Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral

SCORE: 70

I commented in some of my FFG Reacts videos that Evercade is putting less and less games on their cartridges. Especially in the indie section. In fact as I write this review they will have one game only on a cartridge. This cartridge contains two games. Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral contains Alwa’s Awakening and Cathedral. Both are modern made 8-bit video games. Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral is the twenty-seventh mainline Evercade cartridge video game.

I am torn concerning Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral. There are two interesting indie retro styled video games on this cartridge. That is all there is. If you do not like one or either the cost can be a bit to swallow compared to other Evercade cartridges. If you do like them then you are golden. Neither of these games really spoke to me personally. I know there are plenty of people that will be into Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral though. Do not take my lack of connection as a negative.

The issues families can have with Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral are violence, magic, false gods, and more. These retro games are done in the retro style as well. That means you need to figure out where to go and what to do. It is up to the player to determine how they will progress through the game. If you like that style of game then Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral will be right up your alley. I prefer some kind of direction as to where to go next personally.

The retro graphics and sounds are decent for Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral. There are even story elements added to these games. The manual included tells gamers about the people behind these games and the companies they formed. In fact these games both launched both of these companies forward. It is neat a recent historical kind of way. Would it have been better to give them each a compilation cartridge instead? They could have each included different video games they made.

The Evercade does a good job handling these 8-bit video games. True collectors will want Alwa’s Awakening Cathedral to have the entire Evercade line up. Alwa’s Awakening contains some puzzles and can take around ten hours to beat. Cathedral has over six hundred rooms for the player to traverse. These are bigger indie games that retro gamers may like or enjoy.
- Paul

Graphics: 65%
Sounds: 75%
Replay/Extras: 75%
Gameplay: 70%
Family Friendly Factor: 65%

System: Evercade
Publisher: Blaze Entertainment
Developer: Decemberborn Interactive, Elden Pixels.
Rating: ‘NR’ - Not Rated

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