Away: Journey to the Unexpected | a Review
originally published on 05/02/2024;
Hello everyone, I am the never-expected G.E.M.Simov, a being of total surprise, here to tell you about “Away: Journey to the Unexpected” (Henceforth just Away).
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
Gameplay
Away is a first person adventure game with rogue-lite elements, which means that some of the encounters and/or dungeons are going to be slightly randomized and there is no save function. It makes use of the WASD buttons to move the Player Character (PC), while making use of the mouse’s movements to navigate the camera. With the Left mouse button (LMB) the Player issues an attack, with the Spacebar the Player makes the PC jump, and by holding down the Shift button the Player makes the PC run faster (sprint).
Interestingly enough, there is no limit to how long the PC can sprint, which is very convenient.
Now, onto more interesting topics than just controls. The goal is to complete a number of levels, which might have secret areas in them. In those levels can be found enemies, who have a certain amount of health and need to be killed, otherwise they will relentlessly pursue the PC and attempt to kill it. Most enemies have reasonable amounts of health, such as 1, 2 or 3, because the PC’s attack does 1 point of damage, and the PC itself has 3 hearts worth of health.
The odd part here is that it is difficult to figure out how much damage an enemy does, and how the hearts function, because:
The heart can either be a full heart or half a heart; sometimes an enemy hits the PC and the PC loses 1 heart, sometimes the PC loses half a heart; sometimes the PC can wind up having no hearts at all but still be alive.
The way it appears to truly function is that there are no invulnerability frames in place - which would mean that whenever the PC takes damage, they can continue taking damage, and enemies, most of whom do damage by walking up to the PC and colliding with them, can continuously drain the PC’s health. If there were invulnerability frames, there would be a short period of time during which the PC would be unable to take damage after taking damage. The fact that there are none explains why it is hard to gauge how much damage an enemy does.
With that said, it becomes evident that the important thing here is to space oneself properly and to kill the enemies before they get to touch the PC. That happens by constantly moving backwards, when in a fight, and by hitting the enemy - which not only does damage but knocks them back slightly.
There are, naturally, many enemy types - ones that have ranged attacks, ones that hold onto bombs which drop and explode after the enemy dies, and there are even bosses. Bosses are a lot stronger than ordinary enemies, but there is a key to beating them.
Over the course of the game the Player will run into special items which allow for different interactions with non-Player Characters (NPCs). Some NPCs can be recruited into the Player’s party, and they can then be swapped to via the number keys - 1 being the PC, 2, 3 and 4 being potential NPCs (that have been recruited).
NPCs, according to the game itself, work as power-ups, because they do not have hearts, however their attacks are very special and powerful. Some are ranged, others have a funky effect, others yet do loads of damage, and so an NPC (turned PC) can easily destroy a boss in the blink of an eye.
The catch is that each attack costs some energy, and NPCs have a certain amount of energy that they have. That energy does not regenerate or get restored, so one should be smart about using their NPCs. In addition to that, taking damage while using an NPC allows the Player to avoid losing hearts, but makes them, instead, lose a large chunk of energy. Fortunately, this is not a great issue, for there are many potential NPCs to be recruited, and there is an item that restores energy. Whenever an NPC runs out of energy, they become exhausted and can’t be used (until their energy is restored)
Now, I mentioned items. I mentioned levels and secrets in those levels. I should elaborate. Aside from enemies and NPCs, the Player will find various objects scattered around the levels. Those range from funky items - like that one that makes recruitment possible - to less funky items, like coins.
Then, there are chests. Chests can contain hearts, coins (in various amounts, from 5 to 50!) or fireworks. Fireworks are, essentially, a bomb that the PC throws by pressing the mouse wheel, which works like the other, enemy created bombs in the game, aside from the fact that it blows up immediately if it hits an enemy. It can destroy some walls, thus allowing the Player to reach some secret areas.
Coins are money, and so there’s also a shop in each level - the shop offers fireworks, a burger (which restores all hearts and energy for the entire team) and even the recruitment item, though they do go out of stock after being purchased, and they are also not very cheap. The neat thing is that the Player can tip the shopkeeper, which eventually expands the shop (allowing for more recruitment items to be on sale).
All of that merges into a relatively neat experience which suffers from a very simple and maybe even uninteresting combat that winds up too reliant on either the NPCs or Fireworks, rendering the PC somewhat useless. The important thing here is that I did not really enjoy playing the game - I liked finding the items and secrets that it had to offer, I liked getting new NPCs to join the team, but the playing of the game was not it.
There’s also something odd about the size of the levels - they feel too large and, simultaneously, empty. There aren’t that many items to be found strewn about, and they are quite visually distinct, so there’s no great need to go looking for them.
Finally, onto the rest of the rogue-lite mechanics. Over the course of the game the Player will collect a number of stars - say, maybe two - but then they will reach a point at which they need more stars than they have. Then, they will go into the ‘reset’ mechanic and have to play through again, with more areas unlocked, so that they can get more stars (stars are obtained by recruiting NPCs).
