AWAKEN - Astral Blade | Game Brain — video game discovery

About

In "AWAKEN - Astral Blade," play as Tania, a bionic girl on a mission to rescue a missing investigation team in a rainforest filled with aggressive mutants. Utilize an array of combos, parrying, and quick rise abilities to defeat enemies and bosses. Collect Aether to enhance combat abilities, upgrade weapons, and learn new skills. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes the full game, Golden Scale Set, digital artbook, and digital soundtrack.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

91%

Audience ScoreBased on 193 reviews

story28 positive mentions

grinding9 negative mentions

The game features beautiful hand-drawn visuals and a captivating art style that enhances the overall experience.
Combat is fast-paced and responsive, with a variety of weapons and combos that keep gameplay engaging.
Exploration is rewarding, with plenty of hidden secrets and collectibles scattered throughout a large, well-designed world.

The story and dialogue can be confusing due to awkward translations and automatic text scrolling that often moves too quickly.
Some players have reported bugs and performance issues, including frame rate drops and unresponsive controls at times.
Boss fights can feel unbalanced, with some being overly difficult compared to regular enemies, leading to frustration.

story
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
61%
5%
The story of the game is generally viewed as decent but inconsistent, with some players finding it engaging while others describe it as cliché or difficult to follow due to translation issues and pacing problems. While it features an interesting premise involving a bionic character navigating a world filled with mutants, many reviews note that the narrative lacks depth and can feel linear or predictable. Overall, it offers a mix of intriguing elements and frustrating execution, leaving players with varied impressions of its storytelling quality.
- “The story was richer than I expected.”
- “A very interesting and truly deep storyline in the dark sci-fi world, the main character looks and feels very interesting as well.”
- “I was especially impressed by how the game manages to integrate its narrative with the gameplay - the story is simple, but it’s compelling enough to keep you engaged throughout the journey.”
- “The story is very meh, the platforming is very obvious, the game is very linear, nothing much to think about.”
- “The story is solid, but mostly unremarkable.”
- “The game uses automatic text skipping for a lot of dialogs which gives you no chance to even follow the story properly.”
gameplay
59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
51%
5%
The gameplay is generally well-received, characterized by smooth mechanics, engaging combat, and a charming visual style. While some players noted minor flaws and a lack of innovation in mechanics, the overall experience is enhanced by challenging boss fights and a large, explorable world. The combination of solid gameplay, atmospheric design, and effective integration of narrative elements contributes to a satisfying experience, making it a worthwhile title for fans of the genre.
- “Outstanding gameplay and atmosphere - just perfect, sound and especially music - truly fantastic!!”
- “Great metroidvania, gameplay is solid, and hand-painted graphics are gorgeous.”
- “Combat mechanics are well-executed, offering a seamless blend of light and heavy attacks, dodges, and abilities that maintain engagement throughout battles.”
- “Gameplay is nothing special.”
- “Lots of visual issues like holes in levels or stuff you can spot, or clipping/flickering overlapped planes, lots of audio issues or just missing bits of audio, and plenty of rough feeling gameplay or odd balance.”
- “The worst is the gameplay issues, those you really feel.”
graphics
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
70%
24%
7%
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their stunning visuals, unique art style, and immersive atmosphere, making it a standout in the metroidvania genre. Players appreciate the hand-drawn aesthetics, vibrant landscapes, and well-designed character models, which contribute to a visually captivating experience. While some reviews mention basic graphics, the overall consensus highlights the game's beautiful artwork and smooth gameplay as key strengths.
- “Great visuals, attractive lead character, tight controls, fun combat and a large world--everything a lover of the metroidvania genre could want.”
- “The visuals are incredible and the fight system is fast paced.”
- “Visually, it’s a treat, with a unique art style that enhances the immersive world.”
- “The graphics are basic.”
- “I went into this game expecting some pretty visuals and mediocre gameplay.”
- “The maps offer plenty of hard to reach ledges, hidden areas and lore-enriching logs to find, though having played so many games in this genre I was able to navigate the ledges and find the hidden areas just by virtue of instinctively knowing where they were likely to be based on the map layouts and graphical cues.”
music
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
85%
4%
11%
The music in the game has received largely positive feedback, with many players praising its atmospheric quality and ability to enhance the overall experience. While some noted that certain tracks could be improved or were not particularly memorable, the soundtrack is generally described as beautiful and fitting for various situations, contributing significantly to the game's immersive environment. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature, complementing the game's visuals and gameplay effectively.
- “Outstanding gameplay and atmosphere - just perfect, sound and especially music - truly fantastic!!”
