Awakened Evil

This is a terrific little game for a very fair price! It is FAIR and FUN! Plenty of Retro Castlevania-inspired action to be found here, and some unique tools and difficulty settings to play around with!

Absolute spot on tribute to Classicvania games and more! You can feel how this is a true passion project from the dank devs as you work your way through the charming yet challenging, well designed levels. This is a sharply paced out action-platformer that deserves your attention - axe is best subweapon!

11/10. Just the right amount of water.

Was excited to pick this one up because it comes from 2 creators who like good retro games and classicvanias and I was not disappointed. Game throws you right into difficult platforming with plenty of variety in stage design and enemy design. Game mechanics will feel very familiar if you have played classics like Super Mario Bros, Castlevania, and Ninja Gaiden. Normal mode def provides an good challenge for most people. For me, the Expert mode was the best mode. A fun challenge with added enemy's and upgraded harder levels. The soundtrack on this game is loaded with headbanging retro bit tunes. Every level has a great theme to jam even when you're getting frustrating falling to your death. Some things I really appreciated was enemies dying to stage hazards, nodbacks to classic retro games, secret easter eggs (one that I found!) and fantastic weather effects. I don't have much to complain about other then sometimes I felt myself falling straight off ledges when i swore i hit the jump button. Overall the game was fantastic and would highly recommend to any Retro game enthusiast or people who enjoy Classicvanias or indie games with a retro pixel style. The game took me about 8 hours to beat normal and expert and i might have to download the soundtrack for my playlist now !

If you are a classic castlevania fan, you can not miss out on this absolute gem! There's lots of good inspiration from all the classics, the ninja gaiden trilogy, and even some really good original ideas here! And it has the old school feeling challenge too, but I think there's some little things here and there that help make it more accessible (I'm pretty sure if you're on your last life, there's a higher chance when you kill a monster, they'll drop an extra life). And the soundtrack can also be pretty boppin', my favorite track is stage 5. I really hope the devs make a sequel, this is some genuinely great stuff!

I have to admit the first impression was not very good. Far from it. The game did everything what's wrong with classic Castlevanias: [list] [*] moving at a snail's pace [*] low air control [*] knockback on being hit [*] too slow to dodge anything if you don't know what to expect [*] a lot of instant-death pits [*] occasional bullsh!t enemy placement [*] agility of a thrown brick [/list] I hate low control and slow movement passionately. Visually, well, it's hard to find proper words. Wait, I know! "Ugly as sin" is the expression I was looking for! It probably looks worse than the first Castlevania but at the same time has this DIY charm of sorts. I actually started to like it, kind of. Especially the bosses that look like something scribbled in MS Paint over the course of a lunch break. Let's address the difficulty next. You'll be eating a lot of unavoidable hits during the first playthrough. You'll be repeatedly stunlocked by small, agile enemies (godd@mn frogs!). You'll be knocked of tiny platforms into bottomless pits while having a full health bar. You'll be intercepted mid-jump with no way of knowing prior. It can get pretty infuriating. Some quotes from my journal to illustrate: "[i]The fourth stage is such a piece of crap. ... Cleared the fourth stage on expert. The dragon boss changed from almost harmless to a very difficult fight just by adding those fu©king birds.[/i]" ----- "[i]The fifth stage doesn't look that bad. ... The fifth stage is, in fact, very bad. It itself is far from easy but the minotaur fight at the end is really something.[/i]" ----- "[i]...and best of all, when losing 50% HP, he spawns a resurrecting mummy. I hate that rag-wrapped piece of sh!t so much.[/i]" ----- "[i]I hate this game and yet I play more every day. Need to get more consistent at stage 3.[/i]" ----- Awakened Evil is a good anger management training. Why should anyone even consider playing this game, you might ask? Let me list some of the good bits so the final rating doesn't seem completely out of place: [list] [*] Good music. I love good music in my games. [*] The layout of individual levels changes based on selected difficulty. The expert difficulty level design is especially good. [*] No screen is free. No screen is a filler. [*] All bosses are good. Some bosses might feel lackluster but those become very dangerous on expert difficulty (see quotes). [*] It is a rather challenging game so, naturally, it feels pretty good to successfully complete an expert 1-CC. [*] All the sub-weapons are useful. I like the throwing axe the most (very original, I know). [*] The dev is nice and responds very quickly on Steam. [*] First to master the game according to SteamHunters! What an achievement! (what am I even doing with my life?) [/list] Hated the game initially but it grew on me pretty hard. Not a love at first sight by any chance but it gets better the longer you play. A very solid 7/10.

A fantastic homage to classic Castlevania games of yesteryear. Don't let the throwback charm of the game fool you though. It is clear that this is a distilled, modernized version of the earliest CV titles, and it stands above those that inspire it. Just when you think you've figured out every level/boss/enemy, it throws everything at you in new ways. The game will keep you on your toes each play through. Built in speed run modes with level select are another modern addition at launch that has fostered an awesome community of people seeking out perfection among competition. The chiptune music will keep you bopping along, giving a blissful silver lining to the many deaths that you take. It pairs perfectly with the Amiga-esque graphics the crank the nostalgia up to 11. Can't recommend this title enough.

the game is pretty much castlevania with a sword and a new gun subweapon. it controls almost exactly like castlevania 3 and is close in difficulty. this feels like if a 4th castlevania game existed on nes so i you love those you need to give this a try

I got 2 words for ya: Awesome

Un bon Castlevania like à l’ancienne développé par les frères Johnson Un level design et des boss bien fichus, des musiques entraînantes et une multitude de références aux classiques du genre. La difficulté est bien dosée et progressive, les 2 premiers niveaux se passent sans trop de difficulté mais il va falloir s’y reprendre à plusieurs fois pour les suivants (mention spéciale pour le niveau 4, avec ses blocs de glace et ses chutes mortelles… mais on aime ça !) Je relance l’aventure en mode expert !