Akuji the Heartless

Story & overview

About the game

Akuji the Heartless is an action-adventure video game, released in 1998 on the PlayStation. It uses a modified Gex: Enter the Gecko engine, and both games were developed by Crystal Dynamics. The gameplay involves hack and slash combat combined with platform elements.

The game centres on the voodoo priest and warrior Akuji (voiced by Richard Roundtree), who had his heart ripped out on his wedding day, and through the use of voodoo magic is now cursed to wander the Underworld. However, Kaisha, his would-be bride, finds him in hell and speaks to him in soul form: she informs him that it was Orad, Akuji's own brother, who orchestrated his murder. She begs Akuji to escape and stop him, as their families are preparing for war, and Orad is preparing to sacrifice her to the gods. Upon traveling through the first level of the Underworld and consulting loa Baron Samedi Akuji discovers he has a chance for redemption: if he traverses hell and collects the souls of his ancestors, which the Baron despises for their evil, then he will grant Akuji safe passage out of the underworld. On his way through, he must also defeat the wardens of each of the spirit gates, which will enable him to advance on his quest for the souls.