Alwa's Awakening Reviews

If you’re a fan of classic Metroidvania-style games, Alwa’s Awakening is a must-play. This game captures the essence of old-school exploration and platforming while introducing its own charming mechanics and thoughtful level design. From the moment you step into its pixel-perfect world, you can feel the love and care that went into crafting every area, puzzle, and challenge. As with any great Metroidvania, your journey begins with limited abilities, but as you acquire new powers, the world opens up in exciting ways. Each newfound ability feels meaningful, allowing access to previously unreachable areas and encouraging backtracking in a way that never feels tedious. The level design is top-notch, balancing exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving in a way that keeps you engaged throughout. The puzzles are well thought out—challenging enough to make you think but never so frustrating that they detract from the experience. Mastering the environment and figuring out how to use your abilities effectively feels incredibly satisfying. Boss fights in Alwa’s Awakening are another highlight. They offer just the right amount of difficulty, requiring you to learn their attack patterns and find the best strategy to take them down. While they may seem tough at first, perseverance and skill will eventually lead to victory, making each battle feel like a well-earned accomplishment. Beyond gameplay, Alwa’s Awakening nails the retro aesthetic with beautiful pixel art and a fantastic chiptune soundtrack that perfectly complements the adventure. The game’s atmosphere is immersive, drawing you into its magical world and keeping you hooked until the very end. Overall, Alwa’s Awakening is a delightful homage to the classics while standing strong as a modern indie gem. With its clever level design, satisfying progression, and fair yet challenging difficulty, it’s a game that any Metroidvania fan will appreciate. If you love exploration, puzzles, and tight platforming, this is an adventure worth embarking on!

I was mostly enjoying this game, but I'm giving it a thumbs down because there is a superior version of this game. The NES remake apparently has more content and a lot of gameplay tweaks to make it less frustrating. I'm not happy about playing most of the way through an inferior version of a game, and that fact alone soured an otherwise pretty good experience for me.

Fantastic NES style metroidvania. Difficulty is pretty medium, and spikes up at the end. But overall a fun and Fantastic game.

Alwa's Awakening is not the best introduction to the genre, but it's a nice choice to scratch that metroidvania itch. It has good puzzles, plenty of secrets and hidden areas to find. It's not a hard game but it does have some very tricky parts. The gameplay is not fast-paced like more modern titles, but the controls are responsive and there are some movement tricks you can learn to sequence break certain areas (wall jump, double bubble), making it a good pick for speedrunners.

Really fun and challenging game(but then I'm not the best on platforms) I can really recommend for ppl who want to spend some hours. My self is aiming for 100% the game as it looks of now

An 8-bit 2D platformer metroidvania where you slowly gather three powers that will help you defeat the evil on the land! + Impressively designed boss-fights that require understanding (and a bit of skill) + A lot done with three simple powers. + Cute story and pixel art. + Incredibly well designed map with lots of shortcuts you unlock. + Some real great chiptunes as well, even if most of the loops are very short. - The final levels are true gauntlets of skill. - There's no "fake wall" item that will help you. - You can only cycle the powers forward. A very solid little game with a lot of playtime available if you want to do everything.

A wonderful old school Metroidvania game! If it had been made back in the days it would have been there amongst one of the greatest! Cheeky humor, fun puzzles and a lot of hidden secrets and items to find! You can tell that a lot of effort and love has gone into this one! I hate dying, but it was one of those games you just know that "just ONE MORE TIME" and you'll eventually get it. So 180 deaths later the game is beat :P I think the first 2/3 of the game was the best, where it was more focus on figuring things out. The last 1/3 was mostly one-touch deaths and very complicated movements and switches between abilities. One pixel wrong and you die and have to restart... again... and again. For me, I prefer the "I saw this somewhere" and gradually open up the world with new abilities and finding hidden stuff.