Awaken – Astral Blade is a fun Metroidvania, but no Hollow Knight

I love Metroidvania-style games after playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Since then, I’ve tackled titles like Ender Lillies, Nine Sols, Hollow Knight, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Grime, and many more. Of course, I haven’t completed them all, but it’s fun to try them out and get lost in some of their worlds.

So, I decided to give the Chinese-developed game Awaken—Astral Blade a chance. The title is fun and has some interesting ideas, but there are better Metroidvanias to try.

It’s worth noting that I did clock out of Astral Blade, not because it’s bad, but because there have been a lot of games I wanted to play before The Game Awards, and it didn’t keep my interest like some of the others. However, I return to the game when I sit on my couch and have my phone and Backbone on hand. Therefore, it’s worth mentioning that this isn’t a full review of the title as I haven’t played enough of it but am sharing my experience so far of this pretty interesting title.

Awaken—Astral Blade follows the story of Tania, a bionic girl named by Dr. Herveus, her creator. Tania is sent to the Horace Islands rainforest to rescue a missing Investigation team, where mysterious Karpas energy turns the animals and plants into angry and aggressive mutants. The English voice acting isn’t the best, which takes away from the story; however, I tend not to play games like this for their stories. However, the game’s story didn’t keep my interest, so I tended to go back for the title’s interesting combat.

Combat has some interesting concepts. There are button combos such as pressing a square two times and then a triangle or pressing a square three times and switching to the right trigger to perform another combat. It’s fun nailing each of these combos, and there are more that I haven’t explored yet. There are also parries and counters that you can use. Unfortunately, you’ll end up repeating the same combos over and over again. The combat just doesn’t feel as impactful as some other Metroidvanias. The enemies tend to repeat often with less variety than I’d want. They also don’t put up much of a fight unless you’re fighting a boss or an elite enemy. Bosses are fun, and you must learn their movesets to avoid dying.

There are also passive skills, ways to upgrade Tania via skill trees, and a fun Quick Rise ability that can quickly get you back into the fight after you’ve been down. Sometimes, Metroidvanias can be annoying, and even if your character passes through an enemy, you take damage. Thankfully, this game doesn’t have this. You start equipped with a sword, but you’ll also get a scythe and throwing stars to attack enemies from a distance. Combat and boss fights were definitely the highlights of the title for me, and I liked the button press combos. It feels unique and not like anything I’ve seen in many of the Metroidvanias I’ve been playing.

Like many other Metroidvanias and games nowadays, Astral Blade has Souls-like aspects like enemies that respawn after resting at certain locations. You’ll refill your healing items at this point as well. The title also has exploration like many other Metroidvanias, with platforming, dashing and other mechanics that allow you to travel. Sometimes, there are some problem-solving and puzzles that need to be completed as well. The game also offers rewarding collectibles, including fruits for health, documents for lore, other permanent attack upgrades, and many other items on the map.

Awaken — Astral Blade is a fun Metroidvania that I can’t help but keep returning to. I’ve been going back and forth between this and Afterimage at the moment. Its combat and bosses are fun, but the enemy variety could be better.

I don’t think the game will reach the heights of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, the Ori titles or Ender Lilies, but it costs $24.99, and if you love trying out Metroidvanias, I’d give it a shot.

Image credit: ESDigital Games