Developer: Dark Pigeon Games
Publisher: ESDigital Games
Platform: PS4, PS5, PC
Tested on: PC
AWAKEN: Astral Blade – Review
For as booming as the Chinese gaming industry is, surprisingly few titles make it across the Great Wall to reach Western shores. That alone is one of the reasons that AWAKEN: Astral Blade caught our attention, as Chinese developer Dark Pigeon Games developed it. A second reason was the striking design of the protagonist, a young girl not too dissimilar from NieR’s 2B. And finally, the game was a Metroidvania, a genre you can happily wake us up for – pun intended. But is AWAKEN just interesting because it exists or is it actually worth playing too?
Story
It would appear that a lot of AWAKEN’s narrative has become lost in translation. The game was developed in China, of course, and unfortunately, the English language localization isn’t up to snuff. As a result, the narrative is utterly incomprehensible. AWAKEN is about a bionic girl named Tania. Her “father”, Dr. Herveus tasks Tania with tracking down a group of explorers that have gone missing across the Horace Islands. That’s pretty much all we could puzzle together from the poorly-written dialogue. There’s probably more to discover in the game’s collectible adventure logs, but those were about as clear as the rest of the dialogue… which is to say not at all.
Graphics
Things fare substantially better when it comes to AWAKEN’s visuals. Both the various biomes and their inhabitants look fantastic, with boss designs in particular being highlights. Tania’s design stands out as well. We’re not sure whether her stoic appearance and lack of facial expressions were a deliberate choice, but given her nature as a bionic entity, this does work well. What works less is that AWAKEN’s animations are on the stiff side, and that some corners were obviously cut. Tania’s design is asymmetrical, for example, but instead of drawing both left and right sprites, her model flips depending on the direction she faces.
Sound
Remember how we said that AWAKEN’s localization wasn’t good? The same applies to the voice acting. While there is supposedly English voice work in the game, the dialogue was recorded by people who are clearly non-native speakers. Most of the time, it’s like the cast doesn’t even know what they are saying themselves, and the audible dialogue doesn’t always match the on-screen text either. If this bothers you, you could always switch to Chinese audio, but neither option is preferable. Likewise, the soundtrack is lacking. There are only a handful of tracks, and they are repeated over and over again. On the upside, the sound effects are great, adding some real heft to Tania’s moves.
Gameplay
As far as Metroidvania games go, AWAKEN doesn’t bring anything new or exceptional to the table. The focus is more on beating up enemies than it is on environmental exploration. The combat system is fairly robust, and our heroine certainly isn’t a slouch when it comes to fighting. Of course, AWAKEN being a Metroidvania means that you’ll gradually unlock new powers and abilities that will aid you with traversing hostile environments. However, a good chunk of Tania’s unlockable moves are explicitly combat-focused. Upgrades and moves are unlocked by collecting Karpas Energy. This can be obtained both from the environment and through defeating enemies. It acts as a currency of sorts, allowing you to prioritize which upgrades to get, and thus influencing how you can tackle the game. AWAKEN isn’t the most difficult Metroidvania out there, especially if you’re a veteran, but early on Tania still feels quite weak, and there is an actual sense of progress as you upgrade her combat prowess. Combat isn’t entirely without its faults. For one, despite the wide array of unlockable upgrades, Tania’s arsenal feels quite limited. Combined with the lack of enemy variety, at least when it comes to grunts, AWAKEN can feel quite repetitive, especially after playing for a while. Fortunately, boss battles fare better. These require you to memorize attack patterns and time your attacks accordingly. This is especially important as some of Tania’s attacks are quite sluggish and cannot be canceled while you’re performing them. This means that you might inadvertently hurl yourself right into an attacking boss if you’re not careful!
The lesser focus on exploration can be felt throughout AWAKEN’s pacing. The first few hours of the game are very linear, and it isn’t until you get to the game’s hub area that things start to open up. Yes, you read that right: it takes multiple hours just to get to the hub area. Once you get there, you’ll find that things open up rapidly, as fast travel becomes an option, and you’re able to return to previous areas. In typical Metroidvania fashion, exploring previously visited areas yields plenty of goodies to discover, although we did feel like their impact is fairly limited in the grand scheme of things. You’ll find things like health boosts, collectibles that can be sold, or new equipment. Tania’s arsenal for traversing is disappointingly lacking in creativity. You’ll eventually be able to double jump, climb walls, dash through the air, and use specific items to overcome environmental obstacles. It’s standard stuff that could have benefited from a more unique hook.
Despite AWAKEN’s aforementioned gameplay flaws, we still quite enjoyed what it had to offer. Sometimes it’s nice to simply unwind with a game that doesn’t require you to think too much, unless it’s figuring out a boss pattern. There are several unlockable difficulty levels too, which bodes well for AWAKEN’s replayability. We’d argue that the multiple endings also factor into this, but that would require the game to actually present a compelling narrative. Still, with a mid-range price point and a very straightforward approach, we can think of worse ways to spend your time than with AWAKEN.
Conclusion
We try to avoid using the term ‘mixed bag’ but in the case of AWAKEN, it’s pretty much unavoidable. As a whole, there is more good than bad here, but the incomprehensible story, disappointing audio, and bland exploration are still major downsides. Fortunately, the satisfying combat, gorgeous visuals, and straightforward gameplay make up for this. We’re not going to say that AWAKEN can stand proudly alongside many of today’s great Metroidvanias, but it doesn’t belong in the trash either.
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