Ato is an Atmospheric Metroidvania Platform Game by Tiny Warrior Games that tells its story through a wordless narrative.
Set in a version of Feudal Japan populated entirely by anthropomorphic animals, Ato tells the story of a retired warrior. Having settled down with his wife, the warrior is all set to raise their child together. However, one day, a mysterious band of masked people show up and inexplicably steal the baby. The warrior consoles his wife, and sets out to rescue his child.
The game was funded on Indiegogo on July 29th, 2019. It was released on Steam for PC on May 8th, 2020.
Ato contains examples of:
- Beware the Silly Ones: Vagrant, a version of Rouge, is an utter joke, as he has no weapons and can only flail his arms, and he goes down in one hit. His last battle has a remix of his previous theme, and his last fight's anything but.
- Bittersweet Ending: The warrior is forced to kill his wife to slay the demon, as it was possessing her to fight him over the baby. The baby's still safe after everything, so he ends up raising them alone.
- Camera Abuse: One boss fights by throwing sand at the warrior, obscuring his vision, which is represented by the screen being covered by a clump of sand.
- Double Jump: The warrior gains this ability upon finding the corresponding scroll.
- Dual Wielding: One of the bosses wields two large blades.
- Eyes Always Shut: The warrior and his baby have their eyes like this.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Well, Malevolent Masked Animals, but the villains of the game are a bunch of masked people who kidnap the warrior's baby.
- One-Word Title: Ato, naturally.
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: These are present in the game. You can jump on them to launch upward.
- World of Funny Animals: The world of Ato is populated by anthropomorphic animal people.
