I didn't have any strong expectations coming into this, but it's effectively a visual novel with a drink mixing minigame. The graphics are great, the story is interesting but a little slow and scattered. The thing that killed this game for me was the painful drink mixing. Maybe it's because I was playing with a controller instead of a mouse, but it was so slow and unsatifsying to trudge through that aspect of the game, that about halfway through the game, the tedium of the mixing game overcame my curiosity about the story and I gave up on it.
Alwa's Awakening hearkens to the glory days of NES platformers. The controls are tight, the puzzles are challenging but accessible, and the gameplay is tough but (mostly) not frustrating. It's like I got a whole new top-tier NES game, made modern. The (minor) criticisms are that the music is great, but a little same-y from location to location, and the story is paper-thin. The ending is a little mysterious but doesn't explain much (but hints at a 16-bit sequel). Overall, though, I would unreservedly recommend this game to anyone who's ever enjoyed an old-school fighting puzzle platformer.
