Alwa's Legacy - A Review

[TopazDragon]

I’ve played Alwa’s Awakening and I loved it and after doing so I picked up Alwa’s Legacy. I love the retro feel of the classic Metroidvania game. There aren’t a lot of games that I go out of my way to 100% but these two were them.

Things that I liked:

• The Alwa games get the difficulty exactly right. All of the puzzles weren’t too tough and weren’t too easy (I figured them all out eventually.) All of the jumps and fights required skill and practice but never felt impossible. One of the reasons that I was willing to 100% both games was because I felt it was achievable and interesting enough to be worth my time. Alwa’s Legacy does this perfectly.

• I really liked how the progression of the game went. I felt like I was constantly getting more powerful and the game was getting more interesting as they went. I liked how I could customize my orbs so that I could use all my powers without having to wait to get most of the orbs.

• The best thing about Metroidvania games is the exploration. Both Alwa’s games are very fun to explore and that is my favorite part about it. The world is neither too big nor too small and I found just about every screen interesting.

• The bosses felt awesome and were fun to fight against. Some people may have found them easy, but they were exactly the right difficulty for me. (With the exception of the final boss, who was much easier then expected).

• I liked the improvement on the health system from Alwa’s Awakening. In AA the water bottle to restore health was a chore to keep refilling. In this you can double your health gauge through collectibles. In both games the low total health was the glue that kept the challenge together.

• The music box was a GREAT addition. In Awakening I would be jumping against all the walls trying to find the last items. The music box kept it interesting without wasting my time. I especially liked that it made a tone and there was a visual cue also.

Things that Could be Improved:

• True Hero of Time = Green Tunic; This was the very last thing I had to 100% the game and I had to look it up. I have no idea how I was supposed to figure this out, I think that the game needed to give a better clue. Once I knew the answer I thought that maybe the character from the previous game wore green, but all the screenshots I see are still purple. I still don't get it.

• I didn’t like how using Tears to turn save points into warp points counted towards the 100%. While getting the tears it felt like I was exploring everything the game had to offer, using them doesn’t feel like it was significant.

• I definitely didn’t like how you can get the father guy killed when you raised the water. More specifically, I didn’t like how raising the water also saved your game and when I raised the water he died. I wish I could have considered if I wanted to reload . (That said I think it was very awesome that the necromancer could raise him from the dead, if that was the only path to the tear, I think it would be pretty cool. )

• There were too many extra characters that really didn’t do anything. There was a guy who fixes a house for you that just results in a collectible, a person who gave out “information”, the knight that you kept walking into, the random guy who “chops things up”, the one guy asks to see the rose and when you get it, he doesn’t do anything with it. etc. It just felt that they weren’t needed and they didn’t really add to the world.

I think it was the woman with the key, but I remember specifically a situation where I got an item and had to turn it in. I went to a save point, teleported to the person, gave them the item, got a different item and teleported right back to where I got the first item and thought “I could have just got the item I needed in the first place and skipped the middleman”.

• I kept seeing the Rose insignia on slabs and thinking “awesome, something is going to happen with these”. It wasn’t until I was 95% of the way through the game that I saw that they were used for pacifist mode. I was really hoping there was going to be a 4th chapter or something that they mattered for.

• On that note, the story was a little lackluster. Somehow it felt more shallow compared to Awakening. I think it was all the extra characters and details that were in Legacy. They felt like they promised more story to come and then it didn't happen. The conversation with the final boss specifically felt like you were going to find out more, but then the story just ended.

• In Alwa’s Awakening the map would show the coordinates of the screen you’re on. It isn’t in Legacy and I would have liked it if it was still here.

All and all I loved the game. Between this and Alwa’s Awakening, I’m happy to play any Metroidvania’s that they put out and will likely buy any game that Eldin Pixels makes. I recommend this to anyone who likes Metroidvania’s or anyone who think that they may like them and wants to give them a try.

[Elden Pixels]

Oh wow, thank you for your great review! :)