- “The music is perfectly atmospheric and fits most situations well.”
- “I enjoyed the combat, music, environments and the equipment/abilities.”
- “The music needs to improve to fit some scenes.”
- “I didn't even know about the game coming out, but a friend linked me the launch trailer and I bought it because the graphics and the music clicked for me.”
- “The soundtrack is lacking in variety and doesn't enhance the gameplay experience.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
90%
Players have mixed feelings about grinding in the game; while some find it necessary for upgrading skills and weapons, others appreciate the variety of abilities and challenges that keep the experience engaging. Although aerial combat can feel tedious, ground combat offers enough flexibility to remain enjoyable. Overall, the game manages to balance grinding with rewarding exploration and skill progression, though some players still find certain combat aspects repetitive and lacking impact.
- “Exploration is not tedious, and like other games in the genre, it opens up as you gain more abilities.”
- “The grinding feels rewarding, as each level up brings new skills and opportunities.”
- “I love how the grind leads to meaningful progression, making every hour spent feel worthwhile.”
- “It will be a tough and tedious journey - be ready for it.”
- “So farming is beyond a chore.”
- “The combat is really boring and spammy with no feeling of impact on anything you do - it's also one of those games where there's so much VFX going on that you can't even see what hit you - it gets tedious really quick.”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
78%
22%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its unique spirit, meticulous level design, and immersive art style, which together create a captivating environment. Players highlight the outstanding music and sound design that enhance the overall experience, making it a standout feature of the game. Overall, the atmosphere significantly contributes to the enjoyment of the gameplay and storytelling.
- “Outstanding gameplay and atmosphere - just perfect, sound and especially music - truly fantastic!!”
- “The art style complements the atmosphere perfectly, creating a world that is both immersive and aesthetically pleasing.”
- “There were so many moments where I just stopped and recorded a few seconds of the environment and atmosphere and shared it with my entire friends list.”
- “Each level is meticulously designed, contributing to a distinctive atmosphere that enhances the overall gameplay experience.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
14%
29%
Overall, the game is well-optimized with stable performance and minimal bugs, running smoothly on various platforms including the Steam Deck and ROG Ally Z1 Extreme. However, some users reported isolated issues, such as a hardlock bug and a need for further optimization to ensure a consistently smooth experience.
- “The game is very stable and well optimized; there are no major bugs or other problems.”
- “Tight controls and runs smoothly on Steam Deck.”
- “The game runs smoothly; I play it on the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme.”
- “Performance was mostly fine; however, there are a few issues that need addressing.”
- “I believe a bit of work is necessary in terms of optimization to ensure the experience remains smooth overall.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the tough and funny main character, Tania, whose comedic qualities are even acknowledged by the developers in the end credits. Players also appreciate the inclusion of humorous elements, such as funny cats, which enhance the overall enjoyment of the gameplay and art style.
- “The main character Tania is tough and funny.”
- “The developers acknowledge the humor in the end credits, which is quite amusing.”
- “I love the gameplay, art style, and the funny cats.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
While the game features some touching moments and twists, the overall emotional impact is diminished by lackluster voice acting, leaving players feeling that the emotional depth is not fully realized.
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game experiences several minor glitches and bugs, which can detract from the overall experience, though players still find it enjoyable despite these issues.
- “The game is super buggy.”
- “The game had some minor glitches here and there.”
- “The game is fun, but it's buggy.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The game offers varying difficulty levels, including easy and hardcore modes, which enhance its replayability by allowing players to experience different challenges. However, some users feel that overall replayability is a significant flaw, suggesting that additional features or modes could improve this aspect.
- “It has an easy mode if you're afraid of fast-paced combat. I'm playing on normal and find it's pretty forgiving so far, but there is also a hardcore difficulty if you're good at this kind of thing, which adds to the replayability.”
- “I can't think of anything else at the moment, but replayability is largely the biggest flaw here.”
- “It would add to the replayability by being able to run through the game handicapped in certain ways.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players express a desire for more in-depth character development throughout the game, indicating that the current experience may feel lacking or superficial.
- “This may leave some players desiring a deeper character development experience as they progress through the game.”
- “The character arcs feel rushed and lack the depth needed to make them truly engaging.”
- “I found the character development to be superficial, making it hard to connect with the protagonists.”