Phoenotopia: Awakening Review

RPG's have come a long way, from the days of Dragonstomper on the Atari 2600 back in 1982 (a game I have to admit I'd never heard of before) to the RPGs of today such as Elder Scrolls Online and the Monster Hunter series. While there is an endless number of this genre to be found across PC, console, and even mobile, it's nice to see one that harkens back to the old days of videogames. While Phoenotopia: Awakening isn't the only game to do this, it certainly does tackle the old-school style in a very successful way. Want to take a trip back to the 80's and 90's of gaming? Join me on a journey through Phoenotopia: Awakening.

You play as a "simple villager", though the longer you play the more you realise your character is anything but simple. After a strange ship takes all of the adults in the village, she becomes the oldest among all the children left behind. This puts her in a position of responsibility, lest this become a Lord of the Flies scenario, and she must find a way to restore her village and keep everyone safe.

Fortunately, she is quite capable of making her way through this dangerous yet adorable world. This isn't just a hack and slash RPG, though, which is possibly my favourite part of this game beyond the look of it. While there is plenty of hacking and slashing to be had, there are puzzles as well. I do love myself a good puzzle! Another feature I enjoyed is the fact that you shouldn't attack all of the creatures you encounter. Some will only attack if attacked first. If you don't want to find yourself caught in an avoidable swarm of creatures, you may want to analyse them before you decide if they are truly enemies or not.

The art of Phoenotopia: Awakening is painfully cute. Let it be known I'm an animal lover, and I would rather attack people than anything else. Wow, that sounds bad, moving on! Due to that, attacking some of the creatures was a bit sad to me, especially the frogs, but the sound they make when they are defeated and fly off screen in a way did still make me giggle a bit. I'm not perfect, ok? Besides the adorableness of the animals and even the children, perhaps the best thing about the art style is when you leave locations and find yourself on the full map. It's such a wonderful call-back to old-school games, an overhead view in an 8-bit style.

If you are colourblind, this title may give you a bit of trouble with the colour palette, especially if you have trouble with greens or reds/browns. There were a few places where I stumbled upon doors having not realised they were there because they blended in for me. Once they were pointed out, though, I was glad to know they were there, so it's nice that the game does constantly point out when you're near an entrance due to this issue.

All in all, Phoenotopia: Awakening is an easy game to get lost in. The tutorial comes in the form of other villagers, mostly what I now like to call Tutorial Children who want to show you cool things they know, and it's nicely tucked into the gameplay. There isn't much hand-holding whatsoever as you can choose if you wish to talk to the villagers or not and if not, then you get to figure it out yourself! The title also isn't gentle, which I liked. The first time I died it pulled something I haven't seen in a while, suggesting an easier difficulty. I haven't seen something like that in a while, though it's something that always made me kind of laugh. Needless to say, I never gave into the game's goading to give me an easier path, figuring out how to just get better instead.

So, have you been searching for an old-school-inspired RPG to give a try? Then Phoenotopia: Awakening is definitely for you. Hell, even if you haven't been searching for an old-school-inspired RPG, I would still recommend this title. It's fun and engaging, and absolutely worth a look. It's available on Steam for £14.99 and on the Nintendo Switch for £17.99.