Awaken - Astral Blade Review
There are many aspects to a good Metroidvania but, for me, an emphasis on exploration is key. It is those “a-ha” moments when you have been at it for a few hours, you unlock a new ability, and the real fun begins. Perhaps it was a just-out-of-reach ledge, or a too-deep chasm to cross, or a door that requires a little more oomph to break, but each instance comes flooding back from the recesses of your mind that derails any forward progression so you can check every nook and cranny to find each one you missed. I love finding reasons to use my new powers and not just have the game lay it out for me in the new few rooms just to move the game along. This, to me, is paramount to all other Metroidvania features.
Developed by Dark Pigeon Games, and a part of China Hero Project, Awaken - Astral Blade tells the story of Tania, a bionic, sent to find an investigation team but discovers so much more than she bargained for when animals and plant life become mutants and begin attacking. She also learns the shocking truth of her origins and about her father/creator. True to the nature of the genre, the more Tania explores, the more the latent abilities within awaken (SEE WHAT I DID THERE MC) to aid in her quest.
Once you take control of Tania, you begin your journey with a relatively basic moveset but the game does not make you feel like something is missing. Tania has light and heavy attacks, can jump, and can parry (my least favorite move in ALL of gaming). There is no dash from the jump-off but the world design does not scream that it is needed. As you progress through the main quest and explore the biomes (there always feels like there are 2-3 possible directions to travel so chances are you will pick the “wrong” way for the quest but find something cool), new abilities become available. Once dash is added to your repertoire, it is not just a way to quickly move around the map. With upgrades (more on that later), it can be a defensive tool. Additional upgrades later on add to the thrill of exploring aka filling in every darkened area of the map.
Speaking of the map, the game employs a fog-of-war type system. If Tania gets close enough, the darkened areas are removed allowing you to see outlines of the specific area. There are also ways to “mark” the map for your note-taking. For those who still like some mystery, the area outlines do not provide any further insight than the general size of the room. Different levels and secret pathways remain hidden. My only real complaint was the size of Tania’s marker as it covered some sections entirely, requiring the opening and closing of the map to pinpoint where I wanted to head.
The game does provide several markers so note takers (like myself) rejoice! I did not realize it at the time but when I hit the 60% mark of the game, my exploring tangent took over. Side note/question but why do games insist on having fog of war for the top of an area despite there usually being nothing there? I am convinced this is just to tease those of us who MUST have every area uncovered. I will point out that fast travel unlocks at some point making the exploration less daunting and for those true explorers, enhanced fast travel can be acquired to speed the exploration even more.
What was I talking about? Maps, dashing, defense….oh right, combat! Except for certain fights, Tania generally faces several enemies at once, both on the ground and in the air. Fortunately, all of her attacks can hit several enemies in range and most enemies are stupid and will attack from the same direction. This is no Souls game though so feel free to spam that attack button. I love how the industry standard for basic weapon combos is light attack, light attack, light attack, heavy attack. It is no different in Awaken - Astral Blade except it goes a step further. As the story progresses, Tania adds additional weapons to her arsenal. You can swap weapons using either back trigger buttons OR wait for the visual cue at the end of attack combos, hit the swap, and continue the combo for even more damage.
I love this for two reasons: 1) it looks really cool. You can go from Sword to Scythe or Scythe to Sword and both have different special attacks when ending the combo. You also could go Sword to Dart or Scythe to Dart or….there are a lot of combinations (ok, it is only 6 but it still provides plenty of versatility). 2) you are not forced to use one weapon OR forget you have other weapons at your disposal. How many times have you played a game and by the time you unlock an additional weapon, you are so set in how your first weapon plays or it has been upgraded so much that you neglect anything else? Unless you completely miss every combo and/or choose not to finish out the combos, you are bound to use all three. Trust me, when you encounter flying enemies and you are stuck on a ledge, the ranged Gleaming Dart will suddenly become your favorite weapon. For the record, I am awful when it comes to combo attacks (which probably explains my ineptitude at fighting games). That said, Awaken does a phenomenal job of making lengthy combos extremely easy to pull off with both simple inputs and clear visual cues. No system is perfect though and in my 15+ hours, I found 2 minor issues with the combat. First of which being that many enemies have a knockback ability.
Now, you can upgrade Tania to perform a fast recovery when this happens BUT it does not work as well when you are fighting on platforms. You will fall and it is super obnoxious. The other issue (and minor) is that your air combo sends Tania FLYING.
To be fair, if you attack an enemy in the air, there is no reason to believe there should be ground below you to land but it was somewhat annoying to land a few levels below where you were just to take out a few enemies (the Gleaming Dart is unlocked much later in the game so sometimes you have to do what you have to do).
How do you improve all these abilities and weapons, you ask? At any rest spot (it is a bed of flowers that gave off strong Ender Lilies vibes), Tania can fast-travel and upgrade skills, equipment, and weapons.
Skills are split between combat and passive. Combat upgrades include the aforementioned knockback recovery, Battle Awareness (this turns dashing into a defensive tool), or upgrades to the parry ability. Passive upgrades range from increased health to increased Aether (the currency collected for upgrades) acquisition rate. Each of the weapons has four tiers of upgrades that increase both their damage as well as unique abilities like poison attacks or dealing additional damage. All upgrades cost an increasing amount of Aether each time they are upgraded but the game seems to increase the amount dropped/earned as you progress further along. Equipment is found throughout the world but can only be equipped at a rest point. Tania has a set amount of energy slots (upgrades can be found to increase this amount) and each piece of equipment has a set value meaning you can equip any combination of items as long as you are within the limits of her total energy. Equipment can range from speed and critical chance increases to increased attack damage dealt in mid-air or more health recovered from your flasks. While only minor upgrades, it is always nice to find new pieces and be able to experiment with combinations at your discretion.
If you are looking for a Metroidvania that hits all the standard checkboxes, look no further than Awaken - Astral Blade. This is a gorgeous game that plays wonderfully and can both satiate the gamer who wants a Metroidvania but is a little iffy on the whole exploring bit as well as the “I MUST UNCOVER THE ENTIRE MAP” player (me - I am that player). With game assists on and a beeline to the end, you are looking at around a 10-ish hour campaign. Double that number for the 100% completion or for anyone who is a glutton for punishment and plays on hardcore mode. There is also a story mode difficulty and the game will offer to lower the difficulty if you repeatedly fail a section. Add this game to the list of great games to come out of the China Hero Project.
