Developed by Aurelien Regard Games
Published by Playdius
Released for Xbox One (2/8/2019)
Also on PC/PS4/Switch
French developers Aurelien Regard advertise Away: Journey to the Unexpected as a "feel-good FPS." Those coming into Away expecting shooting action will be disappointed, as that is only a small part of the gameplay. The feel-good part of the description is apt as the game exudes a goofy charm in its delivery. While there will be points in the game where you'll fire and shoot from a first-person perspective, the majority of the game will spent exploring and swinging melee weapons. There's also a roguelike aspect to the whole thing, allowing you to unlock extra perks for your character as you die, making the game easier in the long run.
Away deserves some praise for its presentation. The 2D sprites living in a 3D world blend together well thanks to the excellent art and texture work. The anime-themed music fits right along with the game's wackiness. Away has a look of its own and delivers on the feel-good vibe of the game on all accounts, with cutesy enemies and NPC's to encounter throughout your journey.
The gameplay in Away combines several genres, most notably it uses elements from both first-person shooters and roguelike games. There are randomly-generated dungeons and some exploration, but thanks to the ability to unlock perks with XP after each playthrough, Away is much easier than your traditional roguelike. The game starts off at home, where you find out that evil forces have been unleashed and your parents have gone missing, so now it's up to you to embark on a journey to find them and vanquish the evil from the land.
After leaving your house, you'll enter into one of four different areas that serve as a hub-world to access the dungeons, explore and meet new characters that you can eventually recruit. When you recruit a new character, you'll gain the ability to switch over to them on the fly and you can have up to 3 characters in your party at once. In order to recruit one of these characters, you'll first need to find a friendship cube. Once you've obtained one of these, you'll also have to select the appropriate dialogue response in order to convince them to join you. Make the wrong selection here and you'll have to attempt to recruit them again next playthrough. Once you've selected the proper responses and recruited the character, in subsequent playthroughs you won't have to worry about the dialog choices. Each character you recruit will add a star point to your total, which will grant you access to new rooms back at the main house. You'll also need a certain amount of star points in order to reach the end of the game, ensuring that you'll have to recruit all of the characters across several playthroughs in order to see the end.
While Away: Journey to the Unexpected features an excellent overall presentation, it falls a bit short in a few gameplay areas. The randomization aspect only applies to the dungeons, which only have a few variations and feel quite similar to one another so this hurts the roguelike aspect a bit. Though the environments are detailed and look nice, they are a bit boring to explore as they tend to feel a bit desolate. Another issue with the game involves the melee combat, particularly with the stick that the main character wields. The hit-detection is a bit off and you'll take a bunch of cheap hits until you get the hang of keeping your distance from the enemies while you swing. The characters with projectiles control fine and while the melee is manageable, it could have been much better.
The characters, art-style and overall cheerful vibe of the game still makes it worth a look for certain players. The campaign can be completed quick, but the game requires you to build up your stats which will require several attempts before you're strong enough to make it through. Depending on how quick you complete the story, Away will last you anywhere between 3-5 hours. There's a bit of replayability due to the fact you can only recruit 3 characters per playthrough, allowing you to mix up your crew. If you're looking for a first-person game that offers something a bit different, you may want to check out Away: Journey to the Unexpected and its cheerful vibes. I'd recommend waiting for a sale due to the short length, but despite its flaws there's some fun and originality in this one.
When I saw the trailer for Away: Journey to the Unexpected, I was immediately drawn to the game from the art-style alone. I knew there was something strangely familiar about it, but it wasn't until researching a bit for this review that I found out one of the developers was the co-founder of Arkedo, who developed some fine XBLIG/PSN games we've looked at on this site.
Final Verdict: Away: Journey to the Unexpected is a first-person roguelike with an anime-inspired feel-good vibe and colorful graphics. Away has a unique style and charm to it, though it's short in length and the melee combat is a bit clunky so I'd advise you to wait on a sale before checking it out.
Related Links:
Buy Away - Microsoft Store
Rogue-Like - Xbox Overview
Arkedo - Xbox Overview
Aurelien Regard - Blogspot
Playdius - Official Site
Away - Metacritic
Away - GameFAQs
Away - True Achievements
Away - Xbox Achievements
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