Asterix & Obelix: Slap them All! (2021)

## The Game

Asterix & Obelix: Slap them All! is a beat 'em up game with the possibility of cooperative gameplay. The game is fully 2D, with hand-drawn characters and backgrounds.

### Game Modes

#### Adventure

In Adventure the player goes through all levels of the game in a set order. The levels are divided into 6 acts, most acts are based on comic books of the same name:

* **Act I – Asterix in Britain** (book from 1965)
* **Act II – Asterix and the Normans** (book from 1966)
* **Act III – Asterix in Spain** (book from 1969)
* **Act IV – Asterix in Corsica** (book from 1973)
* **Act V – Asterix and Cleopatra** (book from 1963)
* **Act VI – The Revenge of Julius Caesar** (unique chapter made for the game: the Romans kidnap Vitalstatistix and bring him to a prison leading to the Circus Maximus)

**Act Illustrations**

Act I - Asterix in BritainAct II - Asterix and the NormansAct III - Asterix in SpainAct IV - Asterix in CorsicaAct V - Asterix and CleopatraAct VI - The Revenge of Julius CaesarBefore starting a new game the player can choose between 4 difficulties, which can’t be changed afterwards.

#### Freeplay Mode

Freeplay Mode becomes available after completing Adventure. In this mode the player can retry any level of the game at any difficulty and beat their own scores.

The game records high scores for all levels at each difficulty setting. Different medals are given depending on the highest difficulty setting you’ve completed this level on: bronze for Easy, silver for Medium and gold for Hard. If you skip lower difficulty settings you’ll still get medals for them. If you complete a level at the Hardest difficulty, its icon will be surrounded with a gold laurel and the medals will disappear.

### Gameplay

#### Combat

Asterix and Obelix have different sets of attacks. Many attacks consume energy (represented with lightning bolts in the HUD), it restores passively but slaps fill it up faster. The player can look at all the possible attacks from the Main Menu in the Options.

The player uses the following keys in combat, most of which can be used for more advanced attacks:

* **Slap** - Quick hit.
* **Special Attack** - Stronger but slower hit. Costs energy.
* **Grab** - Grab an enemy to throw him or otherwise beat him up after.
* **Jump** - You can attack enemies in the air.
* **Block** - Protect yourself from an attack. Energy is used upon deflecting an attack.

Enemies can be stunned and pushed on the ground, rendering them harmless for a short time.

More elaborate attacks are given below. Some attack names are NOT official and are given just for convenience.

The two Gauls have separate bars for health and energy for both solo and co-op; the solo player may want to switch characters in case one of them has low health. If one of the characters is knocked out, it’s Game Over.

**Tutorial**

#### Collectibles and Objects

Sometimes the player will find barrels and other destructible objects, they give score points when broken. Some barrels contain sesterces, which give points, others contain food, which can be manually picked up to restore health.

**Collectibles**

**Destructible Objects**

#### Enemies

Throughout the game the player fights off waves of enemies. Most of them are Roman soldiers, brigands and pirates, but there are also Normans, lions, gladiators in the arenas and the auroch in the Spanish arena. Most enemies drop money while being fought. Some enemies are more dangerous or difficult to fight, being impossible to grab, attacking the player from a distance, defending themselves and charging.

On some levels the player must fight bosses alongside the usual mobs:

* centurions
* Captain Redbeard
* Olaf Timandahaf
* Gluteus Maximus
* the auroch
* Pugnatius
* Insalubrius

The bosses have a high amount of health and are often capable of self-defense and charging. Some bosses are fought multiple times throughout the game. A couple of levels include 2 bosses, the final level contains 4 (the player confronts the first two bosses one by one, and fights the last two bosses both at once).

CenturionCaptain RedbeardOlaf TimandahafAurochGluteus MaximusPugnatiusInsalubrius

#### Hazards

A few levels have moving chariots with horses and aurochs. They should be avoided, or the player will take damage and get pushed back. It's possible to use blocking to avoid damage, but only if there's enough energy.

#### Minigames

Some levels act as simple minigames:

* Object breaking: break as many objects (usually barrels) and collect as much money as you can before time runs out. You have enough time to break everything.
* Run and hit: send as many boars and enemies flying and break as many objects on your way as you can. Move around and mash the Slap key to attack. If you simply bump into enemies without attacking, you won’t get points for it.
* Race: reach the finish line before your opponent. Mash the Slap key to run and speed up.

## Production

The game was announced on March 24, 2021 and was planned to be released in Fall 2021 before getting delayed to early December. The PC version was delayed by a few more days.

The game received complaints regarding lack of options, including key remapping for the PC version. On December 8 it was announced the Steam version would get options in a future update, as well as translations into Russian, Polish, Chinese and Japanese. As of July 7, 2022 (announcement of Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia), no such updates have been made.

### Pre-release screenshots

These screenshots show some content not present in the final game:

* The HUD had a blue bar near the character’s portrait. What it was supposed to represent is unknown.
* One screenshot depicts Prolix from Asterix and the Soothsayer (1972).
* A square item with a lightning bolt can be seen. It's most likely a bonus which was meant to restore energy.
* Small brigands carry bottles with a purple liquid on their belts. One of the screenshots here shows one brigand holding up his bottle, and the second one not having any. It appears that small brigands had the ability to throw bottles at the player, but this attack was scrapped.
* The pirate ship picture shows units of baggage, they look like they could be somehow interacted with.
* The picture with the Romans coming out of their camp shows an eagle charging at the player, and a shooting catapult in the distance.
* A small Roman is seen holding up a barrel, ready to throw it at the player.
* Romans with a tree disguise could have owls sitting on the twigs.

## Trivia

* The game is often compared to Asterix (1992) and Asterix & Obelix: Bash them All.
* The PC version’s co-op requires the second player to use a gamepad.
* Loading a save file where the game was finished will open the last level.
* Thin Romans will throw pilums even if the player is out of reach.

* If a Roman is finished off by being punched into the sky, he will drop sandals. They will linger for a short time and can be manually picked up. They have the same worth as a bronze coin.
	+ Buff Romans are too heavy and won't drop sandals.
* The Romans hiding in tree trunks are the only enemies who don’t lay down upon defeat. They stick out a white flag and wave it.
* The game brings back many characters seen in the comics and animated films, the enemy designs refer to them as well.
	+ Gluteus Maximus appears in multiple acts despite the game not having an act based on his origin book - Asterix at the Olympic Games (1968).
* Vitalstatistix was kidnapped by the Romans in another game before, which is Asterix & Obelix XXL.
* Since the game was made with the Unity engine, PC users can view and extract its files with the help of AssetStudio:
	1. In File > Load Folder select the game's folder to load the game's assets
	2. Select the Asset List tab. Use the search bar and the options in the Filter Type menu to narrow down the list. Click on an asset in the list to preview it.
	3. If you wish to extract an asset, right-click on it and choose Export selected assets. To select multiple assets, hold down Ctrl and left-click on them.

* The game's files still contain unused assets.

## References

https://www.microids.com/microids-unveils-asterix-obelix-slap-them-all-coming-fall-2021/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1492310/Asterix\_\_Obelix\_Slap\_them\_All/