Alwa's Awakening similar games & best alternatives

Alwa's Awakening - Trailer
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Alwa's Awakening

PlayStation 4, Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Xbox One, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Switch • 2017

Should you play it?

Use your magic staff and progress through a large interconnected world where you'll solve puzzles, fight enemies and defeat bosses in order to help free the land of Alwa. Explore and uncover the secrets by using your platforming skills in this challenging and charming 8-bit adventure game.

What works

  • Authentic retro nes aesthetic
  • Engaging exploration and puzzles
  • Catchy chiptune soundtrack
  • Well-designed boss fights
  • Good value for price

Things to keep in mind

  • Slow movement and pacing
  • Tedious backtracking
  • Some obtuse hidden passages
  • Limited story and character development
  • Difficulty spikes in final areas

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Cathedral

  • 8BitBoy™

  • Commander Keen

  • Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

  • Axiom Verge

  • Bloo Kid 2

More expressive

Games that feels like Alwa's Awakening but with more self-expression and customization

  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment

  • Alwa's Legacy

  • Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition

  • The Messenger

  • Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation

  • Odallus: The Dark Call

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Alwa's Awakening: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Expression, Fellowship, Cooperation, Leadership. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Exploration. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Story, Thrill.

Last update: 04/08/2026