Alwa's Awakening

Alwa's Awakening makes a number of questionable choices with its slow gameplay mechanics, but the core experience provides fun and challenging platforming and magic abilities.

76%Game Brain Score

music, gameplay

grinding, replayability

78% User Score Based on 850 reviews

Critic Score 75%Based on 12 reviews

Platforms

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About

In Alwa's Awakening, play as Zoe, a heroine from another world, and bring peace to Alwa with your magic staff. Explore the open world, solve puzzles, and navigate through 400 unique rooms in this 8-bit adventure game. With its authentic 8-bit look, catchy chiptune soundtrack, and challenging gameplay, this retro-style game is sure to bring you back to the NES era.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+12

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 862 reviews

music177 positive mentions

grinding73 negative mentions

Charming retro aesthetic with beautiful pixel art and a catchy soundtrack.
Engaging puzzles and platforming mechanics that encourage exploration and creativity.
Well-designed world with a good balance of challenge and accessibility.

Slow movement speed and tedious backtracking can make gameplay feel frustrating.
Over-reliance on instant-death traps and hidden walls can lead to cheap deaths.
The story is minimal and the ending feels abrupt and unsatisfying.

music
323 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
42%
3%
The music in the game is widely praised for its nostalgic 8-bit chiptune style, with many reviewers highlighting its catchy and well-composed tracks that enhance the overall atmosphere. While some players noted that the music can become repetitive, especially during prolonged gameplay, it remains a standout feature that compensates for other gameplay shortcomings. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a major highlight, contributing significantly to the game's charm and appeal.
- “I cannot stress how wonderful this game's music is enough.”
- “The music actually is the best part of the game.”
- “The soundtrack is amazing and you actually sit there and hum along.”
- “The music can be rather grating at times, not from its quality, but more from its repetitiveness.”
- “As to the negatives of the game... I thought the music, while passable, was quite bland and lacked interest/impact.”
- “Now to be fair, controls are fine but they feel slow, and the music loops pretty quickly.”
gameplay
243 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
61%
9%
The gameplay of "Alwa's Awakening" is characterized by its retro-inspired, methodical platforming and puzzle-solving mechanics, which some players find engaging while others deem slow and tedious. The game features interconnected rooms with light ability gating and a focus on exploration, but its pacing and simplistic mechanics may not appeal to everyone, particularly those seeking faster action or deeper combat systems. Overall, while the game offers a nostalgic experience with charming visuals and solid controls, it may frustrate players looking for more dynamic gameplay.
- “The gameplay is challenging but fair in most cases.”
- “Alwa's Awakening has some of the best puzzle and movement mechanics I've encountered in any metroidvania.”
- “The level design and game mechanics do a good job of giving you the freedom to explore at your own pace, while nudging you in the way to progress towards the next boss or upgrade.”
- “Bought the game because it looked like a fun retro-styled pixel art game but I was disappointed with the gameplay.”
- “Graphics and the soundtrack are nice, but unfortunately the gameplay is kind of slow and boring.”
- “Sounds awesome but doesn't live up to the potential, because gameplay is hampered by rather tedious level design/item placement.”
graphics
219 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
51%
1%
The graphics of "Alwa's Awakening" are consistently praised for their charming 8-bit aesthetic, effectively capturing the nostalgic feel of classic NES games. Reviewers highlight the well-crafted pixel art and cohesive visual design, which, along with the catchy chiptune soundtrack, contribute to an engaging retro experience. While some note minor issues with polish and color palette, the overall presentation is considered appealing and evocative of the era it emulates.
- “The graphics are gorgeous and the music is spot on.”
- “The graphics is pixel-perfect with a great level of detail and the score by Kreese is without fault throughout the entire game.”
- “The visuals and music do an excellent job of capturing the nostalgic feel of an NES game while never feeling so limited that it lessens the experience.”
- “It's disappointing in a game about mending the world to not have that world-mending reflected in the dialogue, and I'm not sure if this was an oversight, a rough edge that didn't get polished off in time for release, or a deliberate aesthetic homage to older, more primitive games.”
- “As a result, the graphics are painfully average.”
- “The pixel graphics are cute, if a little unpolished looking, and the music is fine, and probably would've been catchy, if the gameplay didn't drag its fingernails on the chalkboard of my experience.”
story
121 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
79%
5%
The story in the game is largely criticized for being minimal and uninspired, often described as generic and lacking depth. Many players feel that the plot is nearly nonexistent, with endings that feel abrupt and unsatisfying, leaving little emotional impact. While some appreciate the simple narrative framework that supports gameplay, the overall consensus is that the story does not significantly enhance the experience.
- “The story was light, but lent itself to thinking about everything as more than it was (is your character a god? Is the talking cat a familiar? Who is the viscount and is everything his castle?).”
- “It uses a few mechanics for the entire game, and doesn't overstay its welcome, and tells a simple story about saving the world from an evil beast and its henchmen.”
- “Great story, great music, nice retro graphics and fun gameplay.”
- “It would have been worth it if the game's ending was building to something, but both the normal and the secret endings feel unfinished, like our quest didn't matter.”
- “The plot is nearly nonexistent and the ending is very disappointing.”
- “There is almost no story to speak of.”
grinding
