| AWAKEN - Astral Blade | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
AWAKEN - Astral Blade is a fast-paced metroidvania with a gripping story about self-discovery and fights against monsters. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Review Overview
What is AWAKEN - Astral Blade?
Awaken: Astral Blade’s narrative revolves around the bionic operative, Tania, as she is dispatched by her inventor, Dr. Herveus, to track down a missing research team lost in the dense rainforest of the Horace Islands, where a strange energy known as Karpas has transformed the local wildlife and vegetation into hostile mutants.
After battling a colossal mutant that decimated the research group, Tania uncovers the ancient remnants of Jacha City hidden deep within the jungle. There, she stumbles upon the legendary Royal Altar—the source of the mysterious and dangerous energy.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade features:
⚫︎ Fast-paced combat
⚫︎ Parry and dodge mechanics
⚫︎ Boss fights
⚫︎ Hidden Areas
⚫︎ Puzzle-solving sections
⚫︎ Weapon upgrades
 Steam |
 PlayStation |
 Epic Games | ||||||
| Wishlist Only | ||||||||
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Surprisingly Engaging Narrative Be Like Its Combat; Smooth Like Water Nice Story, Metroidvania |
Limited Weapons Can Be Suffocating Attacks Need to Audiovisually Punch Harder |
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Overall Score - 82/100
AWAKEN - Astral Blade is an excellent metroidvania that’s bound to turn heads upon release. Not only does it look fantastic, but it also plays exceptionally well and features an engaging story to boot. It’s the kind of game that’s hard to put down once you start playing, as it maintains a captivating pace throughout, offering only a few well-timed moments of rest.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Story - 8/10
Metroidvanias often struggle with pacing due to all the backtracking, which can hurt the narrative experience. However, Astral Blade manages to avoid this pitfall with clever lore drops and well-placed cutscenes. The plot is surprisingly gripping, and the main character remains relatable despite her less-than-relatable augmentations.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Gameplay - 9/10
While Astral Blade may lack direct options to customize your movesets, it makes up for it by allowing you to modify almost everything else about your character. Coupled with its highly responsive combat mechanics and features like parrying and perfect dodges, the game offers a great deal of freedom and fluidity in its gameplay.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Visuals - 9/10
The game’s visuals are stunning, with beautiful scenery, impressive effects, solid character designs, and intuitive level aesthetics. Despite the frequent use of entities with similar color palettes, the screen never feels cluttered. The only minor issues lie in the low-effort VN-style narrative delivery with static character artwork that makes up a significant fraction of its cutscenes and the odd decision to obscure the character's form entirely when she's resting at checkpoints.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Audio - 7/10
Unfortunately, the audio doesn’t quite match the high standards set by the visuals. This is especially noticeable with the sound effects, which lack the punchiness you’d expect given the wild, extravagant visuals. The voice acting, while good in quality, could use more variety, as it feels lacking in quantity.
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Value for Money - 8/10
While I wouldn’t call Astral Blade’s price cheap, I can confidently say it’s well worth the money. Despite the limited weapon options, the game offers plenty of replayability. Playing Astral Blade feels like embarking on an adventure alongside Tania, as you’re directly responsible for her growth and how the events around her unfold. Thankfully, the game also gives you the opportunity to shape the story with multiple endings!
AWAKEN - Astral Blade Review: Beauty in Fluidity
I swear I didn’t get this game because I was clickbaited by the thumbnail!
With that out of the way, welcome to AWAKEN - Astral Blade, a metroidvania set in a futuristic, alien version of Earth. The game takes place on the Horace Islands, where a mysterious energy called "Karpas" is mutating the local flora and fauna into aggressive monsters.
You play as Tania, a young woman outfitted with state-of-the-art bionic components, tasked with rescuing a missing squad on the island. But as she explores, she uncovers far more than she bargained for, like ruins of past civilizations, strange psychic entities, and other anomalies. Along the way, she learns more about the world around her and, more importantly, about herself.
Pretty Good Pacing
Sounds gripping, right? That’s because it is. Surprisingly, unlike most metroidvanias, Astral Blade delivers a fairly impressive story. This is largely thanks to its cleverly designed maps and well-timed story sections, which maintain a constant narrative flow. While many metroidvanias struggle with pacing due to excessive backtracking, Astral Blade keeps the player engaged throughout.
