June 18, 2020
Jason Oda

Waking

Perhaps with a couple of in-depth quality-of-life updates, Waking can be something special. For now, the reality is its unique narrative is held back by some fundamental design oversights.

45%Game Brain Score

gameplay, graphics

story, grinding

40% User Score Based on 81 reviews

Critic Score 51%Based on 8 reviews

Platforms

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About

Waking is a single player action adventure game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Jason Oda and was released on June 18, 2020. It received neutral reviews from critics and negative reviews from players.

Combining third-person action and guided meditation, Waking is an emotional adventure through your dying mind. Battle the forces of oblivion, conjure the memories of loved ones, and join them in the fight for your life.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

40%

Audience ScoreBased on 81 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

The game features stunning graphics and a unique, atmospheric art style that enhances the overall experience.
Waking offers a deeply personal and introspective journey, encouraging players to reflect on their own lives and struggles.
The soundtrack and sound design contribute to a meditative and immersive experience, making it engaging for players seeking a thoughtful narrative.

The controls are clunky and unresponsive, making gameplay frustrating and detracting from the overall experience.
The combat mechanics are repetitive and poorly executed, leading to a lack of enjoyment during gameplay.
The game suffers from significant pacing issues, with long stretches of dialogue and slow gameplay that can lead to boredom.