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews consistently highlight that the game's grinding aspect is marked by tedious gameplay, excessive backtracking, and slow movement, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. Players express frustration with the design choices that confuse difficulty with tedium, leading to repetitive deaths and long respawn times. While some options exist to alleviate the grind, many feel that the game ultimately lacks the dynamic elements necessary to make the experience engaging.
- “The game confuses tediousness with difficulty - there are a lot of cool concepts at play, but by the end of the game each room is a platforming puzzle, and a misstep means an instant death and backtracking through all of the previous rooms to give the current room another go.”
- “All this combined makes for a very tedious and aggravating game that is not difficult really, just lots of cheap shots that force you to memorize the pattern to get through each section, but then it gets boring, as the game doesn't have anything dynamic and it becomes too easy (but remains tiresome).”
- “It takes way longer to cross a single screen than it should, and it makes exploration incredibly tedious.”
atmosphere
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
17%
17%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its charming pixel art and engaging music, which effectively enhance the overall experience and immersion. While some players find the slow movement and backtracking can detract from enjoyment, others appreciate how these elements allow for deeper involvement in the game's ambiance. However, not all areas maintain this captivating atmosphere, with some sections described as tedious and lacking interest.
- “It is a charming game with likeable characters and a great atmosphere brought to life through wonderful pixel art and lovely music.”
- “The soundtracks are long and varied enough to not get too repetitive and add a nice atmosphere to each area.”
- “The slow character movement and rather excessive amount of backtracking has been mentioned constantly in the other reviews, so I won't dwell on it past saying if you feel that will frustrate, this isn't the game for you, but also noting that it has the impact too of enabling you to get more involved in the overall atmosphere of the game.”
- “It goes beyond just stylized but simplistic 8-bit melodies and manages to create the atmosphere for each area or boss fight better than the visual backgrounds.”
- “That said, if you like that NES-dark Castlevania atmosphere, well-designed platforming, and a bit of that old-school difficulty.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
50%
38%
The game offers some replayability primarily through challenges, achievements, and speedrunning opportunities, but overall, it is considered fairly short and simple, leading to limited replay value. While the engaging 8-bit graphics and music enhance the experience, the replayability is not deemed very high.
- “Lovely 8-bit graphics, good music, challenging puzzle/platform sections, bosses that are 'just right' and several achievements that give some replayability.”
- “It's fairly short, fairly simple, and has limited replay value.”
- “Replayability isn't very high.”
- “The game has some replayability value, especially if you're trying to go for the various challenges and achievements, and is speedrunnable if that's your thing.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The game exhibits some stability issues, with users noting it can be a bit buggy and contains various glitches that allow unintended access to areas. However, the developers have intentionally left some of these movement glitches in to cater to speedrunners, which has been positively received. Overall, it runs well on Ubuntu despite these quirks.
- “Runs great on Ubuntu.”
- “Runs great on Ubuntu.”
- “The game is a little buggy.”
- “There are a lot of glitches that can let you access areas you're not sure you should be in yet.”
- “The developers even opted to leave in some exploitable movement glitches to support speedrunners, rather than patching them out.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
38%
50%
Overall, the game's optimization appears to be mixed; while some players found it surprisingly well-optimized, others reported issues such as stuttering, input delay, and sluggish movement, particularly during platforming and screen transitions. These performance problems may vary based on individual hardware capabilities, suggesting that optimization may not be consistent across all systems.
- “Surprisingly optimized.”
- “I didn't mention it before, but I also experienced some weird issues with stuttering and slight input delay while playing on keyboard (which was my controller of choice throughout).”
- “I didn't see others talking about this, and even though my computer can handle more intensive games than this, I feel these performance issues must be mentioned but should probably be chalked up to my computer being less than stellar.”
- “Platforming is overly precise with little room for failure despite the sluggishness in movement, and there is a stuttering scroll with every screen transition making backtracking a slog.”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game evokes strong emotional nostalgia, providing a heartwarming experience that reminds players of joyful moments from the past. While it successfully captures the essence of happy platforming, some players find the repetitive nature of the puzzles can detract from the overall emotional impact.
- “A wholesome experience that brings back memories from the past in the best way possible.”
- “This game is one of my absolute favorites and a full 100% heartwarming back-to-the-good-old-days of happy platforming.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a strong sense of humor, with NPCs that provide comedic elements and guidance, enhancing the overall experience. Players appreciate the funny puzzles and the blend of humor with challenging platforming, reminiscent of classic Castlevania games.
- “And like Castlevania games, there are challenging platforming segments, as well as NPCs who add humor and direction to the game.”
- “Excellent platforming metroidvania and funny puzzles.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
Character development in the game is noted to be strong initially, particularly with well-designed animations for the main character, Zoe. However, it suffers from a significant drop-off, as progression becomes less meaningful after a certain point, reducing further character growth to mere completion percentages rather than impactful development.
- “Good animations and character design for Zoe, the main character.”
- “Character development cuts off abruptly about two-thirds into the game, with further collection of strength orbs past around 60 just rewarding you with item % completion.”