Alwa's Awakening

78%
Game Brain Score Based on 425 reviews
  • music
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Alwa's Awakening Game Cover
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.
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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.

  • Mac OS
  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Linux
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

78%
Audience ScoreBased on 425 reviews
music88 positive mentions
grinding36 negative mentions
  • Alwa's Awakening captures the nostalgic feel of classic NES games with its charming pixel art and catchy chiptune soundtrack.
  • The game features clever puzzles and platforming challenges that encourage exploration and creative use of abilities.
  • The difficulty is well-balanced, providing a fair challenge without being overly punishing, especially with the option to use assist mode.
  • The movement speed is slow, making traversal tedious and leading to frustration during backtracking.
  • There are many hidden walls and traps that can lead to instant deaths, which can feel unfair and disrupt the flow of gameplay.
  • The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, leaving players feeling like their efforts throughout the game were not adequately rewarded.
  • music161 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its nostalgic chiptune style, effectively capturing the essence of classic 8-bit soundtracks. While many players find the compositions catchy and engaging, some note that the music can become repetitive, especially during prolonged gameplay. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout feature that enhances the game's atmosphere and charm.

    • “I cannot stress how wonderful this game's music is enough.”
    • “An amazingly catchy soundtrack, you'll find yourself humming along constantly haha.”
    • “The music is very symbolic with perceptions of a great decent soundtrack!”
    • “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.”
  • gameplay120 mentions

    The gameplay of the game is characterized by a nostalgic, retro-inspired design that combines platforming and puzzle-solving elements typical of the metroidvania genre. While many players appreciate the tight controls and clever mechanics, some find the gameplay to be slow-paced and occasionally tedious, with a mix of challenging and frustrating moments. Overall, it offers a blend of exploration and skill-based challenges, though opinions vary on its depth and excitement.

    • “The gameplay is challenging but fair in most cases.”
    • “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.”
    • “It's a wonderfully charming game that puts focus on slow-paced puzzle solving as you navigate the environment using various abilities that you collect, which makes for very fun and tricky gameplay.”
    • “Bought the game because it looked like a fun retro-styled pixel art game, but I was disappointed with the gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay is really slow; it is a little hard (sometimes) to figure out where a new item might be, and there are hidden walls (some can be deduced, but some not).”
    • “Sounds awesome but doesn't live up to the potential, as gameplay is hampered by rather tedious level design and item placement.”
  • graphics109 mentions

    The graphics of the game are consistently praised for their charming 8-bit aesthetic, effectively capturing the nostalgic feel of classic NES titles. Reviewers highlight the well-crafted pixel art and cohesive visual design, which, along with the catchy chiptune music, enhances the overall experience. While some note that the graphics may appear simple or unpolished, they ultimately contribute to the game's nostalgic charm and appeal to fans of retro gaming.

    • “The graphics are gorgeous and the music is spot on.”
    • “The retro aesthetic is spot-on, and the game mechanics are fun to play with.”
    • “The graphics are simple but well done and feel like they could be from a real NES classic.”
    • “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.”
    • “Don't let the 8-bit graphics fool you though, the hit detection is sub-pixel perfect, which can lead to some annoying platform/enemy related deaths.”
  • story60 mentions

    The story in the game is largely criticized for being minimal and generic, with many reviewers noting that it lacks depth and fails to engage players. While some appreciate the simple premise of a quest to defeat evil, the execution is often described as confusing or unfinished, leaving players feeling disconnected from the narrative. Overall, the consensus is that the story serves merely as a backdrop for gameplay rather than a compelling element of the experience.

    • “It has a nice story and I like all the small puzzles.”
    • “The bosses in Alwa’s Awakening are more geared towards an adventure style game where they progress the story and have a theme depending on the dungeon.”
    • “Great story, great music, nice retro graphics and fun gameplay.”
    • “There's no comment on the story because there's basically none and it doesn't matter - so ultimately I'd say if you have more experience with and patience for NES games and slower-paced platformers, you'd probably do fine here.”
    • “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 as simple as it gets.”
  • grinding36 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, often equating difficulty with frustrating backtracking and slow movement. Many reviews highlight the annoyance of having to repeatedly traverse challenging sections after dying, which detracts from the enjoyment and flow of gameplay. While some options exist to alleviate this tedium, the general consensus is that the game suffers from design choices that make exploration and progression feel laborious rather than rewarding.

    • “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.”
    • “Putting the save room right past the most difficult room in the game after 10 minutes of tedious room after room is unfair and cheap.”
    • “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).”
  • atmosphere9 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its charming pixel art and captivating music, which effectively enhance the overall experience. While some players find the slow movement and backtracking can detract from enjoyment, others appreciate how these elements allow for deeper immersion in the game's world. Overall, the combination of well-designed environments and varied soundtracks creates a unique and engaging atmosphere, reminiscent of classic titles.

    • “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 other reviews. If you feel that will frustrate you, this isn't the game for you. However, it does enable 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.”
  • replayability4 mentions

    The game offers moderate replayability primarily through challenges, achievements, and speedrunning opportunities, but its short length and simplicity limit overall replay value. While the engaging 8-bit graphics, music, and well-balanced bosses add some incentive to revisit, many players feel that replayability is not particularly 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.”
  • stability4 mentions

    The game's stability is generally good, with smooth performance on platforms like Ubuntu; however, it does contain some bugs and glitches that can be exploited, particularly by speedrunners, allowing access to unintended areas.

    • “Runs great on Ubuntu.”
    • “The developers even opted to leave in some exploitable movement glitches to support speedrunners, which is pretty cool.”
    • “It's a little buggy.”
    • “There are a lot of glitches that can let you access areas you're not sure you should be in yet.”
  • optimization4 mentions

    Overall, optimization feedback is mixed; while some users report significant performance issues such as stuttering and input delay, others find the game surprisingly well-optimized. The precision required for platforming combined with sluggish movement and stuttering transitions can hinder the experience, particularly on less powerful 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.”
  • emotional3 mentions

    The game evokes strong nostalgia and warmth, providing a heartwarming experience that resonates with players' fond memories of classic platforming. However, the repetitive nature of the gameplay, particularly the punishing mechanics, can detract from the overall emotional enjoyment.

    • “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.”
  • humor3 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted through amusing NPC interactions and clever puzzles, adding a lighthearted touch to the challenging platforming elements reminiscent of Castlevania. Overall, players appreciate the blend of humor with engaging gameplay.

    • “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 development2 mentions

    Character development in the game is noted to be strong initially, particularly with well-designed animations for the main character, Zoe; however, it becomes abrupt and unsatisfying two-thirds through, as further progression primarily offers completion rewards rather than meaningful growth.

    • “The character development is engaging and well-crafted, allowing players to connect deeply with the main character, Zoe.”
    • “Zoe's animations and character design are impressive, enhancing the overall experience of character development in the game.”
    • “Character development cuts off abruptly about two-thirds into the game, with further collection of strength orbs past around 60 only rewarding you with item completion percentage.”
    • “The character progression feels incomplete, as there are no meaningful upgrades or changes after a certain point.”
    • “I was disappointed that the character development system lacks depth, making it feel like a missed opportunity for growth and engagement.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

75% average critic score

Buy Alwa's Awakening

Play time

10hMedian play time
10hAverage play time
10-10hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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