AWAKEN - Astral Blade

93%
Game Brain Score Based on 165 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Game Cover
Awaken: Astral Blade has an engaging story and some very good combat and platforming to boast, but it fumbles the ball a couple times in the translation and it can be difficult to determine where to go sometimes.
Starting at $16.99Buy now
Get on Steam

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.

  • PC
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Play​Station
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

93%
Audience ScoreBased on 165 reviews
story21 positive mentions
grinding9 negative mentions
  • The game features stunning artwork and a beautiful art style that enhances the overall experience.
  • Combat is fast-paced and engaging, with a variety of weapons and combos that keep gameplay fresh and exciting.
  • Exploration is rewarding, with many hidden areas and collectibles that encourage players to thoroughly explore the expansive map.
  • The game suffers from translation issues, with awkward dialogue and auto-scrolling text that can make it difficult to follow the story.
  • Boss design can be frustrating, with some encounters feeling overly difficult or poorly balanced, leading to a sense of artificial difficulty.
  • There are numerous bugs and technical issues, including frame rate drops and inconsistent controls, which detract from the overall gameplay experience.
  • story63 mentions

    The story of "Awaken - Astral Blade" follows Tania, a bionic being on a mission to investigate a remote island, where she encounters mutant wildlife and uncovers deeper mysteries. While the narrative features some cliché elements and pacing issues, it is generally engaging with a solid backstory and interesting twists, though players may find the automatic dialogue skipping frustrating. Overall, the game offers a visually appealing world and a storyline that, despite its flaws, keeps players invested throughout their journey.

    • “Awaken - Astral Blade is a very solid metroidvania with an interesting story about bionics; I have missed very good metroidvanias like these in a while.”
    • “The story may be a bit familiar, but it still hooks players by slowly revealing itself.”
    • “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.”
    • “There's a lot of lore that fleshes out the backstory, but ultimately it just never really grabbed me.”
    • “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.”
  • gameplay51 mentions

    The gameplay has received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many players praising its solid mechanics, fluid combat, and engaging exploration in a charming world. While some users noted minor visual and audio issues, as well as a lack of polish in certain areas, the overall experience is enhanced by well-executed combat mechanics and challenging boss fights. The game is particularly appreciated for its metroidvania elements, offering a satisfying blend of action and exploration.

    • “Good and solid gameplay; its huge map offers so much; exploring is really nice, as the world is filled with charming aesthetics.”
    • “Combat mechanics are well-executed, offering a seamless blend of light and heavy attacks, dodges, and abilities that maintain engagement throughout battles.”
    • “Boss fights stand out as a highlight of the game, featuring unique patterns and mechanics that balance challenge with fairness.”
    • “Graphics are decent, gameplay is mostly standard.”
    • “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.”
  • graphics41 mentions

    The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning artwork and character design, with many reviewers highlighting the gorgeous hand-drawn visuals and immersive art style. While some noted that the graphics can be basic at times, the overall aesthetic, including beautiful landscapes and effective use of parallax, contributes significantly to the game's charm and appeal. The combination of impressive visuals and smooth gameplay enhances the overall experience, making it a visually captivating title.

    • “The artwork and characters are gorgeous.”
    • “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.”
  • music22 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric quality, fitting seamlessly into various situations and enhancing the overall experience. Many players appreciate the soundtrack's beauty and its ability to evoke nostalgia, with some even purchasing the original soundtrack alongside the game. While the music is consistently highlighted as a strong point, the overall sound design, including sound effects and voice acting, received mixed feedback.

    • “The music is perfectly atmospheric and fits most situations well.”
    • “Luckily the music in the game is really good, enough for me to have bought the OST alongside my copy of the game.”
    • “The game has everything to offer from fun combat, creating different combos with different weapons, solid controls and amazing art style and don't forget the beautiful soundtracks that you can be listening to for hours of playing.”
  • grinding10 mentions

    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.”
  • atmosphere7 mentions

    The atmosphere in the game is highly praised for its immersive and aesthetically pleasing design, enhanced by meticulously crafted levels and fitting music. Players frequently find themselves captivated by the environment, often taking moments to appreciate and share their experiences. Overall, the combination of art direction, atmospheric design, and sound contributes significantly to the game's engaging gameplay and narrative.

    • “The art style complements the atmosphere perfectly, creating a world that is both immersive and aesthetically pleasing.”
    • “The game has a fantastic atmosphere with solid gameplay and story.”
    • “There were so many moments where I just stopped and recorded a few seconds of the environment and atmosphere and spammed it to my entire friends list.”
    • “Each level is meticulously designed, contributing to a distinctive atmosphere that enhances the overall gameplay experience.”
  • optimization6 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is generally well-received, with smooth performance on various platforms like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally Z1 Extreme. However, some users reported isolated issues, including a hardlock bug and a need for further optimization to ensure a consistently smooth experience.

    • “Tight controls and runs smoothly on Steam Deck.”
    • “The game as a whole has great performance and no crashes, although I did encounter one hardlock bug that could not be alleviated with a restart.”
    • “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.”
  • replayability3 mentions

    The game's replayability is considered a significant flaw, with some players suggesting that introducing handicaps could enhance the experience. While there are multiple difficulty levels, including an easy mode and a hardcore option, the overall consensus is that the game lacks compelling reasons to replay it.

    • “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.”
  • humor2 mentions

    The humor in the game is well-received, with players appreciating the funny cats and the developers' self-awareness, as highlighted in the end credits. Overall, the comedic elements enhance the enjoyment of the gameplay and art style.

    • “Which, funny enough, the devs acknowledge in the end credits.”
    • “I love the gameplay, art style, and funny cats.”
  • emotional2 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game features some twists and touching moments, though they are generally considered unremarkable. While players can engage with enemies without energy costs, the emotional depth does not significantly enhance the overall experience.

  • stability2 mentions

    The game is reported to have significant stability issues, with users frequently mentioning that it is plagued by bugs, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.

    • “The game is super buggy.”
    • “The game is fun, but it's buggy.”
  • character development1 mentions

    Players express a desire for more in-depth character development throughout the game, indicating that the current experience may feel lacking as they progress.

    • “This may leave some players desiring a deeper character development experience as they progress through the game.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

67% average critic score

Buy AWAKEN - Astral Blade

Videos

Similar Games

Game News