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To be perfectly true , I ’m not a big fan of the “ Metroidvania ” musical genre . I ’ve review plenty of these games during my time with Try Hard Guides , and they can certainly be exciting , interesting game deserve of their interview . However , I feel as though many miss the Gospel According to Mark . Often , the best Metroidvania titles practice conversant - to - a - flaw , untasted gameplay mechanism as a delivery equipment for interesting stories and phenomenal art dash , and if you need me to indulge in your title , it usually has to deliver on both . In my opinion , Awaken : Astral Blade does neither .
Awaken : Astral Blade tells the tale of Tania , a cyborg arm developed by her “ father ” and sent to investigate a missing enquiry team on the Horace Islands , an archipelago grease one’s palms by a strange energy that ’s turning the local fauna into mutate goliath . As Tania fights her way across the island , she gradually uncover the history of the commonwealth and grapples with her identity , wonder just how human she deserves to be .
The story is nothing particular , held back by several major issue , the main one being a lack of interestingness in severalise its own story .
I struggle to recount the exact plot . The writing is kind of all over the place , doing a pretty bad job of bring out the place setting and characters , and has a bizarre good sense of pacing . The most interesting aspect is Tania ’s struggle with her identity — a somewhat generic , albeit piquant , aspect of cyborg - lineament storytelling . However , the game fails to commit the time or aid take to really expand on the study in a square way , kind of just scratching the surface before quickly moving on . It leave you feeling like your plate was prematurely accept away at a restaurant after a significant waiting .
On top of this , I really ca n’t advocate playing with the English dub enabled . The voice carrying out can be passably stilted and exanimate , overall diminish what little pastime I had in the story . It did n’t take long for me to lose stake altogether , and while switching back to the Chinese dub helped , the text still felt a little awkward , leaving me pretty uninvested .
If anything might keep your interest , it would be the combat , which admittedly is n’t even that exciting on its own . It ’s mechanically simple , with a handful of special relocation trigger by press a winder at the remnant of a combo string and different arm serving to change thing up a second . While not extremely exciting to play , per se , it is always satisfying to see the accomplishment pull off , as they ’re highly animated and punchy in a way of life that can make up for their repetitiousness .
A repeating that is less forgivable is the plot ’s frequent reuse of its enemies , leading to combat that can quickly finger the same . It ’s a small shocking that the game does n’t feature a panoptic variety , as the foes themselves are nothing special to look at , loosely have uninteresting design and being so lightly animated that I was reminded of puppet - way invigoration from honest-to-goodness Flash toon .
The boss fights do mix up the formula a bit , specially those with multiple phases . I found that while they were n’t incredibly unmanageable , they had enough complexness that it might take a endeavor or two to learn their attack patterns . After that , you should be able to net them without breaking too much of a travail . While I ’m all about boss fights , Awaken : Astral Blade hardly has the most cinematic fights , so I do n’t take care them being pretty short and angelical once you get the moves down .
I broadly dislike backtracking in Metroidvanias , but even I would say the pathing in Awaken : Astral Blade feel a little simple , rarely requiring you to deviate too far from a straight way or really think about where you ’re decease .
If platforming is your matter , I do n’t think this biz will scratch that itch , either . loosely speaking , the platforming feel basic to a fault , with obstacle that feel more like distractions than , well , obstacles . The game is n’t inventive in its platforming ; however , the occasional puzzle does exhibit itself and requires a fiddling thought .
My last critique is a subjective one . I mentioned above that it call for a good story and neat art to get me concerned in a Metroidvania title of respect . As we already know , Awaken : Astral Blade does n’t have an exciting or engaging floor , and I also find the art severely absent .
Something about it just feels lifeless . The character designs feel generic , and overall , the game lacks a unique stylisation or pizzaz factor to separate it from many other Eastern Metroidvania title . Tania herself carry off to look like a distinctly unlike persona , bet on whether you ’re looking at her simulation , her portraiture , or the biz ’s stock page art . Overall , the game ’s art lack originality , elan , or anything that really arrest my eye .
A subjective point , once again , and I ’m certain someone out there would disagree , but personally , I just could n’t get into it .
The Final Word
Awaken : Astral Blade failed to wow me with passable scrap , an underwhelming report , and artistry that merely did n’t impress . While not a secret plan for me , other fans of the Metroidvania musical genre may notice something deserving work in this apparently generic title .
Try Hard Guides received a personal computer review article code for this game . Find more elaborate look at pop and upcoming titles on ourGame Reviewspage ! Awaken : Astral Blade is available onSteamandPlayStation .
