X
- E10+
- Cape Cosmic
- E10+
- Cape Cosmic
- E10+
- Cape Cosmic
- E10+
- Cape Cosmic
Phoenotopia: Awakening
Released On: Aug 20, 2020
72
8.6
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
72
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
72
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Lots of care has gone into the creation of this game, and it shows with the gorgeous graphics and atmospheric soundtrack. It's a game that feels vast, and a slow burn experience for the patient gamer. It's possible that its difficulty will take some time to get used to, but it's worth persevering with this truly rewarding and excellent game. Phoenotopia: Awakening is a thoughtful, coherent game which, if you click with it, doesn't lose a step. A marvellous surprise.
Overall Phoenotopia is a very beautiful looking game that does well at hiding its punishing difficulty, whilst people who are looking for a Zelda 2 style game may be attracted to this title, the more causal amongst us will find it very difficult to enjoy the later aspects of the game where in truth the game gets easier.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 User Ratings
8.6
85% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
12% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 User Ratings
8.6
85% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
12% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Fantastic, beautiful, fun, cute, inspiring, challenging
Sadly this masterpiece hasnt got the attention it deserves. Its definitely one of the best games i've ever played. I cant think of anything I missed. absolutely exceptional
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Nintendo Switch
This game felt like a breath of fresh air and a reboot to my repeat gaming cycle. (I played this game and beat it on Nintendo Switch) (And this game has a soundtrack better than doom's.. yes I actually said that.) (This review contains light spoilers on the names of key areas and bosses though I don't spoil the actual attacks or any plot-twists not that I'm saying there are any)
I played the original Phoenotopia on flash, on the site "Freewebarcade" and it holds a ton of nostalgia and charm if you have played at least 60% of the original. if I had never seen this game or heard of it before it would still hit around 9 but with the throwbacks and inside dev-to-player jokes it just adds that little extra charm and enjoyability. Using the first session or two as a small example; You start out with only one tool and a weak weapon after a little prologue you head through a basic forest tutorial area with dialogue that feels refreshing to read somehow, but maybe it's just that games from the last few years haven't been very original and focus on unique idea rather than execution. The follow up is a dungeon that very well shows how the game functions and lets players see items they can't quite reach yet whether it be a lack of key items or a lack of experience, and this is something adventure games never do enough of or, disappointingly, it's the entire game. It's important to make the player set goals and get excited for something inside the game… and not by releasing the "EPIC SEASON PASS". I almost gave this game a 9 due to some of it's more frustrating sections such as The White Towers that drag on for a bit too long (Their theme however is a throw-back that left me shocked and shaking with excitement when I first heard it), Katash's fight is absurdly difficult until you find out you can climb up on the platform with him, the Mul Caves have an infuriating amount of things that tackle you when you try to platform though this part of the game isn't too long, and the entirety of E.D.E.N excluding Phalanx just straight up ****. But then I thought about how this game actually changed my life and realized it fits right into the category of the perfect game for me. This game is inspiring and has such unique ideas inside of it that just playing it could lead someone young to create worlds of their own. I grew up playing this game 4 times over trying to beat it and being shocked and amazed by the epic and creepy Scorchlands every time I made it there. You can go ahead and read other reviews and some of the low ones were one the game developers read and were resolved (the difficulty settings) Pretty much everyone who has played this game loves it to death. I just wish more people knew about it!
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Nintendo Switch
I found myself largely enamored with Phoenotopia Awakening. Its often humorous and sometimes sentimental dialogue got through to me, and its challenging but tight platforming action really appealed. I’m a little bit weary from my trek through its expansive campaign, but I’m satisfied all the same. It’s an aesthetically pleasing, unforgivingly mean, but an altogether lovingly assembled experience.
Phoenotopia: Awakening aspires to be a retro 2D action adventure, and it succeeds in many ways. The cute sprites and soundtrack are appealing, and there’s lots of great exploration and puzzle gameplay. That being said, some elements bring along unnecessary stress, making the experience as a whole feel like a juicy durian that can only be cracked open with your bare hands.
Phoenotopia Awakening is filled with a lot of potential from its wonderfully-charming presentation to utterly-delightful characters, but it just falls short of being something iconic and memorable with systems that often work against the player and can feel almost unfair like many retro video games most people don’t tend to pick up and play anymore. With a few tweaks it could make for a much more balanced experience, but Phoenotopia Awakening would be hard to recommend to those not looking for a steep challenge.
By the time you get anywhere in this game, you’re too exhausted to really celebrate it. The pleasant music is a strength, and the pixel-art environments are colorful and detailed, but the art style can also obscure important background elements. Too many NPCs, too many doors, and not enough direction may not dissuade you from giving it a try; achievements and a lengthy campaign provide lots of content for those who want it, but at least give us a map screen. All told, Phoenotopia: Awakening could probably use a little more REM sleep to get some much-needed editing in.
Phoenotopia: Awakening has the ingredients for an excellent experience, but poorly balanced combat mechanics and incredibly steep difficulty get in the way of a good time. With no adjustable difficulty settings in the game, be prepared for a slog.
Don't bother with the C-ratings by the critics—those are pre-patch and don't reflect the real current state of the game. Most of their complaints talked about combat difficulties, which difficulties and more have been greatly helped by the difficulty options patched in as a response.
Review starts here. Phoenotopia: Awakening is a rare gem ****. Originally a flash game released in 2014 (already recognized at the time as excellent), Cape Cosmic had been hard at work remaking it for six years, culminating in this release. This game is already super good, but with this as their debut title? Now I'm really looking forward to their next offering.
