I do like my 2D side-scrolling hack-and-slash adventure games. I list games such as Muramasa: Rebirth and Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir as some of the best games I’ve ever played. On the face of it, especially from the visuals, Awaken: Astral Blade looked to rub shoulders with these games and has certainly delivered a great experience. Unfortunately, it also fell flat on its face in some areas too!
What is a Metroidvania game, exactly? It is a style of game that became popular for its 2D art style, mixed with non-linear exploration and utility-gated progression. The best early examples of this genre were the Metroid and Castlevania series, hence the term “Metroidvania”.
That description is exactly how Awaken: Astral Blade plays out. The first thing that grabs the player’s attention is the gorgeous 2D visuals, the standard of which is very akin to the beautiful Ori series. Excellent background artwork and detailed and smooth movement meant every new screen was a feast for the eyes. The visuals, especially during combat, were inspiring as with a swing of your weapon, bright effects shone all over the screen.
However, this was probably the best aspect of the game as the same attention to detail wasn’t present everywhere else. The main gripe I had was the confusing, unhelpful, awkward way the game tried to tell its story. The story as a whole is, indeed, not too bad and at times engaging, it’s just such an effort to figure things out.
You play as bionic girl Tania, who is tasked by her creator to find a missing team in a rainforest on the Horace Islands. While there, she finds that a mysterious energy is transforming the local animals and plants into aggressive monsters. The plot thickens as you would expect, and the game even features multiple endings. However, the game also does all it can to hinder the player from trying to understand all of this.
For example, one cutscene (as such) has a still picture of a group of characters you’ve never met before delivering important background information. The issue is that none of the characters’ lips moved or had speech bubbles, so when it said so-and-so was talking, I was trying to figure out which of the characters this actually was and not listening to what they were saying.
Add to this that you are figuratively and literally dumped into this world with little or close to no exposition of who, what, where, or why. It’s all very well mentioning factions and people, but if you don’t know if they are friends or foes, you just spend a lot of time thinking, “eh?”.
The deluxe physical version of the game comes with a lore handbook. I think it’s indicative that what’s missing from the game is actually found and sold separately!
The game’s combat is also so close but no cigar! Yes, the gameplay and combat are actually very exciting, well-balanced, and accessible to those who may not be as good as others with a wealth of difficulty options. However, the game has but a few basic combos. A few hours in, I was still using square, square, and triangle dodge, over and over again.
You do get new weapons and new abilities as you progress, and there are dodge and parry mechanics as well, but the basic attack patterns didn’t really change. However, what some see as basic, others might view as accessible, and when you’re facing huge and exciting boss fights, keeping things simple to defeat them most certainly helped.
The game’s audio was a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the music and effects of some attacks were superb, but on the other, one of your most powerful attacks sounded as convincing as slapping the enemy with a wet flannel.
The game’s systems, once again in the same theme, at times were excellent, others frustrating. There is a very good skill tree and weapons upgrade mechanic that really made you think about what to unlock and use your precious resources on, but it allowed you to change that if you wanted to. To juxtapose this, the exploration, more specifically the tools to try and help with exploring, was non-existent.
For example, there is a map that displays where your next objective is. Sometimes to get to it, you literally have to travel in the opposite direction. So, while playing, I just couldn’t help but wonder if I was missing something back there. Due to the lack of fast travel to go back to save points, instead of enjoying what I was doing, I kept thinking something was wrong. In most cases, it turned out that I wasn’t missing anything, but it distracted me all the same. Then there are sets of icons below the map. Nothing in the game says what these are or what they do.
It’s these details, that if the developer could clean up, (and it’s perfectly in their capability to do so) that would turn a good game into an excellent one.
Finally, as well as exploration and combat, there are a few puzzles and chase sequences. Each one that I’ve encountered was very good but a little vague as to what to do. Playing the game helps you pick up the beat of what it wants you to do, but the first few times I came across them, I was a little frustrated and stumped.
When you put this all together, for the most part, the quirks of Awaken: Astral Blade didn’t distract me enough or hinder me from enjoying what the experience was giving me. The gripes I had are just that: gripes. As the game is, some people may not even be bothered with the things that irked me and will just plow on and enjoy this immensely playable and exciting game.
You also can’t argue with the price or the amount of quality content the game delivers. Currently on the UK PlayStation Store, the game is retailing for £19.99. The story and side missions will take over ten hours to complete, which added to this level of detailed presentation, is not to be missed.
Summary
At the end of the day, despite the gripes, there is actually a very competent, excellent, and exciting game here. The trouble is it’s buried under the weight of the developers’ lack of precision in trying to help you play it. It’s frustrating because these choices were self-inflicted, and it’s not hard to see that with a slight tweak here and there, this could have been very special indeed.
Developer: Dark Pidgeon Games
Publisher: Meridiem Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4/5, Steam PC
Release Date: 22nd October 2024
