Alwa’s Legacy

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Alwa’s Collection, along with Alwa’s Awakening.)

Alwa’s Legacy is a Metroidvania released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2020, with a port to PlayStation 4 in 2021. The sequel to Alwa’s Awakening, this game expands on its predecessor in numerous ways, once again following heroine Zoe, who is once more pulled from another dimension to fight to defend the kingdom of Alwa from the evil wizard Vicar. And while this may sound like a simple rehash, it is far from a lazy repeat of the first game – in fact, just about all my complaints from the first game have been addressed here.

While the first game was clearly aiming for an experience reminiscent of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Alwa’s Legacy brings its pixel art visuals and chiptune music up to the sort of quality we expect to see from more modern games, with some really gorgeous, colorful backgrounds and well-animated characters, and with some excellent tunes like Valley of Reprisal, Castle Gardens, Central Alwa, and Queen Eydie. A far cry from simply looking and sounding like a game from a specific era, this is a game that has a quality look and sound all of its own.

The story here is also world’s better than the first time, even if it’s still solidly in “cliche videogame story” territory, with Zoe actually having a personality this time around, and with conversations with the various denizens of Alwa actually well-written… well, again, at least compared to the poorly-localized mess that was the first game.

However, possibly the biggest change here is undoubtedly the gameplay, with much faster progression this time around (within the first 30 minutes or so you’ll gain abilities that took you hours to obtain in the first game), some really clever puzzle design and boss design, and a much more reasonable difficulty level (although this game does retain the first game’s “Assist Mode”, it feels much less necessary this time).

If I had to point to major complaints this time around, it would be that the level design is somewhat convoluted, and that can make it difficult to recall where important places are, even with this game’s much-improved map. While I appreciate having a large, complex world to explore, it would have been nice if exploring that world didn’t seem like such an arduous task simply to get from point A to point B.

Still, this is a much more minor complaint compared to the list of problems I had with the first game. And I really appreciate that Alwa’s Legacy still retains the same basic structure and gameplay elements as its predecessor, so this is not just a much-improved sequel, it’s a faithful sequel as well. In short, fans of the first game should be thrilled with its successor, which holds onto what worked in that game while improving pretty much everything else. And those who skipped over the first game shouldn’t miss out on Alwa’s Legacy, because once the first game’s problems were addressed, what’s left is a fantastic Metroidvania that’s well worth playing for fans of the genre.

tl;dr – Alwa’s Legacy, the sequel to Alwa’s Awakening, is a Metroidvania that improves on its predecessor in just about every way. The result is a game with some great puzzle design, excellent boss design, solid visuals and music, and while the world design is still a bit overly convoluted, this is still overall an excellent Metroidvania that fans of the genre should absolutely be sure to play.

Grade: B+

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