Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia (2022)

## The Game

Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia (French: Astérix & Obélix XXXL – Le Bélier d’Hibernie) is an action-adventure game. It shares assets and basic gameplay with Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir, which was made by the same studio.

Related pages:

* Chapters
* Unique characters
* Objects
* Combat
* Enemies

### Story

A village in Hibernia (Ireland), led by the chief Whiskitonix, has been fighting off the Roman invaders. The chief has a pet who’s also his lucky charm: a ram with golden horns named O'Kidokix. Oneday the Romans kidnapped the ram, the Hibernian chief fell into depression and stopped defending his village, leaving it at risk of being conquered. Whiskitonix also has a daughter named Keratin, who travels to Gaul to call Asterix and Obelix for help.

In the Gaulish forest, Keratin meets Getafix, and they both get surrounded by the Romans. Asterix and Obelix come to save them, and the Hibernian lady tells them why she's arrived here. They go to the beach where Keratin left her boat, only to find it smashed. The two Gauls crash the nearby Roman camp Aquarium and steal their galley in order to to sail to Hibernia.

The Gauls and Keratin arrive to the port near Drogheda, a little village. They decide to meet by the hairdressing shop where Keratin's best friend Cowlix works, they believe he can help find O'Kidokix. Asterix and Obelix pass the forest and run into a Roman camp with the general Perilus. He tells them he's been ordered by Caesar to conquer Hibernia. He escapes during the fight. The Gauls eventually reach the hairdressing shop, but there's only Keratin, who suggests he might be in his home. Turns out he went into hiding from the Romans and left a couple of clues on how to find him. When the Gauls meet him, he says that Perilus gifted the ram to the musician Almostfamus, who will soon perform at the site of the Hibernian Games. Cowlix follows the Gauls back to his home, but as they fight Romans in the village, those capture him and bring him to one of their galleys. The Gauls rescue him and go to the festival where the concert will take place, while Keratin leaves to the big village Tara to meet her father and support him.

Asterix and Obelix arrive to the festival and meet the British bard Radiogagax. He'd been performing in Hibernia until the Romans stole his bagpipes and locked up his musicians, all to make way for Almostfamus. The Gauls help him restore the band. Then, Radiogagax and the Gauls meet Almostfamus. The Briton challenges the Roman with a musical battle, where Asterix and Obelix protect their friend from the Roman attacks and strike the opponent. However, after Radiogagax wins, Almostfamus reveals he gave O'Kidokix away to a centurion camping at the site, who's likely going to eat him.

Asterix and Obelix hurry to where the Hibernian Games will take place. They approach the beginning of the long racetrack in the forest, where a legionary shares a message from the centurion: if they get through the forest "without a hitch", they'll be given information on the ram. The Gauls follow the racetrack and enter the Roman camp, where the centurion Autofocus keeps O'Kidokix. He says he will give them the ram if they beat the Romans' records in all the challenges. They complete the task, threaten Autofocus to take his garrison out of Hibernia and head back to Drogheda with O'Kidokix.

When Asterix and Obelix arrive to Drogheda again, it's in ruins, and there are signs of a Roman attack. They find some soldiers, who reveal they've arrested the villagers. The Gauls pass the cliffs to reach the camp with the captives. Here they encounter Perilus again, who reveals his plan: kidnapping O'Kidokix was just a ploy to separate Keratin from Whiskitonix, and while the Gauls were searching for the ram the Romans kidnapped her, Cowlix and everyone who helped them. Asterix and Obelix clear the camp and free the captured Hibernians, then follow O'Kidokix to Tara to help Whiskitonix.

After a dangerous journey to the depths of Tara Asterix and Obelix eventually meet the Hibernian chief and reunite him with his beloved ram, lifting up his spirits. Perilus is also there, and they defeat him. The chief tells the Roman general to deliver to Caesar that Hibernia will always be free and independent. Keratin and Cowlix arrive to the scene and reunite with the chief as well.

To congratulate the Gaulish saviours Whiskitonix invites them to a feast and to watch the Hibernian Games, and O'Kidokix is rewarded with the finest fodder for helping them. After that Asterix and Obelix return to Gaul, partake in another feast and tell the story of their adventures in Hibernia.

