GAMES
[ Words Alan Wen ]
FIRST PLAY
AWAYSIS
XSX, PS5, PC
If dungeon crawlers are typically set in grimdark fantasy worlds where you’re repeatedly amassing more powerful gear just to watch numbers go up,
Awaysis
is the playful opposite. Styling itself as a ‘dungeon brawler’, it’s set in a colourful world inspired by the likes of Secret of Mana and Minecraft Dungeons, and you play as cute critters wielding oversized weapons with real weight.
Indie developer 17-Bit has taken inspiration from popular slapstick physics-based games like Gang Beasts and Human: Fall Flat but incorporated that into a tighter arcadey responsiveness, where it’s not so much about doing maths on build stats but more seeing whether you can swing a sword that knocks an enemy flying across the level. As the game takes place on the titular floating island, where water has suddenly stopped flowing down to the planet below, it also means you can beat larger enemies by knocking them off the edge.