Every time the Player resets, the PC also gets some experience and levels up, which gives some bonuses, such as more hearts and a few extra moves.
In addition to that, whenever the Player resets they get to try again at recruiting some of the NPCs, because during the process of talking to an NPC to recruit it, the Player can select the wrong conversation option, which locks them out of interacting with the NPC until they’ve gone through a reset, which is simply annoying as it requires more resets than should be needed.
With all that said, the game also has some issues - mainly collision/hitbox detection, as well as that feeling of weakness and uselessness the PC carries or the fact the camera can’t be made to look directly down, but overall? It is more fun than it is not. 2/3
Presentation
Away really loves the Player’s time, and thus it presents almost everything very quickly. The logos that are presented - at the very start of the game - all flash by, three of them, in rapid succession, while waiting for the Unity logo to go past. Then, there is no introductory cutscene or cinematic, but, rather, the main menu. It features a number of button options tucked off into the side, and then the entirety of the screen is taken up by a very neatly animated… Anime sequence? Excerpt from an anime?
The important thing here is that the game plays its cinematic and intro while the Player is allowed to navigate the menu - that indicates a great respect for the Player’s time, which is incredibly intriguing.
With that said, jumping into the game properly presents the Player with yet another pleasant surprise - everything is heavily stylized and, naturally, reminiscent of anime - especially the curtains that flutter in the wind, framing the windows. The game looks really pretty - the environments, at least. When it comes to the characters, they are all 2D sprites - whereas the environment is fully 3D - which creates an odd disjunction.
As a stylistic choice, it is not totally unreasonable, but I must admit that the human characters look very off-putting and odd, in part due to the fact that they are all given idle animations, which idle animations essentially make them bob up and down, which is very unusual for a person to do. Then there’s the fact that they’re so incredibly stylized that I’d be willing to call them ugly.
When we speak of the non-human characters, though, things are a lot more different. They still stick out like sore thumbs, which might be the intended effect, because that calls for the Player’s attention, yet they are nowhere near as unsightly as the human characters. Still, though, the idle animation gives them the uncanny vibe that was previously mentioned.
Fortunately, that’s where all the oddities with the game’s presentation fizzle out. The way the story is presented is in the usual JRPG fashion, which would mean the Character the Player is interacting with winds up in the center of the screen and a text box appears beneath them; clicking goes on to the next text box.
In regards to how the game is played, the Player gets more than enough instructions that pop up on screen to teach them, though there are some weird moments that don’t quite work out as well as they were intended to. One of those would be the depth perception of the Player in regards to enemies, due to the fact that they are 2D sprites in a 3D world space, and that makes it difficult to figure out if the enemy is close enough to hit the Player or not. Fortunately, this is barely an issue, though it is an issue nonetheless.
Then there’s the fact that the means to interact with characters and objects is not through clicking the mouse buttons or pressing a specific button, but rather just walking up to them. That’s not explicitly conveyed to the Player and thus creates a bit of confusion, especially when it comes to shops, but, again, it is a very minor issue that barely does anything.
Onto some more funky things - sound effects and music. Both are quite decent, though, as appears to be the norm, the sound effects are too loud at their default volume. The music is largely passable, though it is not something overwhelmingly cool - it is inspired, heavily, by music found in anime, and so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it does its job well enough.
Lastly, yet another funky thing - switching characters changes the way the game appears, essentially applying a filter over the screen, which I found really neat.
Overall, this game’s presentation is fantastic, with some slight exceptions that fail to bring its grade down. 3/3
Story
The Player winds up in the boots of a Character they pick a name for. Said character lives with his grandparents (who are very nice) while his parents are away, doing their secret job.
One morning a loud, strange noise erupts from the basement, startling pretty much everyone. The PC is sent to investigate. What they find out is that someone is drilling through their basement! It’s some mining company that’s committing many OSHA violations, mainly by releasing a funky liquid from their excavations. That funky liquid turns animals and plants into angry, dangerous monsters.
The PC goes on to solve this conundrum with a stick (brought by their grandfather’s dog), whilst recruiting folks affected by the mining company’s arrival. Table tennis is somehow involved.
It’s all very nonsensical and barely matters. It’s just a vehicle to move things forward, and it’s good that it is there, but it is not integral to the game or the experience… Like, at all. There is very little in the way of choice, and even then what is available does not really matter. It’s funky, but it is nothing special. 1/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? While it looks fantastic, I have been unconvinced to give it the point, so no, it does not get the Legendary Point. 0/1
Conclusion
6/10. A very pretty, and decently entertaining, game. It is a bit tedious to get through, but I’d recommend it to more casual gamers, or I’d suggest getting it for your children (no younger than 7, if you’re letting your kids do anything on a computer and they’re 7 or less years old, you’re doing some silly stuff).
It’s more fit for the bag of mediocrity, yet I feel as though it shines brightly enough to warrant a spot under my belt.