Awesomenauts

About

Awesomenauts is a warfare platformer game that combines 2-player split-screen, multi-player, and co-op modes with a good plot. Players must battle to destroy the opposing team's turrets and base, while defending their own, across multiple stages with hidden traps. With stunning gameplay, compelling graphics, a great soundtrack, and high replayability, Awesomenauts is a hilarious, yet sometimes buggy, gaming experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 6,906 reviews

gameplay300 positive mentions

grinding29 negative mentions

gameplay
663 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
50%
5%
The gameplay of Awesomenauts is a unique blend of 2D platforming and MOBA mechanics, offering fast-paced, strategic matches that are easy to learn but challenging to master. While many players appreciate the diverse character roster and engaging mechanics, criticisms arise regarding balance issues, matchmaking problems, and repetitive gameplay due to limited maps. Overall, the game is praised for its fun, colorful aesthetic and enjoyable multiplayer experience, though it may not satisfy those seeking the depth found in more traditional MOBAs.
- “The gameplay is fast-paced and strategic, and the game's maps are well designed and provide a balanced and engaging experience.”
- “The gameplay is incredibly unique and fun (if you have good teammates) and it's amazing when you're playing with a friend or two.”
- “The gameplay is smooth and responsive and fairly simple for a no brainer, but still packs an enjoyable punch.”
- “The gameplay itself is arcady and boring, attempting to mimic other, more successful MOBAs with mechanics such as last hitting and towers.”
- “The main flaw though is how there is very little change in the maps which make certain aspects of the gameplay repetitive and boring, after all there are only about 5 different maps.”
- “The gameplay is rather simple, but the variety of characters makes it enjoyable, not to mention that you can play against your friends and compete online instead of just playing against the computer.”
graphics
440 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
40%
2%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their vibrant, cartoonish art style reminiscent of 80s Saturday morning cartoons, which adds a unique charm and appeal. Many players appreciate the colorful visuals and character designs, noting that they enhance the overall gameplay experience, despite some concerns about performance issues and input lag. Overall, the graphics are considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's fun and engaging atmosphere.
- “The graphics, characters, and art style are all amazing.”
- “The art style is fantastic, the characters are fantastic, the gameplay is fantastic.”
- “The graphics are simple, yet fulfilling.”
- “The game has a lot of flashing visuals and animation stuttering/rubber-banding from certain types of character attacks, especially blinding attacks and pushing/grabbing attacks, and it's a serious accessibility issue.”
- “I have a 1080ti graphics card and I get massive input lag even on the lowest graphics settings with multithreading set to 'reduce input lag'.”
- “The graphical menu alone is an embarrassment for this game.”
music
438 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
37%
2%
The music in Awesomenauts is widely praised for its catchy and vibrant soundtrack, featuring unique theme songs for each character that enhance the game's playful, cartoonish atmosphere. Players appreciate the energetic tunes that accompany gameplay, especially during kill streaks, which add to the overall excitement and immersion. Many reviews highlight the soundtrack as one of the standout features of the game, making it a memorable experience for players.
- “The music, my god, each individual nauts got their own theme and all of them are amazing.”
- “The soundtrack is one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard, the level design is inventive and exciting, and the graphics are consistently gorgeous.”
- “Each character has their own awesome theme song with great voice acting and they are very unique in their skills.”
- “The new character songs are both forgettable and have no actual lyrics (but that may be for the best).”
- “Obnoxious, funny meme guys type of humor you'd expect from a 12-year-old who just found out what 9gag is combined with grating music and repetitive gameplay.”
- “The music won't get out of my head.”
humor
191 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in "Awesomenauts" is a standout feature, characterized by its quirky characters, witty dialogue, and a lighthearted, cartoonish aesthetic that appeals to players of all ages. Many reviews highlight the game's absurdity and charm, with memorable catchphrases and humorous backstories that enhance the chaotic gameplay experience. Overall, players find the humor engaging and integral to the game's appeal, making it a fun and entertaining choice in the MOBA genre.
- “Each character is amazing with a funny backstory.”
- “The characters have different catchphrases and sounds that are quite creative with a good touch of humor.”
- “Awesomenauts delivers a unique experience regarding the action platformer genre, plus an incredible art style and hilarious voiceovers.”
story
79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
71%
6%
