster-infested world, patrolling unique biomes, and searching for answers to further explain the hunters' lost secrets.

Gameplay

The Axis Unseen's primary focus is its hunting segments, as well as the preliminary phases of eliminating a stray target. Its combat, while mostly stealth-based, will involve tracking prey, and ultimately killing it before it hunts you first. And so, to this end, you can eliminate the possibility of the campaign being wall-to-wall high-octane combat from start to finish, and instead replace it with tactical maneuvers and sharp-shooting shadow kills.

Going by what's on display, The Axis Unseen will equip you with a bow and arrow—a ranged weapon that will need to be upgraded with “elemental arrows” and “sense powers” in order to hunt and remove other threats dotted around the world.

“Your bow and arrow keeps you alive,” the description elaborates. “Upgrade your bow or even find different arrow types such as fire, wind controlling or time distorting arrows. Experiment to see all the different ways the arrows can interact with each other, such as wind arrows making the fire spread faster.”

Development

Just Purkey Games, a studio built by one well-known industry veteran, first lifted the veil on The Axis Unseen way back in 2021. Since bringing it to light, the ambitious horror title has received a number of exclusive in-depth previews—featurettes that have mostly explored the game's open world setting and the folklore-inspired beasts that'll accomodate its vast borders.

The Axis Unseen is developed by Nate Purkeypile,” reads the short bio. “Nate Purkeypile has been making games for 19+ years and worked on titles such as Skyrim, Fallout 3/4/76, Starfield, Metroid Prime 3 and BloodRayne 2. He was the Lead Artist on Fallout 76 and the Co-Lead/Lead Artist on the Fallout 3 DLC, Point Lookout.”

It comes as no major surprise that, being a one-person project, tasks take a lot, lot longer to execute. Nevertheless, Just Purkey has pinned a rather optimistic 2024 release window to the game, which means another round of details will likely drop before year's end. Until anything of the sort does make an appearance, though, you'll just have to go ahead and add it to your wishlist over on Steam.

Trailer

The Axis Unseen - Official Announcement Trailer

Fortunately, Just Purkey Games has already taken the liberty of stapling a slew of sneak previews to its official YouTube handle since making the initial announcement. As well as a standard cinematic opening, The Axis Unseen has also received a gameplay trailer, and an extensive look at its open world setting and corresponding folklore. You can go ahead and catch the original trailer in the video embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

The Axis Unseen will be launching exclusively on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store at some point in 2024. Does this mean a console port is out of the question? It's hard to say at this point, though when Just Purkey Games was asked in a comments thread on the announcement trailer, the developer did say “Not sure yet, it's just me so it's a bit more complicated.” With that, it's probably best to put a pin in any potential Xbox or PlayStation versions for the time being.

There's still a fair amount we don't actually know here—the launch editions, for one. Fact is, there isn't anything outside of the standard Steam and Epic Games Store copy. Or at least, there isn't anything of the sort yet. You can add it to your wishlist over on the former here.

For more information on The Axis Unseen, you can follow the official social feed here. If anything changes ahead of its 2024 launch, we'll be sure to fill you in on all the details right here on gaming.net.

 

So, what's your take? Will you be picking up a copy of The Axis Unseen when it drops in 2024? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.

Jord is acting Team Leader at gaming.net. If he isn't blabbering on in his daily listicles, then he's probably out writing fantasy novels or scraping Game Pass of all its slept on indies.