Alwa's Awakening
Alwa's Awakening
Game
Game2020
Alwa's Legacy
Developer Elden Pixels
Alwa's Legacy is a Metroidvania video game developed by Elden Pixels and first released in 2020. After saving the land of Alwa in Elden Pixels' previous game, Alwa's Awakening, series protagonist Zoe attempts to return home to her original world. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
219 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
83
LovedLoved
156 positive · 33 negative
95% range 76–87%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 156 | 33 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 5 | 0 | 13 |
| Lemmy * | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
354 of 405 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
83% recommend · 157 yes, 33 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 190 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (567 of 649 positive).
Players widely agree that Alwa's Legacy is a significant improvement over its predecessor, Alwa's Awakening. [1][2][3] Many praise its beautiful pixel art, music, and solid gameplay, calling it a relaxing and charming Metroidvania. [4][5][6] Some reviewers find the backtracking tedious and the lack of map guidance frustrating, which can make the game feel like a slog. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [8]
I hate to give this game a thumbs down as I really enjoyed the game. Music is great, graphics are great, level designs are decent to great and the boss fights aren't super challenging which is what I preferred. However I feel like the game does not really respect player's time. The map does not really mark the location of items, the lack of guidance during the play through wastes players time. I believe I have spent …
- [4]
𝔸 𝕝𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕒 𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 ℕ𝕀ℂℍ𝔼 𝕘𝕒𝕞𝕖! Alwa’s Legacy is a retro-style Metroidvania made by Elden Pixels. You play as Zoe, exploring the magical land of Alwa by solving puzzles, unlocking powers, and fighting bosses. This is a sequel to Alwa's Awakening. Both of them can be played in any order (as both games are literally the same in storyline) The game looks and sounds great. Its colorful pixel art and …
- [2]
Recommendation Like its predecessor Alwa's Awakening, Legacy is a 2D Metroidvania with a throwback retro aesthetic and an emphasis on solving platforming challenges with its suite of magical platforming tools. This time, however, the era is 16-bit, and it turns out not just the visuals have made a leap in quality: Alwa's Legacy presents the rare case of a sequel improving upon its predecessor in basically every …
- [6]
May not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely THE cup of tea for me! When you look at it, there isn't anything exceptional. It has gorgeous pixel art with a beautiful looking world, but the combat is very minimal. The exploration and puzzles are fairly simple, but fun. The bosses are very easy. And the overall game is pretty short too. If someone makes a list of the best Metroidvania games, this probably …
- [1]
Alwa's Legacy is the sort-of sequel/remake of Alwa's Awakening, didn't like the previous one that much, but this time the developers managed to improve on it in every possible way. For starters, exploration feels much more satisfying thanks to better pacing, faster walking speed, better button inputs, faster spell recharge, improved fast travel system and less punishing room design, while still keeping some …
Summarised from 34 of the 220 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Alwa's Legacy talk about improved movement, pacing, and overall design over the first game; those who didn't talk about tedious backtracking and limited warp points waste player time. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
The PC and Nintendo Switch versions of Alwa's Legacy both received generally favorable reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 80% of critics. Multiple reviews mentioned the improvements made since the previous games. NintendoWorldReport's reviewer praised the more modern gameplay elements, PC Gamer praised the improved map, and TouchArcade called it a "very strong, if somewhat safe, entry in the genre" with improved mechanics over the previous game. Nintendojo said that it "ups the ante in virtually every way" and called it "a brilliant addition to…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 219 · most liked firstAlwa's Awakening. Great game with Linux version on steam cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41348163 > Having played Alwa's Legacy first, I did not expect this ending! Great game, although I like the sequel better ☺️
positive · AI labelView post →Ah yes, Super Alwa’s Legacy. Hundreds of deaths after the first game, I had to prep mentally before starting this one. If Awakening was NES Zelda as a Metroidvania, then Legacy is SNES and N64 Zelda as a Metroidvania. Not really sure I believe a little girl that looks like a mochi ball is able to kill all of these armored monsters but… This is probably the most relaxing metroidvania I've played in a while. I am always pissed off this game is as under appreciated as it is. Though obviously…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hit boxes on many enemy attacks are larger than their sprite or their projectile's sprite. You can be hit while transitioning to another zone. You can beat a boss and the boss will continue to attack even though it's dead and you can die while the crystal is falling to the ground. You have to refight the boss if you die when that happens. Teleporting around requires a resource to turn a save point into a teleporter. This is just a huge time waster. Just allow for teleporting to them all from…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alwa's Awakening. Having played Alwa's Legacy first, I did not expect this ending! Great game, although I like the sequel better ☺️
positive · AI labelView post →[GOG] Alwa's Legacy ($3.41 / 81% off). GOG is DRM-free. Sale also applies to Steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →Here's my #NintendoSwitch #indiegame highlight for today! 🎮👍🏼 Game - Alwa's Legacy Developer - @eldenpixels.bsky.social Publisher - Elden Pixels Release date - September 29 2020
neutral · AI labelView post →Get Super Win the Game and four more awesome Metroidvanias – Zapling Bygone; Lone Fungus; Haiku, the Robot; and Alwa's Legacy – in this bundle only on itch.io! (And thanks to the Elden Pixels folks for organizing this!) itch.io/b/2106/metro...
neutral · AI labelView post →[Alwa's Awakening](https://www.gog.com/en/game/alwas_awakening) and [Alwa's Legacy](https://www.gog.com/en/game/alwas_legacy), by Elden Pixels, a Swedish studio. While you're at it, [buy from GOG](https://www.gog.com/), a Polish store that sells DRM-free games for PC.
neutral · AI labelView post →𝔸 𝕝𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕒 𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 ℕ𝕀ℂℍ𝔼 𝕘𝕒𝕞𝕖! Alwa’s Legacy is a retro-style Metroidvania made by Elden Pixels. You play as Zoe, exploring the magical land of Alwa by solving puzzles, unlocking powers, and fighting bosses. This is a sequel to Alwa's Awakening. Both of them can be played in any order (as both games are literally the same in storyline) The game looks and sounds great. Its colorful pixel art and chiptune soundtrack give it a nostalgic yet fresh feel. Every area feels…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far it has been boring and slow with too much tedious backtracking (and the very limited number of warp points that you can drop barely help.) It hasn't feel very inspired. I got stuck after I unlocked the three spells from the first dungeon, and collected enough orbs to make my blocks float on the water. I explored the Catacombs a bit after I got a key, but I couldn't find the lamp. The game won't let me enter any other dungeons yet even though I have found the entrances to most of them,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate to give this game a thumbs down as I really enjoyed the game. Music is great, graphics are great, level designs are decent to great and the boss fights aren't super challenging which is what I preferred. However I feel like the game does not really respect player's time. The map does not really mark the location of items, the lack of guidance during the play through wastes players time. I believe I have spent half of the time on wondering "how to get to that place", "where to go right…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very polished metroidvania with nice visuals and animation, fantastic dungeon and map design, and interesting and funny characters. Where it falls short is in the game play progression: the map not tracking blue orbs, the constant need to downgrade and swap abilities to advance in specific areas, blue green switch with character colour mechanics not explained, and needing to traverse every single map room again and again to find specific character for advancement without any hints or…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →@riffraff79.bsky.social Steam next fest demo for the next fame from Alwa's Legacy dev.Metroidvania where you play as a in game dev that is close to having a breakdown for in game game development #blutoid #indiegames #metroidvania youtu.be/L9k8AXSknuQ?... store.steampowered.com/app/2725470/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Entertaining classic flavoured platformer. There's a bit of combat (bosses included), platforming and puzzling. There are some options to make the game more or less accessible which will be welcomed by some players. I had a good time despite some few but frustrating sections. It's worth a try for any classic games fan.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Most of the games I liked back in the day don't really hold up, though. Like, I loved the NES version of Strider back then; it had a strange and intriguing plot, I loved the trappings of the dragon-shaped space station and the plasma sword and the magnetic boots that let you walk on the ceiling, and I was a total sucker for any hint of metroidvania-type progression. But when I try to play it now, I notice the controls are awful, the collision detection is janky, the level designs are dull, and…
neutral · AI labelView post →Alwa's Legacy is the sort-of sequel/remake of Alwa's Awakening, didn't like the previous one that much, but this time the developers managed to improve on it in every possible way. For starters, exploration feels much more satisfying thanks to better pacing, faster walking speed, better button inputs, faster spell recharge, improved fast travel system and less punishing room design, while still keeping some environmental puzzles. There are more kinds of collectibles that this time serve a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →30 Days of Video Games Day 16: Best Plot Twist No. We're not ruining games for people for a list. DAY 16: BEST IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ALREADY EXISTING GAME MECHANIC The fast travel/save mechanic for Alwa's Legacy. I like the idea of having a bunch of existing potential fast travel points and---
positive · AI labelView post →Thanks game for railroading me into a killing an innocent guy and then autosaving over my save file so I have to either play the rest of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game and maybe realize six hours later that I missed out on something, or instead replay the first three hours. Really cool, much appreciated. I think I'll just not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ play at all. Edit: So, after talking to a friend of mine that had played the game. It came across to them that you couldn't even save the NPC in the first place. After…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This one just keeps getting worse and worse. Around every turn is a dead end in this game. It's so bad it feels like you're getting trolled when you play it. Locked door dead end. Find a key? Open the door to a dead end. Equip the right skills to make it to a new area? Now you need the other skills equipped to continue. See a barred off path that you can access if you go back and throw a switch? Go back. Throw switch. Come back and move one map panel ahead. Dead end. It's not so bad…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought a bunch of indie games that looked cool: [Alwa's Legacy](https://www.gog.com/en/game/alwas_legacy) (I'm playing it right now, it's pretty fun), [Night in the woods](https://www.gog.com/en/game/night_in_the_woods) and [Phoenotopia: Awakening](https://www.gog.com/en/game/phoenotopia_awakening). I also bought [Dishonored](https://www.gog.com/en/game/dishonored_definitive_edition) (which I played back in the days, but I'm eager to replay one of these days, alongside its DLCs). Risky…
positive · AI labelView post →This game is flawed like Alwa's Awakening, but now there is a setting to respawn in the same screen after death, which saves a lot of unnecessary frustration.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The SNES-inspired visuals are absolutely beautiful, and the actual platforming and gameplay feel really solid. It’s clearly a well-made tribute to the era. However, it’s almost too faithful to the old-school formula for its own good. The constant backtracking and rigid design make the experience feel tedious after a while. While I appreciate the aesthetic, the loop just didn't hold up for me so I bailed after a few hours. If you’re a retro purist this is perfect. Runs well on the Steamdeck.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wake the heck up, Zoe! You got a sequel to play! Deaths: 28 WARNING: There are missable achievements! If you are in Sylvan Castle, make a copy of your save file before raising the water or else! + A massive improvement from the Alwa's Awakening. + Double jumping green blocks and blue bubbles still work. + Equilibrium achievement can be obtained in normal playthrough. Rose Castle, Abandoned Ruins, and Eydie's Keep. Don't open the first door in Rose Castle. Instead, grab it and double…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Broken for me. When I tried to change controls, it would freeze and when I tried to continue in the file that I tried to change controls it would freeze on loading. So I started a new file, played a bit and was having fun, but now that file won't load and will always freeze when I try. Extremely disappointing, because I was really loving what I played.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alwa's Legacy (SNES style) is an adorable sequel to the pretty good Alwa's Awakening (NES style). It's a 2D metroidvania that uses three weapons in simple and ingenious ways. Completing the map 100% took about 11 hours. + Great pixel graphics and fantastic music, including remixes of the previous game. + Lovely enemy design that never feels overwhelming. + Fun NPCs with little sub stories. + Final level is still hard, but less impossible than the first game. + Completionistic behavior…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🔴[Live Now] -> ALWA'S LEGACY 🧙 I'm taking another crack at the metroidvania genre with this beautiful indie pixelart game. www.twitch.tv/xcheekylemonx
neutral · AI labelView post →Awesome little metroidvania, very well designed regarding the main aspects of a game (graphics, music, gameplay). I just wished for it to be a bit longer, but hey, nothing's perfect !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alwa's Legacy offers an extremely similar experience to its predecessor, feeling more like a second attempt at making Alwa's Awakening than any kind of sequel. It's given up a lot of its identity to make things more streamlined, and I can't help but feel Legacy suffers for doing away with what made it unique. All the old NES charm is abandoned, replaced with a more modern retro throwback look that's a dime a dozen in the indie game space. Any challenge the game had followed the 8-bit…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommendation Like its predecessor Alwa's Awakening, Legacy is a 2D Metroidvania with a throwback retro aesthetic and an emphasis on solving platforming challenges with its suite of magical platforming tools. This time, however, the era is 16-bit, and it turns out not just the visuals have made a leap in quality: Alwa's Legacy presents the rare case of a sequel improving upon its predecessor in basically every single respect. Movement is better. Progression is better. The puzzles are better.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just like the first game, it's super fun, until you reach frustrating, annoying parts....
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alwa's Awakening walked so this game could run. It's an improvement in all aspects, all the design gripes were worked on. The tear mechanic is quite smart and fun, the exploration abilities are also creative and fun to figure out new interactions with. Most of the instant death hazards are secluded to specific places, so it's a lot more acceptable. It feels a lot smoother to play, after a mixed experience on the first game I had a load of fun on this one. And seeing how all the facets were…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cute look but clunky mechanics, poor platforming, low enemy variety, repetitive and unfun use of spells
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If I complete a Metroidvania I give a Positive review.... rarely do I finish them.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alwa's Legacy... let me see- This game is pretty good for a Metroidvania. That said, I've not played a bunch of em'. Your mileage may vary. I personally have yet to finish it, as the difficulty spike is a little annoying. The early dungeons are a breeze, and the final two will make you frown a lot. Nothing a little youtube LP can't fix, but that's the main shortcoming. On the positive front, this game has very simple abilities, and is really generous about allowing the player to solve its…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alwa's Legacy is yet another of literally thousands of 2D retro pixel platformers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere. This is a somewhat poorly made Castlevania ripoff, featuring elements where you need to backtrack several times through the game to try stretch out the limited, lazy and basic 2D platformer levels that the game consists of. From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is nice but very tedious and tiring back-tracking here and there. Enemies and levels design are not bad, though some enemies positioned at some point where it's frustrating. The music and graphics are not bad too, easy to the ears and eyes. But most importantly, the story is above average, as it's the sequel to the Alwa's Awakening (if not mistaken). So all and all, it's a good game. Give it a go~ ( 6.5 / 10 )
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Verified working on Steam Deck, graphics are colorful and the story is engaging, so far I am having fun with it but I'll update once I get a bit further into the story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →May not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely THE cup of tea for me! When you look at it, there isn't anything exceptional. It has gorgeous pixel art with a beautiful looking world, but the combat is very minimal. The exploration and puzzles are fairly simple, but fun. The bosses are very easy. And the overall game is pretty short too. If someone makes a list of the best Metroidvania games, this probably won't be even in the top 50. But despite not excelling at anything it is doing,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A nice metroidvania with interesting achievements that makes you play the game in interesting ways. I don't really like having to choose which checkpoints to make teleporters and some of the achievements while interesting are just not as fun as in the first game. The previous game clearly led into this one but does it give you a satisfaction in story and world building as a reward for having played both? Not really.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Much better than Alwa's Awakening. I turned the respawn in room on death pretty early on and it saved a lot of frustration over time. The game flows better than the first and the last dungeon isn't a super meat boy level on every room. The bosses were fine though a bit on the easier side. The graphics, musics and sound effect are charming. A good recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Keep playing TUNIC. It's great. Someone else mentioned Death's Door which I see as TUNIC's overlooked cousin. Some others that are similar, have either played them or purchased and not played yet, due to similar taste to yours: Alwa's Awakening & Alwa's Legacy Anodyne Blossom Tales series Fountains Lunacid The Messenger Moonlighter series Unsouled
neutral · AI labelView post →Just finished Alwa's Legacy. Great game. I don't tend to 100% games, but I did for both Alwa's. Well done Elden Pixels.
positive · AI labelView post →Please let @pineapple.works handle Alwa's Legacy port on Xbox. Perhaps they can also port this new game to Xbox as well. I want to complete Alwa's collection on Xbox. When everyone plays, we all win. 🙏🙏🙏💚💚💚
neutral · AI labelView post →Better than the first! It was not as difficult, but the puzzles give it a little something more to it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🔴//// — Kitchen's Open! 🥣 Now Serving: 【Alwa's Legacy】 Revisiting a very enjoyable pixel art indie game! Come see it for yourself! ⌞🔗 in bio⌝
neutral · AI labelView post →Alwa's Legacy - 14 Feeling Like Endgame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXtpKA2ey3Q&ab_channel=GHostLPs #GHostLPs #AlwasLegacy #EldenPixels #Metroidvania
neutral · AI labelView post →A perfect sequel? This improves on the first game in every possible way. Movement is faster, combat feels better, NPCs are more interesting, rooms have fewer one-hit spike traps, and then there's the graphics... I'm constantly surprised how refined and charming the pixel art is in this game. Compared to the first, there's a reduced focus on isolated puzzle rooms in favor of interesting dungeon gimmicks and much more action platforming. The bosses (though way more impressive visually) were…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A major improvement compared to the first one. Now the gameplay is more dynamic, the enemies are stronger, there are more power-ups and you get them faster. By the first dungeon, you'll have the first two spells and one new skill. A must-play if you like the metroidvania genre. The dungeon design is where this game shines! Every dungeon is unique with cool puzzles and challenges. My favorite is the one where you can rise and lower the water level. Only the boss fights feel underpowered. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Banger pixel art and music. Gameplay is great too with some nice puzzles and very little backtracking, which is my least favorite part of metroidvanias.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Classic metroidvania platformer. Doesn't really stand out, but everything it does, it does well. If I have any complaints, I'd probably take issue with how the gem upgrades didn't get great explanations on how they should be used. For those interested: - Flying block sticks to walls and can be used as a foothold. - Color changing robe lets the character hit colored switches instead of using wand abilities to hit switches - Cracked walls can be bombed, so take note of cracks instead of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game and a step up from the first Alwa game. It feels more forgiving than the first game, even though precision is still needed sometimes. Optional comfort options give everyone the challenge they desire. The world is all about exploring with a lot of freedom and the metroidvania temporary dead-ends that you need to find the right items to overcome them. Game speed is rather slow but graphics and sound are awesome for Pixel Art and Music which never minded me backtracking. Warps can be…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →7. Alwa's Legacy I played the previous game (Alwa's Awakening) which was in an 8 bit style, and this one looks 16 bit. Makes it feel like they were some lost NES/SNES series, which is cool!
positive · AI labelView post →Great game and a great sequel to Alwa's Awakening
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game feels like a slog. Started out strong but I started seeing weird design choices like when upgrading one of your abilities it was straight up changing the color of your tunic for like 5 seconds for some reason? Maybe there was a purpose to this, but it wasn't made clear by the game in the 4 hours I played. I guess it was worth it for the deep discount, definitely not at full price, sadly. Nice graphics remind me of super nintendo. Music was meh. Combat was between meh and bad. Movement…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Edit 2: Never mind not a soft lock. Just got stuck; that being said still not changing my review to positive yet. Edit: DON'T LISTEN TO THE POSITIVE REVIEWS, ONLY 50% OF THEM HAVE COMPLETED CHAPTER 1! Not a bad game, just is lacking in a few areas. Getting towards the castle-esc area where I'm soft locked where I can't make any progress. The direction in this game is quite unclear. It's not even as if this is my first time playing a Metroidvania. Some of it's ideas do baffle me while others…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Started chapter 2, I loved this, but really not for the right reasons. Devs didn't playtest abilities properly, and this was my main source of fun so far (see Ultra-jump section at the end : Put simply, abilities can be used in some ways to reach places higher than seemingly intended, allowing to skip small parts of the adventure. Even though it's not much, it's still very satisfying to outsmart the level design. Barely passable gameplay The pixel art carries it, but dungeons (at least in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In a metroid, with all the backtracking going on, combat should be fun and rewarding but the combat in this game is seriously boring and slow. Im also stuck and had to look up how to progress to no avail because the npc i need to talk to is bugged or something so f*** this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm a sucker for metroidvanias, and this is no exception. It's a nice, simple, retro style game that other fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. My only gripe is with the map. I found myself getting frustrated when finding orbs/tears in locations that were completely inaccessible and then having to run around the whole area to find where they were again once I had the required ability to access the area. You get the map very early on, and the map maker NPC is just kinda there for the rest of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SUMMARY: I played this entire game SO YOU WOULDNT HAVE TO. The explanation is long and tiresome, so please, if you dont want to read yet still have ANY doubts about buying this game, go and buy SOMTHING ELSE, dont risk it. Now the full review: Well well well, unsurprisingly enough, another piece of GARBAGE, this game is the continuation of ANOTHER awfull game named Alwa's Awakening but as far as the structure of the game and the story, they are THE SAME GAME, same enemy, same old hag who…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not bad, especially the art had me at hello. But the gameplay and story is just not that interesting or fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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