gameplay
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
59%
17%
The gameplay has received largely negative feedback, with many users citing clunky mechanics, poor controls, and a lack of interactivity as major issues. While some players appreciated the smoothness and atmosphere in certain sections, the overall experience is marred by frustrating gameplay elements, repetitive design, and technical problems such as crashes and long loading times. Despite an interesting premise, the execution leaves much to be desired, resulting in a dull and often irritating experience.
- “Waking, what a fantastic gameplay experience.”
- “Smooth gameplay complemented with smooth movement mechanics, stunning visuals, and incredible music.”
- “If you can look past the minor issues, a good gameplay awaits you.”
- “The telekinesis mechanic is clunky and feels bad to use.”
- “The game concept is interesting, the story tries to be deep, but unfortunately, the gameplay is horribly boring.”
- “Overall, the game is just a dull slog to play through that's loaded with crummy gameplay and repetitive levels.”
graphics
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
35%
13%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning visuals, unique art style, and atmospheric quality, creating a beautiful and immersive experience. However, some users noted issues with optimization, lack of graphical options, and high mouse sensitivity on PC, which detracted from the overall enjoyment. Despite these drawbacks, the aesthetic appeal and artistic presentation are highlighted as standout features that enhance the game's meditative and thought-provoking nature.
- “A real interesting style game, beautiful graphics and cool world, where it's almost meditative at times and made me self-reflect many times.”
- “Waking has a very unique feeling and atmosphere to it, supported by both the graphics, the audio, and the way that various concepts of the mind shape both the game world and the interactions in it.”
- “Smooth gameplay complemented with smooth movement mechanics, stunning visuals, and incredible music.”
- “I know most of the time I'll find that a game isn't up to a high quality standard because the visuals are poor.”
- “Cons: the game isn't optimized very well, and there's literally no graphical options aside from resolution. The font and UI do not scale properly when you downsize your resolution, so if you can't meet your monitor's specs to run smoothly, you will be dealing with blurry text.”
- “I was really interested in this game because of its art style and the concept, but my god an hour in and I was literally bored to tears with absolutely no idea how far into the experience I actually was.”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The music in the game receives generally positive feedback, with many players praising its atmospheric quality and ability to enhance the gaming experience. While some find the soundtrack enjoyable and fitting, others describe certain tracks as cheesy or odd, indicating a mixed reception. Overall, the music is highlighted as a strong aspect, contributing to the game's immersive environment despite some criticisms regarding other gameplay elements.
- “As I started moving forward into the unknown, not knowing what to expect, my only companions were my thoughts and the fantastic atmospheric music that the game has to offer.”
- “Smooth gameplay complemented with smooth movement mechanics, stunning visuals, and incredible music.”
- “Waking is a beautiful game with good graphics and enjoyable music.”
- “Movement feels terrible, level design is lame, and the music/sound effects are really cheesy.”
- “(The 'pop' battle music was kind of weird) additionally, I often felt nausea.”
- “There is copyrighted music in the game; there's also an option to not use it.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The game's story is described as attempting to be deep and thought-provoking, with a personal approach to storytelling and appealing visuals. However, players find the narrative often hindered by gameplay issues, such as poor controls and confusing choices that can alienate those without specific experiences. While some appreciate the intriguing concept and immersive elements, others feel the execution falls short, leading to a lack of engagement with the story.
- “Waking is an incredibly artful game with mystifying visuals and a very personal approach to storytelling, and calling it thought-provoking would be an understatement.”
- “The story is deep (or at least tries to be deep), and I liked that you must pick in-game options which concern your life.”
- “Being the main character of the story, you will fight your way out of a coma by killing mobs and rebuilding memories.”
- “The story elements that are supposed to involve the player are often too specific - e.g. if you never had a cat or a dog you are kind of stuck with strange alternative choices for some kind of a hero in latter stages.”
- “Not sure what the enemy is or who the bosses are in the context of the game's story.”
- “The game's controls feel horrible and completely stopped me from getting into any story it had.”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
89%
11%
The atmosphere of the game is described as unique and immersive, with beautiful visuals and fantastic music that enhance the experience. However, some players noted a dissonance between the atmospheric narrative and fast-paced animations, as well as issues with repetitive gameplay and poor world design. Overall, the game successfully creates a surreal and uncomfortable environment that captivates players, despite some criticisms.
- “Waking has a very unique feeling and atmosphere to it, supported by both the graphics, the audio, and the way that various concepts of the mind shape both the game world and the interactions in it.”
- “An atmospheric adventure that took me to a very uncomfortable and surreal place, in which I wouldn’t dare to expect what might come before me.”
- “The visuals are moody, the game is atmospheric, and the overall experience just feels unique.”
- “I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny, but the movement and jump animations were so fast-paced and unrealistic compared to the atmosphere the narrative tried to create. I was laughing so hard!”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is described as a mixed experience; while it aims to create a personalized and deeply emotional journey for players, some feel it ultimately falls short due to a lack of cohesion among its various elements. However, those who appreciate emotional storytelling may find it impactful, with the potential to evoke strong feelings and leave players emotionally drained.
- “Emotional/personalized experience to each player.”
- “The idea is admirable, and if you have a soft spot for deep emotional stuff, this is going to pull at your heartstrings a bit.”
- “I'm emotionally exhausted only after a few hours.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, noting that it lacks novelty and becomes repetitive from mid-game to the end, which detracts from the overall experience.
- “Grinding can be a factor for some as it lacks novelty in most of its elements from mid-game to end.”
- “Combat is tedious.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game appears to be unintentional, as players find the fast-paced and unrealistic movement and jump animations amusingly at odds with the game's intended atmosphere, leading to unexpected laughter.
- “I'm not sure it's supposed to be funny, but the movement and jump animations were so fast-paced and unreal compared to the atmosphere the narrative tried to create. I was laughing so hard!”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game's optimization is lacking, with minimal graphical options available beyond resolution settings. Users report issues with font and UI scaling at lower resolutions, leading to blurry text if the game cannot run smoothly on a player's monitor.
- “Cons: The game isn't optimized very well, and there are literally no graphical options aside from resolution. The font and UI do not scale properly when you downsize your resolution, so if you can't meet your monitor's specs to run smoothly, you will be dealing with blurry text.”
- “The lack of optimization is frustrating; the game runs poorly even on high-end systems, and the absence of graphical settings makes it impossible to adjust for better performance.”
- “Optimization is a major issue; the game frequently stutters and lags, and the limited options for adjusting graphics settings leave players with a subpar experience.”