Alwa's Legacy

« I didn’t have the pleasure of playing Alwa’s Legacy’s title before this (Alwa’s Awakening), but I can say with confidence and un-tinted goggles, Alwa’s Legacy is a fantastic game that can be picked up regardless of your experience with the series. It has an exciting, challenging, and rewarding playstyle that’s accentuated by a beautifully crafted and nostalgic world. What more could you ask for? There’s just so much obvious love and care that has been poured into this game from its developers, and it really gives Alwa’s Legacy a glossy polish that is unfortunately missing from a lot of other metroidvania indie titles we see today. Would I recommend Alwa’s Legacy? Yes, a hundred times over, yes. It is fun from the very beginning to end, and invites you to explore the contents of its world without hand-holding or a curfew to pull you down. »

« Short but sweet, Alwa’s Legacy is a must for both retro fans and fans of quality, exciting Metroidvanias. The visuals tout some of the best pixel art on Switch and are joined with a killer soundtrack and sound design. With clever dungeons to explore and an intricate overworld to travel, Alwa’s Legacy will have players ensnared from the beginning to end. Having played Alwa’s Awakening adds some extra nuance to the adventure, but starting fresh with Alwa’s Legacy won’t leave players in a lurch, as it does plenty to solidify this as its own distinct game. Don’t sleep on this one; Elden Pixels has created a 2D platformer for the ages. »

« Alwa’s Legacy is an excellent example of how to do a proper sequel; it takes everything that the original did well and builds on it, adds in a few new ideas of its own, and corrects the issues that were previously present. It may be a little on the short side, but Alwa’s Legacy is the special sort of game that only comes around once in a great while, reminding you of the kind of quality that’s possible when a dedicated crew puts in the time to make a polished and tightly designed final product. The best Metroidvania on Switch? That’s entirely subjective, of course, but those of you who enjoy the genre owe it to yourselves to give this a try. »

« Video game comfort food. [Issue #51 – March/April 2021, p. 25] »

« Alwa’s Legacy makes its art style and level design its best assets. Fun, charming and very solid gameplay-wise, this is a great choice if you’re looking for a experience with a retro vibe. »

« When everything clicks into place, Alwa’s Legacy soars. The exploration is filled with brain-teasing challenges backed by a great chiptune soundtrack. Hiccups along the way, mostly due to some obtuse item uses, can bring the experience back to Earth, but thankfully, more often than not, this is a super fun game to make your way through. »

« Whether or not you fancy yourself a platformer aficionado, Alwa’s Legacy should be on your playlist. It combines retro graphics with modern precision to create a wonderfully engaging experience that strikes a fun balance between platforming and puzzle solving. »

« Alwa’s Legacy is a sequel done right. It improves on its formula in every conceivable way. There are a couple of frustrations in terms of combat and guidance, but overall this is a stellar Metroidvania from a dedicated and passionate developer. »

« One of the few times when I do not recommend the game. There is the principal reason for that: absolutely idiotic instances when you have no introduction of what to do and how to navigate the map. Usually, there is a character who gives you a hint or who asks to help, rescue him/her, navigate, etc. There could be a sign, bones, monster, or something else. So many options. But Catacombs, Castle (with gravity swap), Flooded Castle, etc. Nothing at all. The design does not imply freedom, how it is done in Environmental Station Alpha, Hollow Knight, Timespinner, etc. The game tries to be more serious than very neat and coherent Alwa's Awakening. But these small hints (that can be less visible btw or as puzzles) are absent. The issue with the drowned guy is even worse. Tbh I didn't even notice the guy until I hit the water level raise and SAVE. Why to save? You have an assisting mode. I finished the game. Yes. But will never play it again. »

« Thank God Alwa's Legacy did not repaet the frustrating mistakes of Alwa's Awakening. It really takes what was good about it's predecessor and expands and improves apon it. The way it uses and combines powerups is quite clever and the 16 bit aesthetic is used to it's fullest. It's so good to see this live up to the potential of the original and I am curious if they are going to continue »

« This game is far superior to the frustrating Alwa's Awakening. The graphics are more pleasant to look at, the music is more pleasant to listen to, but most of all this is how a real metroidvania should be. No absurd ramp up in difficulty right near the end, no infuriating points where you have to backtrack over and over if you keep dying. The improvements were apparently fairly simple - first, the bosses are not as cheap near the end of the game. Second, the genius design of allowing the player to place warp points at save locations of their own choosing. You can place as many warps as you can find warp crystals. By the time I finished the game I had explored about 95% of the map and found about 83% of "secrets" (some of these were just extra orbs or crystals that I decided weren't worth it). All the exploration, power-ups, and dungeons are super fun in this game. It took me about 7.5 hours to finish at this level of completion. The map is fairly large but not unmanageably so - you don't have to do *too* much backtracking like some metroidvanias, so 7.5 hours still covers a fairly large map. Finally, the controls are fairly snappy and the level design is challenging but not punishing. There are a lot of fun platforming challenges involving using combinations of various power-ups and environmental features that vary by dungeon. I would place this in the top 20% of metroidvanias produced for consoles in the last 15 years (I have played around 40 such games across all xbox, playstation, and nintendo consoles). »

« Alwa`s Legacy enchants with its simplicity. Even the story, focused on the Manichean clash between good and evil, is as light as the whole game. It is safe to say that exploring Alwa's secrets and defending her from Vicar is rewarding and fun. »

« Buy this game, play this game, love this game. My only complaint would probably be, I wish it was longer so I could enjoy it for longer. The Game is about 10 hours long if you’re rifling through it, but could be 15 hours if you try to collect everything. Alwa’s Legacy is a gem in a genre that can churn out below average experiences. The game feels like it was carved from stone. What I mean by that is, they’ve thought of every scenario to ensure every playthrough feels natural. It can truly be non-linear. The order of which you discover items will not match the way I discovered items, or areas for that matter. Similar games will have NPCs that will say something that could spoil part of your adventure, or seem out of place. »

« Wonderful game cute art music is great plays flawless once you pick it up its hard to put it down i cant stop playing it »