It also helps that Tania is a relatable character. She’s always looking to help others and is curious about the world, all while trying to ignore the occasional simps she encounters.
If only there were more memorable characters in the game—but I suppose most of the effort went into the gameplay, and it shows.
Bring a Scythe to a Swordfight
When we talk about "gameplay" in a metroidvania, we’re mainly referring to combat. Yes, platforming is important, but I can sum that up easily: it’s exactly what you’d expect. On the other hand, Astral Blade has some distinct, if not unique, combat features.
For starters, you only have two main weapons: a sword and a scythe. While there are other ways to deal damage, Tania’s primary arsenal consists of just these two weapons and their derivatives. This limited variety might seem like a downside for replayability, but the game more than makes up for it with what you can do within that limited moveset.
Equipment allows you to modify your stats in various ways. You can build Tania to be tanky, fast, hit harder than a Mozart symphony, or become an Aether (the game’s currency) farming machine. Even more impressive, you have sixteen equipment slots to customize! Of course, there’s a weight limit (slot count in this case), but that won't stop you for long.
Build Your Ultimate Bionic Weapon
Then there’s the skill trees—yes, trees plural, because there are two (which took me longer than I’d like to admit to realize): one for combat skills and another for passive skills. The combat tree offers powerful bonuses depending on the situation, while the passive tree gives you permanent modifiers that are always active.
The combat skills are obviously more impactful, granting buffs like a 30% increase in attack speed. However, they come with activation conditions, and they reach their full potential only when paired with complementary passive skills. Together, they strike a nice balance, and the fluid controls make them feel even more satisfying.
Power In Your Augmented Fingertips
Are you tired of games where a character supposedly strong enough to punch through walls feels slow and sluggish? Well, you won’t have that problem in Astral Blade. Tania responds to your inputs faster than a speedrunner skipping cutscenes. It genuinely feels like she’s tethered to your controller (which, let’s be honest, is the only way to play these games).
However, there’s a catch (as usual). The game registers your inputs so quickly that you can’t rely on animations to time your combos—you’ll have to be more deliberate with your button presses. This mainly affects button mashers (like me), forcing you (well, me) to be a little more strategic.
Overall, Astral Blade’s combat is its crowning achievement and its most attractive feature. Unfortunately, the power you feel while playing is somewhat diminished by how bland the combat feedback is.
Combat Feedback Feels Like a Wet Noodle
When you’re locked in mortal combat, nothing gets the blood pumping more than satisfying audiovisual feedback. Unfortunately, you won’t get much of that here.
The game suffers from two major issues with its combat feedback. First, the sound effects feel oddly toned down, lacking the punch you’d expect from the game’s wild and extravagant visuals. Just seeing your attacks isn’t enough; you need to hear them hit meaningfully, too.
The second issue is more subtle but becomes apparent once you start using your ultimate attacks. While these moves look flashy, enemies don’t react convincingly. It feels like they’re shrugging off your attacks, rather than being staggered by them. Sure, you’re dealing damage, but you can only tell by watching their health bar—or by seeing them die mid-animation. And since you’re invulnerable during ultimates, why do enemies keep moving as if nothing is happening?
Is AWAKEN - Astral Blade Worth It?
You Should Buy it
I’ve played a lot of metroidvanias in my life, as I’m sure many of you have. And even among all the titles I’ve gotten my grubby hands on, AWAKEN - Astral Blade stands out as a strong contender for one of this year’s greats. It delivers a nearly perfect, well-rounded experience of everything an action platformer could and should provide—though it does fall a bit short in the feedback department.
It’s also pretty cheap. And cheap is always good. Unless you're selling something.
| Steam |
PlayStation |
Epic Games | ||||||
| Wishlist Only | ||||||||
AWAKEN - Astral Blade FAQ
Is there co-op in AWAKEN - Astral Blade?
Nope. AWAKEN - Astral Blade is a very, very single-player game.
Does AWAKEN - Astral Blade’s main character have skins?
Yes, Tania has a handful of costumes that change her appearance and also influences her stats.
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AWAKEN - Astral Blade Product Information
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| Title | Awaken: Astral Blade |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 22, 2024 |
| Developer | Dark Pigeon Games |
| Publisher | ESDigital Games |
| Supported Platforms | PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC (Steam, Epic Games) |
| Genre | Action, Platformer |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Everybody |
| Official Website | Awaken: Astral Blade Social Media |