The game's story is generally perceived as simplistic and lacking depth, primarily revolving around a galactic war between robots and mercenaries, with minimal narrative engagement. While each character has a unique backstory and personality, many players express a desire for a more substantial campaign or story mode to enhance the experience. Overall, the narrative elements are seen as secondary to the gameplay, with some reviewers noting that the lack of a cohesive story detracts from the game's potential.
- “Each character is amazing with a funny backstory.”
- “A really unique aspect is that each character is given their own backstory and interesting dialogue for when they're taunting or just bragging throughout the matches.”
- “The story is simple and straightforward.”
- “The storyline is totally biased, with undertones such as Yuri the talking Russian space monkey (who speaks American, makes no sense).”
- “There is no story, so this part doesn't count.”
- “The multiplayer mayhem does contain a strong factor of addictiveness, but because there is no single-player storyline, I can't recommend this game.”
replayability
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
39%
7%
The game is widely praised for its high replayability, attributed to its diverse characters, engaging gameplay dynamics, and constant updates that keep the experience fresh. Players appreciate the balance between accessibility and depth, allowing for varied playstyles and strategies, making it enjoyable both solo and with friends. Overall, the combination of customizable gameplay and a strong community contributes to its lasting appeal.
- “The game has a lot of fun dynamics; the many different 'awesomenauts' allow for varied playstyles and replayability.”
- “This game has great replayability because it is multiplayer and there are so many characters to choose from!”
- “The customisable games add the most to the replayability with the choice of how you want to customise the game, as well as playing with friends, which furthers the game's replay value.”
- “The gameplay itself requires some work as the combat becomes stale and the replay value is rather low.”
- “Replayability wise, there is a lot of player progression to enjoy, until you reach a certain rank, in which if you choose to rank up, you’ll have to go through all that leveling up and unlocks again until you hit the next major rank.”
- “I enjoyed my time with Awesomenauts and I will be glad to come back to it as a game that has a lot of replayability.”
character development
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
72%
19%
9%
Character development in the game is highly praised, with reviewers highlighting the unique and well-thought-out character designs, engaging backstories, and distinct art styles that contribute to the overall experience. Many players appreciate the creativity and care put into each character, although some express disappointment with a few designs that feel out of place. Overall, the character design is considered a standout feature, enhancing both gameplay and immersion.
- “The character designs, their voice acting (it deserves a special applaud), and their background stories are all well done.”
- “The character designs are adorable, and you get the distinct impression every detail of the game was lovingly crafted.”
- “Fast-paced gameplay with excellent character design and a very well-balanced roster.”
- “A decade ago this was all I ever played as a kid, but they added some really terrible character designs in some of the DLC, and yes, the community is mostly just a bunch of 12-year-olds yelling at each other.”
- “The voice acting clashes with the character designs, and everything feels like it's moving through molasses.”
- “Oh, and not to forget the character designs, including a Russian monkey on a jetpack.”
grinding
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
3%
91%
Reviews on grinding in this game are mixed; while some players find the grinding process tedious and time-consuming, especially for unlocking characters and upgrades, others appreciate the game's focus on fast-paced combat over traditional farming mechanics. Many agree that the grind can feel excessive, particularly in comparison to other free-to-play MOBAs, but some also note that the game offers a more accessible experience with less emphasis on farming and more on immediate action. Overall, the grinding aspect is seen as a significant factor that can either enhance or detract from the enjoyment of the game, depending on individual preferences.
- “Characters are unlocked by playing - or with DLC purchases (which includes custom skins) - however, leveling and unlocking characters isn't grindy at all.”
- “The focus in this game is fighting, not farming.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “It gets quite tedious, and the lack of more content and the wall through buyable champions sealed the deal for me.”
- “The game purposely inhibits you in order to 'teach' you how to play the game and rewards you for grinding through while lacking critical abilities.”
optimization
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
46%
25%
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it runs well on low-end hardware and features good graphics, players report significant issues with animations, hit-box accuracy, and server performance. The ranking system is criticized for being overly simplistic and not reflective of individual player performance, contributing to frustrations with balance and gameplay experience. Despite these drawbacks, some players appreciate the community and strategic elements, though many express dissatisfaction with the game's ongoing bugs and lack of updates.
- “Also, Awesomenauts is an incredibly optimized game.”
- “Moreover, it is very well optimized and it runs well even on my definitely-not-gaming-laptop.”
