Away: Journey to the Unexpected

More Like a Journey into Disappointment

Written by: Gyaoon

Instagram: @nindie.game.reviews

I've bought a lot of games in the months since I got my Switch, and for a long time, I was very lucky in terms of their quality. Many of those games were great, and most were at least decent. But my luck had to run out eventually, and 'Away: Journey to the Unexpected' was the link that broke the chain.

I really wanted to like 'Away', but ultimately its faults were too imposing to ignore. For a game made by a team of two people, it looks great. Sure, the environments are smallish, so there are no grand, sweeping vistas like in BOTW. But this is an indie game. One made by two people at that, so I'll lower the rubric a little in that regard.

The hook here, visually, is the incredibly well-drawn sprites used to represent enemies and NPCs. Because they're 2D objects in a 3D space, they're always looking in your direction, which isn't as jarring as it sounds. It's actually very charming. Imagine the sprites used in early FPS games like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, but with the graphical fidelity of the latest iteration of Marvel vs. Capcom. The effect is slightly surreal and totally engaging.

Where 'Away' falls flat, however, is... well... everywhere else. For one, a roguelike where the dungeons aren't procedurally generated tends to get old pretty quick. I could have looked beyond that if the combat had been at least passable. But, unfortunately, it is not.

The greatest enemy of melee combat is floatiness, and that beast rears its evil head once again in this game. Since most of the enemies in 'Away' have incredibly simple attack patterns where they either just come straight at you or shoot projectiles, your greatest nemesis will be the floatiness of it all, and it really doesn't help that you take damage from a much closer range than you'd expect. It's all very frustrating. Even the ability to control characters you meet on your isn't much help since most of them wind up being variations on a very similar theme.

Overall, I have to give 'Away: A Journey to the Unexpected' a 1.5 out of 5. Sure, it's fun to look at, but cute sprites will only take you so far when the game itself just isn't very fun to play.