Apex Heroines Review – Ninja Girls, Assemble!

I’m delighted to see the all-girl action hack-and-slash genre still making the rounds after the demise of series like Senran Kagura, Valkyrie Drive, Bullet Girls and many more. There’s a charming simplicity to these all-action waifu collectathons that makes for a refreshing palate-cleanser. It’s time to meet newcomer Apex Heroines.

Introduction

Apex Heroines is a hack-and-slash action-adventure game with heavy emphasis on stylish combat spectacle. The game was produced and published by Xiaoxiao Studios and HappyPlayer, released on 13th December, 2024, just two months after HappyPlayer’s previous hack-and-slash action-adventure title, Taboo Trial.

Story

In the not too distant future, an unnamed city has gradually fallen under private military law, with its citizens largely working for the city’s science district, Ignis Research Park, which is policed by the growing ‘Puppet’ army. There are no longer any accessible roads to the isolated city, making it known as the “Ghost Zone”. Recently, the Ghost Zone has been emitting numerous abnormal energy signals.

Ignis, the scientist behind the city’s economic independence is believed to be a genius and a scientific marvel, however outside intel suggests he’s actually little more than a mad scientist. With suspicious signals reminiscent of weapons of mass destruction, a military uprising, and leaked reports of illegal and unethical human experimentation, sufficient evidence has finally been collected to enforce Ignis’ arrest.

With Ignis’ exact location unknown, a highly-skilled private military contractor known as ‘The Metahuman Watch’ has dispatched six operatives to infiltrate the Ghost Zone and capture Ignis, dead or alive. An aerial base transports the squad to the skies above the Ghost Zone and provides support. Lightning serves as the team leader, joined by Kamui, Rosalind, Akane, and Midori. Aurora, a promising new agent with unique abilities also joins the squad, with assistance from the AI robot, Bobi.

Gameplay

The aerial base will act as your home hub. Here you can select the next story mission, purchase items, upgrades, and outfits, or test your skills in optional training or high-challenge stages. You can also track your accomplishments or chat with your allies here. Beginning the game as just Aurora, the other five members of the Metahuman Watch squad will gradually become available as you reunite with each team member.

Each character boasts distinctive features and entirely different combat styles, offering an alternative gameplay experience. There are also five different types of weapons to equip, each offering a different combat approach, varying in speed and destructive power.

All girls have the advantage of limitless dodging, infinite sprinting, short cooldowns on abilities, special moves which can deliver critical damage to multiple distant enemies, and instant eliminations using finishing moves which are activated by tapping the Triangle button when prompted. Controls are simple and user-friendly, making it easy for beginners, though later levels will require skill, endurance and strategic thinking.

Graphics/Sound

Making some nods to other anime action games like Senran Kagura, Apex Heroines boasts pretty anime girls but doesn’t flaunt the fan service too much. Characters blend in well to their environments since everyone and everything is colourful, bright, and even neon in this futuristic setting. Locations have clear themes but don’t tend to vary too much in design and lack that gorgeous scenery of Taboo Trial.

Characters are varied in appearance but lack detail and facial animations, which is unusual considering how much effort has been put into making the combat animations as bold and extravagant as possible. Each equippable weapon brings with it a dramatic change to your combat style and combo flow, with heavy weapons like hammers and greatswords delivering brutal impacts, while light weapons such as the twin blades allowing for lightning-fast combos and flashy ninjutsu arts.

The music is a mixed bag, with the tracks designed around the level themes which can be bland and clichéd at times, while the thrash metal signature tracks work incredibly well in breathing life into the violent anarchy. Sadly, the game’s limited budget can only stretch so far; there is no noteworthy voice acting in the game, with only the occasional pained grunt.

Conclusion

Apex Heroines is something of a low-budget mishmash of themes featured in other similar games, yet sadly we don’t get to see these elements polished to a standard that highlights the best parts of this genre. There are an awful lot of niggles here which, when combined, deal a heavy blow to a game that actually starts incredibly well.

The combat is certainly a spectacle to behold right from the start, with the default twin blades allowing Aurora to teleport around stages in a flurry of slashes which are a sight to see. It’s such a shame that between all the action, the characters are so bland and lifeless, reminiscent of anime dolls with big, soulless eyes.

The controls also feature pros and cons, with the Triangle button finisher moves being simple, effective, and fun, yet we have to manually tap the Circle button to sprint, which is only fractionally faster than the standard running speed and seems like a pointless inclusion when outmanoeuvring your enemies is usually your best strategy.

Switching from Senran Kagura to Stellar Blade, it isn’t long before the difficulty curve makes a harsh climb and simple button mashing won’t suffice anymore. Enemies develop strategies and powerful moves and so you’ll need to counter with your own. It soon becomes very easy to get surrounded by your enemies and stun-locked with combos.

The sudden spike in difficulty can be rather annoying when running in for quick kills was a perfectly sensible strategy moments earlier and you’re now faced with a ‘game over’ screen when you’re three-quarters of the way through a level and forced to restart. Intelligent difficulty settings would make a much-needed addition here, but then, it’s hardly the only area the game needs to polish.