You begin playing as Gail, a pink-haired villager from the village of Panselo, who wields a bat as her main weapon. Not as flashy as a light-saber or a katana, but what do you expect from a farming village? It's believable, just like most of the characters and settings in the game: they all make sense in the context of the game's world. The Kingdom of Castella as a geopolitical entity has real goals implied, the characters all have their motivations (talk to everyone twice! the NPC dialog is so well-written!), and the whole setting of the game is so well-crafted and immersive. For instance, there are these spiky steel crawlers appearing from the very beginning of the game that serve as a kind of moving obstacle to Gail from a gameplay standpoint, but in-world, they have an entirely different purpose, compellingly explained near the end-game.
PhoA's combat is not super fast-paced like most games. More akin to a Zelda game, enemies must be defeated via patience and observation. For example, in the early game, there are these toads that jump around to damage Gail. They always jump the same distance, though, so the strategy is to anticipate where they're going to land, stand right in front, wait, and pummel them! It takes a bit of getting used to, but soon enough, you develop a muscle memory where you're instantly able to stand in the right spot, and toads become a cinch. Alternatively, if you're not in the mood to battle, you can just run past them, since enemies don't damage Gail unless they're attacking, which is nice.
Under the default settings, normal attacks take a little bit of stamina, and there's a little cooldown before it begins recharging. This is to encourage that patient style of combat in PhoA. If you don't like that, though, you can always press "-" and change the difficulty options to disable these. I know I like the default settings, but my sister's style is more of a "smack all enemies really fast" kind of thing, so she keeps those options on to better suit her experience. There are various other options, too, that all help to tailor your experience to the way you like it.
That's what this game is: an experience. The small loredump at the beginning and the plot-kicker about an hour or two into the game are enough to sustain you when the plot gets a little bit slow as you explore Castella and get a sense of the land, helping people along the way. But partway through the game, there's just a massive loredump that has so much you can sink your teeth into. The amount of analysis this game has the potential to receive is simply astounding—the lore is that juicy, and the world is that cohesive.
Now, performance: on Switch, it runs smoothly on handheld and docked—I have never noticed any blips or drops, and the number of times my Switch has made angry fan noises is much smaller than what other games make it do. No complaints here.
Overall, PhoA is truly a great game, one of my all-time favorites. There's so much the game has to offer, without feeling overstuffed. I have hours on this game, and I just can't get enough: I need to scratch my Phoenotopia itch. My next endeavor is to get all 33 achievements on one save file!
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Nintendo Switch
I can't believe I slept on this game. Phoenotopia has an abundance of soul and polish, but it does not hold your hand. Talking to NPCs has an actual effect on your adventure: sometimes they give you directions or hint at places to check out, other times they will offer a whole minigame or side challenge to complete. There are no navigation markers, no quest journals, and no Navi to tell you what to do next. You have to actually talk to NPCs to get the lay of the land, and thankfully information is not hard to come by. This makes the world feel very alive, as you are actually interacting with the world instead of chasing a yellow exclamation point until it tells you to stop. The dungeons and combat can be punishing, but save points are plentiful, and none of the challenges seem unfair. The game definitely takes the Dark Souls approach to difficulty, and asks you to git gud in several places. I have died alot in this game, but every one of them I knew what I could have done differently to survive. As of now, there are difficulty options you can set to make things easier, but they will gut mechanics that the encounters were designed around, so I don't recommend it.
Overall, this game is on par with the likes of Hollow Knight and Super Metroid, improving on the much overlooked Zelda II formula in pretty much every way.
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Nintendo Switch
This is a great game. The graphics are cute with smooth animations. The gameplay is exploration focused, with some combat as well. The world-building and story is really well done, and the amount of content is INSANE, with over 50 hours for completionists. There were some issues with difficulty at release, but they have been fixed in recent patches. An easy 10/10.
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Nintendo Switch
I wanted so bad to like this game. I have 10 hours logged. In that 10 hours I have played one dungeon that had a hard but fun boss. I thought, cool I like this game. That was the first hour. Since then I have been wandering from town to town talking to NPC's. Im not being sarcastic. That has taken 9 hours. That is the way the game is designed. I'm now at a point i had to buy something to continue but don't have the money. I have been trying to grind for the money for about an hour and im still no where close. I decided to give you guys a heads up. Im not saying I'm giving up but the game has been extremely hard and boring up until now.
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Nintendo Switch
Do not buy until developers release a patch to improve gameplay. Do not be fooled by the games charming retro presentation this game is a **** of fustrating game design **** have a stamina bar that runs out too quick and drags out fights with even the most basic enemies, Then there is the fact that money is so hard to come by and you need a lot of it to progress , theres the lack of invincibility frames where you can find yourself being smacked around like a pinball between enemies. This is another retro styled game that doesnt undesrtand how videogames have evolved and become more accessible since the nintendo years we need to stop milking the past and stary looking forward.
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Nintendo Switch
Summary Join Gail, a simple villager, who must heed the call for adventure when a great star ship appears in the night sky and abducts all the adults. As the new oldest member of her fragmented community, she must set out to solve this great mystery. Little does she know of the grand adventure before her, the evil lurking in the shadows, and the...
Rated E +10
for Everyone +10
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
- PC
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox Series X
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date: Aug 20, 2020
Developer:
- Cape Cosmic
Publisher: Cape Cosmic
Genres:
