Bite the Bullet
Bite the Bullet
Game
Game2020
Waking
Developer Jason Oda
Combining third-person action and guided meditation, Waking is an emotional adventure through your dying mind. Battle the forces of oblivion, conjure the memories of loved ones, and join them in the fight for your life. From the Steam store page
153 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Nov 6, 2026 · last updated Nov 6, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
39
Rotten
31 positive · 49 negative
95% range 29–50%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 31 | 49 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 1 | 68 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Negative
32 of 84 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
38% recommend · 31 yes, 51 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 82 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (62 of 126 positive).
Some players praise the game's emotional depth and unique concept. [1][2][3] Many reviewers criticize the clunky controls and repetitive combat. [4][5][6] Several players note technical issues like audio bugs and subtitle problems. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [1]
Waking is a beautiful game with good graphics and enjoyable music. Last year when i played demo i nearly cried when my cat came back, that made me buy this game full version when it came out. No regrets, so far so good. Only thing i don't like it is that when you die during a level when you fight the boss, you have to restart the level from the very beginning, hopefully developers can fix that. But i'd still …
- [2]
No video game has made me weep so openly. Did not expect to ever hold my most beloved childhood pet again, but was surprised that I was able to do so -- even though it was virtually -- in a video game all about directed meditation. I'm emotionally exhausted only after a few hours. I'll come back when I'm more mentally prepared.
- [5]
Waking makes a good first impression. The visuals are moody, the game is atmospheric, and the overall experience just feels unique. Unfortunately, the gameplay and game structure squanders these positives. The game is completely based around circle strafing dull enemies, pelting them with objects, and then using melee attacks on them for a few seconds. The majority of the game has a rogue-lite inspired structure, …
- [6]
It's a beautiful game but it is soooooo slooooooooooow. Nothing bores and distracts the mind faster than a couple sentaces taking a few minutes to come out because they are all in a slow subtitled wisper that you have to watch fade in and fade out of the screen. That's fine for the odd cutscene or too but its all dialog in the game. Combat is also stilted. Extremely so. It's so boring too. Pick up box, hit enemy …
- [18]
Waking is a game about duality. Duality of death? Nope... The duality of making an atmospheric walking sim and then adding terrible pointless combat to it. The game has two layers, one being a philosophical, immersive experience about real life wishes, desires and struggles. The other is a poor man's Control like combat game that feels really bad due to awful and convoluted controls and unclear gameplay. The …
Summarised from 34 of the 117 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 Waking talk about emotionally impactful and thought-provoking experience; those who didn't talk about clunky and frustrating controls. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 153 · most liked firstAhhh, now there’s a feeling I have not felt in quite some time. Waking up the morning of a big game, knowing you’ve done all your preparation and all that’s left is to execute the game plan. NOW LET’S GET OUT THERE, VOTE, AND KICK SOME FASCIST ASS
neutral · AI labelView post →Please, let there be an alternate universe where this game is amazing! With everything unique and engaging this title has to offer, it completely gets derailed by control mechanics that baffle me in a game that looks this good. I don't enjoy feeling this way. This is a passion project. It shows. Anytime an indie by ONE developer comes out, it's automatically impressive in my book. Waking has inserted guided meditations with personal choices, leading to an awesome idea of creating weapons…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking up to game day but needing team mates. #gaycouple #gaymen #gayguys #gayman
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up this morning realizing I may have accidentally begged the world to play my game on the Golden Joysticks last night 🫥
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to this was... unexpected This game I stg
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up here in Europe. Time to see how yesterday’s World Series game ended…
neutral · AI labelView post →Time for my least favorite game, "Keep Velma From Waking Steph"
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to see Fallout TV series rightfully earned Best Game Adaption award.
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to see that another game written for by the gorgeous, talented Sweet Baby team won an award 🥰
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking makes a good first impression. The visuals are moody, the game is atmospheric, and the overall experience just feels unique. Unfortunately, the gameplay and game structure squanders these positives. The game is completely based around circle strafing dull enemies, pelting them with objects, and then using melee attacks on them for a few seconds. The majority of the game has a rogue-lite inspired structure, where you need to clear a bunch of samey, randomly-generated levels where you do…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →WAKING UP ON A USWNT GAME DAY 🇺🇸🙌
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to my old favorite game, "is this allergies, a cold, or covid?" :P
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up soggy in these is just new game plus
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up horny and hungry and looking for dick. It’s also game day. Bo Broncos 🏈
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to a #CBJ win making it 3 in a row! 👊 Now I’m going to delve into the full game replay.
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking is a beautiful game with good graphics and enjoyable music. Last year when i played demo i nearly cried when my cat came back, that made me buy this game full version when it came out. No regrets, so far so good. Only thing i don't like it is that when you die during a level when you fight the boss, you have to restart the level from the very beginning, hopefully developers can fix that. But i'd still recommend this game. I like it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking up, still feel gutted after the @mnaurorafc.bsky.social loss. Team deserved to have that game at home.
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up and being glad i didn't stay up for the game awards
neutral · AI labelView post →[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6142328/]Like this Review? Follow The Cpt Froggy Club Curator Page for plenty more! Waking Waking is a fantastic game, based around a subject that not many dare to touch; a subject of great importance, yet not easily explained - 'Mind'. An atmospheric adventure that took me to a very uncomfortable and surreal place, in which I wouldn’t dare to expect what might come before me. Blurred between fantasy and reality, this was a third person experience…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking up remembering Everton won a fuckin game
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up early to game in solitude before my husband and temporary roommate wake up 🙏🏻
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to video game bluesky today
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up and seeing a new Bandori mobile game and two new bands
neutral · AI labelView post →Star Trap is one of those ambitious adventure game/RPG hybrids developed in France in the 80s. Waking up as a technician aboard an otherwise doomed spaceship, you have 8 real-time hours to get the ship fixed and running. All while facing rogue security robots.
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to see PC Engine game getting a translation
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up as a pig shows dedication to the mask game. 10.5 hours!
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up on the first game day of the season:
neutral · AI labelView post →Hoo boy. Just an incredibly pretentious game that warns you it will ask you questions about your real life before immediately asking if you're going to be monetizing it on a stream. Trying desperately at all times to be portentous and deep, while you run around and throw random barrels that just happen to be in the afterlife. Made me actively angry to play.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it is a thought provoking and meditative game with aspects of puzzles throughout the game. The gameplay through is ok, though the sound design seemed a bit off where i think it was a bit off sync. You need to go through some puzzles in order to get to stages where questions are asked of you where you need to choose some qualities within yourself, such as what it is you desire in life. It is though provoking in that there are many qualities to choose from with having to choose the most important…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No video game has made me weep so openly. Did not expect to ever hold my most beloved childhood pet again, but was surprised that I was able to do so -- even though it was virtually -- in a video game all about directed meditation. I'm emotionally exhausted only after a few hours. I'll come back when I'm more mentally prepared.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking up infuriated at this assumption by @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social "Readers can get game results and other commodity information from so many sources;" we know you've been in a press room at a women's sporting event and I hope you have looked around and seen that there are NOT "many sources".
neutral · AI labelView post →What a huge disappointment… The game concept is interesting. The story is deep (or at least tries to be deep), and I liked that you must pick in-game options which concern your life (even though they might have no impact – I can’t tell, because I quitted playing). But unfortunately, the gameplay is horribly boring. All you need to do is throw objects at enemies and slash them with melee attacks. This is done in an extremely strange and boring way. You can auto-aim enemies and the way you look…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played Waking for 25 hours and completed around 75% of the game. Gameplay Overview Waking is a gamified SELF-REFLECTION EXERCISE, that has 2 big parts: gameplay and meditation. Being the main character of the story, you will fight your way out of a coma by killing mobs and rebuilding memories. You will run, pick-up objects, aim, shoot, and continuously select different spells to fight. As objectives are completed, a voice asks you to CLOSE YOUR EYES and invites you to travel deeply into…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Saturday. Waking up inside the game dev bubble. Coffee and Unreal Engine. I’ll show you how I started making the rabbit hole (check my previous posts). This beginning could also lead to the creation of a black hole. #gamedev #UnrealEngine #vfx #indiedev
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to find out Mate Ma'a Tonga beat England in their pool league World Cup game gives me so much warm fuzzies, I bet South Auckland has been going off. Please use the CRL today to free up the motorways for flag covered vans cruising on lower speeds in parade 🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴🇹🇴
neutral · AI labelView post →Sunday. Waking up in a game dev bubble, I don't have electricity, so instant coffee and brain training with Unreal Engine. Part three - disk progress bar with tick marks. I think the next version will be a twisted sci-fi take. #gamedev #UnrealEngine #vfx #indiedev
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up pissed off about gifting the game last night. Hopefully, this is a turning point for the season.
neutral · AI labelView post →It's a beautiful game but it is soooooo slooooooooooow. Nothing bores and distracts the mind faster than a couple sentaces taking a few minutes to come out because they are all in a slow subtitled wisper that you have to watch fade in and fade out of the screen. That's fine for the odd cutscene or too but its all dialog in the game. Combat is also stilted. Extremely so. It's so boring too. Pick up box, hit enemy with it, melee enemy with a limited use melee weapon. Keep picking up weapons…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking up this morning and remembering there’s no game to watch tonight 😢
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to the Guardians taking Game 1 of the ALCS
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking up to the Ethan Klein news feels like Christmas. Thank you Mr. Jesus. I was unaware of your game.
neutral · AI labelView post →the controls are janky, cant even walk, did not get the appeal of this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have to agree with a lot of people here. Nice idea but the controls are not my cup of tea. The battles were very repeating and the way the character moved was so stiff. Less fighting would've fit the setting way better. I too had some sound bugs that put me off. (the "pop" battle music was kinda weird) Additionally I often felt nausea.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pretentious hipster nonsense
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking up and watching Pro World Tour Cycling my entire adult life has prepared me for this WNBA Finals Game 6.
neutral · AI labelView post →Heroes Fall, part 10. So, this one was hard. Really, really hard. I'm not absolutely certain I got it right, but this is how it got birthed, and it's what needs to happen. It's clunky in a few places, I know. Maybe in the future, when the whole thing is complete, I can wrestle it into better shape, I dunno. Anyway, here goes. --- "You ready?" "I am. Are you not going to gloat?" "Generator, unlike you, I don't take particular joy in kicking someone that's writhing in agony. Besides, nothing…
neutral · AI labelView post →A most wonderful game that explores the deepest corners of your mind and helps you, If you struggle, don't forget to search for real help instead of coping with it by resorting to this game, this game will only validate what you're feeling. 20/10 Game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommended I played with a controller. Plugged in a controller, didn't work. Restarted the game. Worked just enough to continue. Asked me if I wanted to use XBox or PlayStation style prompts. Selected PS. Every prompt after failed to work. Told me it was going to be a "personal experience", then asked me to choose a body build between "normal", and "husky". No other options. Tried to then select a gender, and a height. After selecting, it would throw me back a screen to remake a previous…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Story seems as though it could be interesting, but having subtitles sometimes other times not at all ruins that for me. Combat is very simple, even at the hardest difficulties there wasn't any meaningful challenge to it, just dull, slow repetition.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Delve deep into your psyche as this game asks your deepest thoughts - then proceeds to shape the game around them with puzzles and enemies. Visually stunning and surreal, taught provoking perhaps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU8xp5wmrr8&t=5s
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Waking is a game about duality. Duality of death? Nope... The duality of making an atmospheric walking sim and then adding terrible pointless combat to it. The game has two layers, one being a philosophical, immersive experience about real life wishes, desires and struggles. The other is a poor man's Control like combat game that feels really bad due to awful and convoluted controls and unclear gameplay. The philosophical experience starts out pretty strong and was really interesting until…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a fascinating set of ideas, which are unfortunately absolutely gutted by horrid character controls, a frustrating controller scheme/layout making an already janky telekinesis game mechanic far more difficult, art assets such as unity heightmaps and what look like Free Models, long stretches of time sitting still waiting for the four big words on the screen to go away, i feel like i really tried giving this game a chance - i played a demo (or beta? i don't remember) and was hoping it'd be…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oomf being a) in Australia and b) the most dedicated fan of an nfl team of all of my oomfs is so funny to me????? Waking up to posts about kenler bloope and ribosome smorft fucking the game up never ceases to tickle me and the thing is it’s always that serious
neutral · AI labelView post →Waking is 'That Band' that only your friends in bands like, or 'that director' that only your friend who went to film school likes. If you've played a lot of different video games in your life, you might like Waking for it's sheer uniqueness. I did.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →WTF are these controls...... your character runs like youre on ice as if youre not where you are. clunky controls are some of the worst ive seen. music was alright though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Controls feel off, and the story is edgelord as hall. Gameplay mechanics (throwing boxes) is clunky and not gratifying. Aesthetics are seriously gorgeous though!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are audio and visual bugs all over the place making is difficult for me to be immersed which feels like the biggest drive of this format. The 'combat' feels clunky at best as having to switch between 'weapons' constantly though a slow menu just really wore me down even in my short time playing. I don't know if i'll be finishing it as of right now.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game's controls feel horrible and completely stopped me from getting into any story it had.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Everyone is looking for that new experience, a unique world that almost every game developer in the industry seems to try to achieve. For the most part, developers tend to release a lot of recycled content, game mechanics, and, unfortunately, story lines. Waking is a game that tries to deliver but ultimately fails. Their approach put together so many game tropes and genres in an attempt to create something unique and emotional but in the end wound up with a game that had nothing working…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yes, I’m a huge Final Fantasy fan and turn-based is what I started out with when I first started gaming. My favorite FF game (and video game of all time) is Final Fantasy X, and I remember playing late one night and falling asleep mid-boss battle. Waking up two hours later for the boss patiently waiting for me to kill it was quite nice, ngl. Also Clair Obscur. I didn’t shut up about that game all last year. It’s just so good, especially for those who prioritize story in video games!
neutral · AI labelView post →
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