- “Optimization is great, it can run on very low-end rigs.”
- “Overall game performance with animations and individual skill hit-boxes is almost comically inaccurate, and it's baffling that the programmers kept on putting out broken content despite future nauts being increasingly unbalanced.”
- “The game has a lot of flashing visuals and animation stuttering/rubber-banding from certain types of character attacks, especially blinding attacks and pushing/grabbing attacks (of which there are many of both), and it's a serious accessibility issue.”
- “Its okay nowadays, it's still a frustrating, buggy, poorly optimized, questionably balanced MOBA; it just doesn't get updated anymore and pubstomps in this game will make you want to kill yourself.”
monetization
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
42%
42%
The monetization model of Awesomenauts has drawn mixed reviews, with some players criticizing it as a "free to pay" cash grab filled with unbalanced microtransactions and pay-to-win elements, while others appreciate the optional nature of in-game purchases, which primarily consist of cosmetic items that do not affect gameplay. Despite concerns about grindiness and the presence of ads, some players find the game fairer than other MOBAs due to its non-pay-to-win structure and the developers' commitment to adding content. Overall, while microtransactions are prevalent, they are generally viewed as non-intrusive and mostly cosmetic.
- “Awesomenauts is a fun free-to-play (with in-game purchases, of course) MOBA with many fun characters to play as.”
- “Game is very cheap and the only in-game purchases are different character models (no skill improvements at all) and sounds.”
- “The developers are active on this game; they produced 15 characters and 4 maps for the base game, plus microtransactions for skins (which don't have any impact on the gameplay itself).”
- “Sadly, Awesomenauts is just another so-called 'free to play' (or 'free to pay') cash grab rife with in-game transactions.”
- “I had high hopes for this game over the years, but it has obviously devolved into a cash grab with no care given to the people that were playing when it was pay to play.”
- “And if that wasn't enough, Ronimo had to then screw the game over with under-balanced pay-to-win DLC 'nauts that would evidently just pubsmash due to the terrible matchmaking, ads for skins and voices being shoved into your face at every moment, lazy hitbox coding, P2P system, and all around allotting game-breaking mechanics to DLC characters.”
stability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
93%
The stability of the game is highly inconsistent, with many users reporting game-breaking bugs, glitches, and optimization issues, particularly affecting leaderboards and gameplay experience. While some players have not encountered significant problems and find the game runs well, others express frustration over frequent freezes and a lack of updates to address these issues. Overall, the game's stability appears to vary widely among players, with a notable divide between those experiencing minimal bugs and those facing significant technical challenges.
- “The graphics are great, the gameplay is fast and fun, and the game runs smoothly.”
- “I haven't experienced any crashes or bugs, which makes for a really stable gaming experience.”
- “The performance is consistent, allowing me to enjoy long gaming sessions without interruptions.”
- “Devs have abandoned the game with tons of game-breaking bugs and glitches.”
- “It's still a frustrating, buggy, poorly optimized, questionably balanced MOBA; it just doesn't get updated anymore.”
- “I sometimes encounter some freeze bugs where everything that is not me just freezes and sometimes just the minions.”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its vibrant, cartoon-like visuals reminiscent of 80s cartoons, creating a fun and engaging environment. Players appreciate the blend of cheerful and dark elements, which contribute to a relaxed yet immersive experience, making it a refreshing alternative to more competitive titles in the genre. Overall, the atmosphere is described as enjoyable and engaging, enhancing the gameplay experience.
- “I love the bright colors and fast-paced atmosphere.”
- “The humor and overall atmosphere of the game are loads of fun, and the gameplay is a blast.”
- “There is a deeply engaging multiplayer game somewhere here, but the lack of dedicated servers, and a non-competitive friendly atmosphere bogs down the experience.”
- “The graphics are cartoon-like, with a cheerful (yet dark at the same time) atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere the game creates is one of an old Saturday morning cartoon and I love it.”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game elicits a range of feelings, from deep disappointment and sadness over its perceived failures to moments of intense personal reflection and nostalgia. Players report experiencing tears and heartache, particularly when faced with high stakes or personal connections, while others note a mix of frustration and addiction that can lead to emotional outbursts. Overall, the game seems to evoke strong emotional responses, both positive and negative.
- “Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake.”
- “I was about 10 years old when my mother said to him, 'if you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you have to stop immediately.' Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake.”
- “It's fast and furious, but it can be heartbreaking at times due to some lag issues.”