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Bionic Boredom
2024 has been the year the 2D platformer genre got some much needed love, with the release of games like Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown and Nine Sols. Now, with the debut title from developer Dark Pigeon Games, AWAKEN- Astral Blade attempts to stake its claim in the genre, with mixed results. The plot in AWAKEN follows the story of Tania, a bionic operative who begins the game with a mission to explore the mysterious Horace Islands. Given this mission by her creator Dr Herveus, whom she calls father, Tania is tasked with tracking down a missing research group. The group had been studying a new and strange energy source known as Karpas that transforms wildlife and vegetation into mutants. That’s pretty much the bones of the story itself, with the clear emphasis being on Tania herself and her journey of exploration and mystery, coupled with her own personal journey of self discovery. I would describe it as a simple yet entirely forgettable story.
The story simply loses steam far too often and far too regularly for my liking. Tania herself is an intriguing and mysterious protagonist and I wanted to learn more about her past and origins. Her themes of self worth and self discovery, whilst longing to be seen as more than a weapon, are admirable but just so badly executed. I was disappointed in how poorly the game tells its story at times. Dialogue in the game is terrible and feels utterly lifeless. The game attempts to pour tonnes of lore into the game from the get go and this failed miserably for me as I felt exhausted at times with the exposition and context the dialogue was trying to give me. It felt in some ways that this was a sequel to a game with the amount of lore it was trying to give you. The English dub is also extremely poor and voiced lines are few and far between. The setting had me intrigued, but by game’s end, I had longed for the conclusion. A drawn out boring affair from start to finish but thankfully, gameplay takes it up a couple notches.
Combination Creativity
The gameplay in AWAKEN can be described as simple yet sweet. This is a quintessential hack and slash game. Tania has attacks that she can use both in the air or on the ground. Swinging the bionic sword that is grafted into Tania feels fluid and satisfying and it’s just fun to swing your way through enemies. Combos that you can pull off add extra cinematic feel to combat and help to heighten the tension in battle. I just wish there were more combos for Tania, as midway through the game, I had memorised the handful down to a tee. Tania can find different weapons throughout the game which have different abilities, such as the scythe which can get you out of moments where enemies crowd you out.
Souls like elements are found through the health potions which only refill once entering the next area. Boss battles are a highlight, with huge monsters taking up big chunks of the screen during the fights, creating an epic scale to the game. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the normal enemy types. Enemies in this game are awful and bland and frankly at times are so ridiculously designed that I felt sorry for them. Enemies often just stand in a position and mindlessly swing if you are in the vicinity and then go back to statuesque form. It’s very disappointing how poor these enemies are. Overall, a flawed but still satisfying combat experience.
With this being a 2D platformer, Tania has movement abilities which help you get out of difficult moments like the dodge ability and double jump. The gaps between unlocking these skills were well spaced out and gave me enough time honing that particular craft. A fairly robust skill tree for abilities and weapons is also on offer here which allows you to flesh out the combat system. In the MetroidVania games I have played, I have been frustrated with what I would describe as dead zone areas where I had no clue where to go and little to no direction. Thankfully AWAKEN does not suffer from this as its paths are wonderfully laid out and depicted with the superb in-game map. Every area felt like it had a purpose for me, whether it was through combat or the occasional puzzle the game throws at you. Fast travel is unlocked around a third of the way into the game, helping back tracking through areas immensely. Accessibility options are also decent enough, particularly in the difficulty setting, allowing you to focus more on the story if you choose. I found the overall difficulty of the game to be very low and I never felt under levelled. Again, overall a flawed but still satisfying combat experience.
Discovering Delightfulness
Whist I have mixed feelings on story and combat, the same cannot be said about the presentation. This game looks stunning in every area you explore. The background environments behind Tania look phenomenal and reminded me so much of the Ori series. Each location you enter is dripping in detail and vibrant colours: caves look damp, dark and dilapidated, whilst boss rooms have this grandioso feel and scale to them, which is fantastic. The use of animated backgrounds really helps great environmental storytelling and it’s a testament to the development team in how good this game looks. Similarly, Tania looks fantastic and is animated superbly; her character model is full of detail and vibrant colours. Apart from the terrible animations for the enemies, their character designs are also wonderful, with the energy mutant effects portrayed in a brilliantly grotesque manner. All the bosses also look superb and are huge set pieces on screen that are full of colour and detail. The one minor flaw to presentation are the UI and menus which are incredibly bland and basic but this is nothing to affect your experience significantly.
Sound design and musical score once again wield mixed results. Traversing as Tania sounds great, with her footsteps booming across cave floors and altar rooms, whilst sword slashes sound and feel powerful. Performing special moves and combinations show off Tania’s exertion in doing these intricate moves and is a great way to show her increasing desperation and exhaustion as the game plays out. Enemy sound design is virtually non existent besides the boss battles. This is disappointing and so lacklustre that I can barely remember what they actually sounded like. As mentioned before, there is some voiced dialogue within the game but it is so infrequent and terribly voiced that it once again falls into the category of forgettable. The same can be said about the musical score which is just a slew of short light melodies which repeat themselves throughout each area. I wish more time could have been spent perfecting this score as some parts sound great but it loses momentum when you’ve heard the same melody hundreds of times on repeat by games’ end.
Verdict
AWAKEN- Astral Blade is truly a mixed bag across the board. Engaging combat and beautiful environments and design are real high points in this streamlined version of the MetroidVania genre. However, a forgettable and boring story which fails to build upon the promise of an intriguing protagonist, poor enemy design and a middling musical score stop this game from reaching its potential and make the game seem a cheap imitation.
