Awaysis Preview

Whenever I come across a new game featuring some sort of hacking and slashing, one of the first things I look for is the movement. There is nothing wrong with a more methodical and slow-paced fighting system, but having the ability to zip about the battlefield and perform all kinds of cool and acrobatic attacks makes my brain happy! It was this hunt that brought me to Awaysis.

In the game, up to four players take on the role of a diminutive animal warrior (a frog, fennec fox, turtle, or bird, respectively) and are charged with protecting the titular Awaysis, their floating island home. The experience can be divided into two main aspects: going out on missions and improving or trying out new gear that the player has found on their adventure.

The missions themselves are linear levels with both platforming challenges and combat, offering an emphasis on the latter. The stages I was able to test out weren’t especially long, but had a nice variety of setpieces and combat arenas, in addition to looking surprisingly nice.

The combat itself is pretty basic: the player can swing their sword in a basic combo, charge up for a special attack (which is different depending on whether you're on the ground or in the air), or they can perform a lunging strike. The blade can be lifted in defence as well, blocking incoming attacks automatically. In a cool bit of visual design, your remaining stamina is shown as a diminishing glow on the sword.

In addition to using the edged weapon, the player can also dash and knock enemies back or onto deadly spikes. The clever use of momentum and physics to fling foes into traps or out of the arena is a large part of Awaysis’ combat.

The battles themselves were great, requiring both fast reflexes and careful positioning; you can´t just stay still and swing without being quickly overwhelmed. Most arenas also have environmental features that can be used to the players' advantage, like a large bowl to pick up speed in, or a waterspout that yeets anything caught in its torrent.

Once a mission is complete, the player is rewarded with a loot drop from a pool of goodies. I do not believe it is possible to get more than one item per run, so replaying missions is encouraged if one really wants that cool flamberge or dashing cloak.

Whenever not fighting the enemy hordes, our adorable warrior can hang out in the floating city of Awaysis. While there is not much to do in the early build, you can improve your items at the smithy, take on new missions, or take on your buddies in a special PvP arena — it even has football... kinda!

Visually, Awaysis is great. The environments are vibrant and colourful, the enemy animations are fun and expressive, and the attacks feel weighty and impactful. Though the levels themselves are on the short side, they’re still varied enough to keep me entertained, at least in the small amount offered in the early build.

Awaysis feels like a title with plenty of potential. The fast-paced movement and momentum-based combat are fun, and the mission-based gameplay makes it easy to pick up and play in little bites. It remains to be seen if the developers can keep it up for the full experience or if getting the items turns out to be a grind, though I am feeling hopeful based on what I’ve seen.

Awaysis is being developed and published by 17-BIT. The game has no set release date at the time of writing, but is purported to be released soon!