### Levels

The game is split into 6 levels, with each of them including a Roman camp:

* Gaul
* Drogheda
* The Hibernian Concert
* The Hibernian Games
* Drogheda Cliffs
* Tara

Aside from going through all of the game's chapters in consecutive order, the player can go to Select a Level menu to replay any level they have unlocked or its Roman camp by their choice.

MapChapter or Camp

### Gameplay

While the game initially looks very similar to XXL 3, there’s a number of differences:

* There are no difficulty levels.
* There are 4 save slots.
* The game features co-op multiplayer with up to 4 players. Players 3 and 4 control clones of Asterix and Obelix.
* The player's skill set and max health are consistent throughout the game and can't be upgraded.
* The game is more linear overall and doesn’t offer optional quests.
* Dashes can be short and long, direction can be chosen for a long dash.
* Healing foods must be manually picked up and eaten, instead of being simply walked into.
* Combat changes and altered enemy behaviors.
* If the player steps or falls into water, they’ll take damage and immediately teleport back.
* Collectibles are nearly non-existent, only a few rare bonuses are placed in each level.
* Addition of puzzles where the player must memorize a sequence and repeat it, and sections with targets and dummies which must be hit to earn points (different from the points used throughout the game) and reach the specified goal.
* The last two chapters have obstacle courses with a red barrier following the player. If it touches them, they have to restart the course.
* The game uses score points, which are earned mainly by fighting Romans. In Single Player, the CPU-controlled character beating enemies doesn’t grant any points.
* The game keeps track of gameplay time for each level, shown in the Pause Menu.

#### Health

The player has 4 hearts, each of them equals 2 HP, meaning 8 HP in total. Health drops when receiving enemy attacks, touching water or being crushed with a falling rock. If the player picks up a piece of meat (roast boar or chicken) and eats it they regain 4 HP. The food can be found laying around or in crates. The player characters can hit each other without dealing damage, same goes for O'Kidokix hitting them.

In Multiplayer, players can throw food to heal each other. If one player gets knocked out they will get revived in a few seconds with half health.

#### Golden Helmets

Golden Helmets are the only type of collectible in the game. Each level has 4 helmets, which are either found in obvious spots or hidden somewhere. They respawn when the level is reloaded. There's no reward for collecting them.

### Collection

The Main Menu has a Collection section, where the player can see how many Golden Helmets they found and what badges they earned on each level.

### Production

#### Music

The game's soundtrack was composed by Valentin Lafort, who previously did the music for XXL 3 and XXL Romastered.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UW5J\_KtLPmP1KkESDVrL1TACRLjCEf1

#### Engine

The game uses Unreal Engine, as opposed to XXL 3 which used an engine developed by OSome themselves - OEngine.

#### Before Release

On July 7, 2022 the game was announced, and a trailer and first screenshots were released. It was said the North American release of the game would be digital-only.

On October 5, a video about the making of the game was uploaded.

In the middle of October, normal gameplay videos started appearing on YouTube, despite the exact release date still being unknown.

On October 27 the game was released on PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch without preliminary announcement of the release date. The launch trailer was uploaded on the same day. Xbox Series X/S release was said to be a few days later.

**Making-Of with OSome Studio (gameplay focus)**

**Making-Of with OSome Studio (production focus)**

## Gallery

*For characters who appear in this game only and not other Asterix media see this page.*

LogoStart Screen
### Player Select Menu Sprites

Asterix SelectedAsterix ConfirmedAsterix Clone SelectedAsterix Clone ConfirmedObelix SelectedObelix ConfirmedObelix Clone SelectedObelix Clone ConfirmedObelix Clone Selected (Beta)Obelix Clone Confirmed (Beta)
### Dialogue Sprites

**Asterix**

AngryHappyLaughMotivatedNeutralSurprisedThinking**Obelix**

AngryHappyLaughMotivatedNeutralOffendedSurprised**Getafix**

### Controller Illustrations

PCSwitch (Joy-Con)Switch (Grip)Switch (Pro Controller)Xbox OneXbox SeriesPlayStation 4PlayStation 5
## References

Announcement: https://www.microids.com/microids-unveils-asterix-obelix-xxxl-the-ram-from-hibernia/

Information about the Limited and Collector's Editions: https://www.microids.com/asterix-obelix-xxxl-the-ram-from-hibernia-microids-unveils-the-different-editions/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/wvLYsEpw\_PQ

Making-of video: https://youtu.be/jdZ9f2uT7P4

Launch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jwvslaySo

## Trivia

* The reason for using "XXXL" in the game's title is unknown.
* The game doesn’t explain how the clones of Asterix and Obelix came to be.
	+ The game's description mentions Getafix coming up with a new potion recipe, although the game doesn't make any references to that. It could be theorised he made a potion similar to the one from the live-action film Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999): when Asterix and Obelix drank it, they produced clones.
* When the player is at low health (1-2 HP), their character will be hunched over while idling and not holding anything.Asterix at Low HealthObelix at Low Health
* The game offers 5 levels of graphics quality: Low, Medium, High, Epic and Cinematic.
	+ At the Low level textures are blurry, edges are pixelated, the shadows from characters and some environment objects are missing and there's no water foam.
	+ At the Medium level textures are less blurry, all shadows are present and there's now low quality anti-alias. Environment shadows are sharper than at the following levels.
	+ At the High level textures are sharper, anti-aliasing is much better and water foam appears.
	+ At the Epic level textures and anti-alias are even clearer.
	+ Cinematic doesn't appear to be any different from Epic.

**Graphics Comparison (view in full size)**

LowMediumHighEpicCinematic
* In Single Player when the characters are too far apart, the CPU character will teleport to the player character (so one character can pass certain puzzle sections and keep going without helping the other). In Multiplayer all the players should stay within vision.
* In the making-of video, the music playing in the background is The Village in Flames from Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered.
* The game was rumored to use Unreal Engine, due to the announcement of OSome Studio hiring people to work with it. This has been proven to be true, as the Making-of video shows the game's development in Unreal Engine.
* Xbox Store shows the game is rated 16+ by RARS (Russian Age Rating System), despite OSome Studio's older Asterix games being rated 6+ while having the same cartoon violence.

### Comparison with XXL 3

* Dogmatix is bigger in this game.
* The greenery and water are more detailed and realistic.
* Unlike XXL3, in this game the enemies' bodies stretch when they get hit, which looks more cartoony. Also, the camera shakes upon impact.
* When Romans drop on the ground, they despawn immediately. In XXL 3 they remained for a short while.

### Comparison with pre-release builds

* Player 1 used the deep pink color. It has been changed to red in the final version.
* The characters’ HUD icons had backgrounds of the same color as the piece of cloth there and the circle under them. They're now dark purple.
* The character illustrations in the Player Select menu have been changed from pure renders to different ones with digital art software editing.
* The Pause Menu didn’t show Golden Helmets.
* In Gaul, when the protagonists approached the bridge, Keratin’s scream could be heard, and this dialogue took place:

- By Toutatis! Did you hear that cry, Obelix?

- That’s Cacofonix stubbing his toe…

- Sometimes he gets up into the high notes, but that… I’d bet my whiskers that’s a woman’s voice.

* The water looked jelly-like, but has been improved later on.
* The introductions of the Energy Bar and healing foods were switched around.
* Roman camps had a timer and a score counter for all players in the top-middle of the screen.
* The models for Roman tents remained after getting flattened. Now they disappear in a dust cloud and get replaced with the texture of a dismantled tent.
* The color scheme of the Hibernian concert level was warmer, and the waters were purpler.
* The mini-boss fight used scores instead of lives. The side that scored 3 would win.
* The final boss fight didn’t have explanations on what to do, and didn’t show how much health Perilus had left.
* In the early builds the player's HUD looked different: the Energy Bar was multicolored and split differently, and the piece of fabric in every player's HUD was green and had a more tattered appearance.
* The animations for entering high-power Ultimate Attacks were changed.

### Trailer

* In the cinematic part of the trailer, the beaten Roman is floating near the ground, with only his nose touching it.
* The cutting board spelling out “ALL” appears to have an incorrect normal map, making the cracks look like crinkles of a wrapping.
* The Romans don’t drop shadows.
* Obelix’s eyebrows disappear at 0:26.