Aaru's Awakening

A fine game which presents a grueling challenge, Aaru’s Awakening is perfect for the player who thinks 2D platform games today just aren’t difficult enough.

Aaru’s Awakening is a beautifully stylized game with some interesting ideas that are clearly designed to challenge hardcore platforming fans. However, it’s lack of accessible controls or incentive for laboring through arduous stages, combined with the sloppy presentation of its story suggests that Aaru woke up a little prematurely.

Traditional hand-drawn animation feels like a lost art, but Aaru's Awakening is an incredible reminder of the magic inherent to this antique craft. Modeled after ‘70s comics and animated films, every vista and enemy in Aaru’s Awakening was painstakingly drawn with pencils on paper before it was scanned into a computer – in many cases the original pencil lines are still visible. The game is awash with vibrant visuals that lend an art-house vibe, but the unconventional platforming mechanics need a little more time on the drawing board.

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Deadly beauty.

The most frustrating thing about Aaru’s Awakening is the fact the developers wasted its potential. If instead of trying to make a game that punished a player for every misstep they had made a game that focused on its interesting premise, then no doubt Aaru’s Awakening would receive a lot more praise. Instead you’re presented with a beautifully designed game you have no time to admire as you’re constantly pushed to move forward, being killed over and over due to latency issues between control and screen action.