tinyBuild is known for publishing unique and interesting games, and Waking—released for Steam and Xbox One on June 18th—surely fits into its growing library. Waking was created by Jason Oda, a one-man development team, who’s been working on the game for the past five years. The game promised a truly unique experience of gameplay and storytelling with its fourth-wall-breaking game mechanics. It accomplishes it effectively, impactful, and creatively, but that experience does come with some caveats.
STORY
The game centers around you being in a coma and fighting to come back from it, by using memories and loved ones to overcome the people who seek to keep you there. A few years ago I had a near-death experience and was in a coma, so the story really connected with me from the beginning.
Early on in the game, you’ll meet Somnus, whose goal is to keep you sleeping forever. He and his disciples speak philosophically throughout the game and will have you questioning life and death throughout. Along the way, you’ll be asked to physically close your eyes and think of a memory, friends or family, and bring them into the game to help you.
GAMEPLAY
The game has a very unique and expansive way of using combat. Most of the time you’ll use telekinetic powers to fight your enemies, with melee attacks introduced as well. Bringing memories and loved ones into the game is very integral to the gameplay. After brief segments that’ll force you to describe the memory or person being brought into the game, these additions will then become a special power or companion to help you battle against foes. Bringing these memories into the game was very impactful, and actually had me teary-eyed a couple of times.
Framerate is consistent and I didn’t experience any issues with having many enemies on screen at once. I did have issues with the interface because it feels very antiquated and unclear. Some screens will only let you use the D-pad and others will only let you use the left stick. Sometimes prompts won’t show up on the screen at all, so I had to assume I was supposed to push X to interact with the item. Invisible walls were frequent in some spots that I thought I could go to, while some spots with no walls that looked accessible, would then kill me.
VISUALS
The game has its own distinct art style and at times the visuals are truly beautiful, especially with how some of the lighting work throughout the game is utilized. Character design stands out above all. There are some characters in the game—specifically the mechanical ones—who were my favorites. They flood dark areas with a bright light and just give off a menacing, spectral feel. There are the human-animal hybrid characters that come off very Satanic, each sporting the head of a different animal.
The different environments in the world, on the other hand, while they are unique, just look uninspired. There were times when I was playing the game, where I just felt unconvinced by what I was seeing and had to take a break. Areas and corridors felt very reused and it tended to be exhausting, playing the same place over and over.
AUDIO
The music in the game was overall enjoyable and was one of my favorite takeaways from playing. Although the game reused the tracks very frequently, I enjoyed them and didn’t mind at all. The best track in my opinion was “Lost” by Kareful, which felt very extraterrestrial.
The rest of the songs sounded spiritual and there were some rock songs that sounded similar to Angels and Airwaves, with catchy guitar riffs and sound. The sound design of the game was decent, but nothing stood out.
Dialogue sounded very well-mixed and enemies’ sounds did a great job of alerting me as to when they were attacking.
REPLAYABILITY
Because the game lets you choose different aspects of your life to help push the story along, it makes it very replayable for those who enjoy their time with it. That being said, because the location types feel extremely reused and even the gameplay loop itself can be repetitive, it might push some away. There are achievements for this game, though, so achievement hunters will be pleased. Besides that, I wouldn’t see myself playing it more than once.
WHAT IT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER
There are a bunch of things that could be patched to improve the game’s quality.
Wait times can be excruciatingly long at some points of the game. Sometimes it's very unclear as to where I’m supposed to go, and why I’m doing what I’m doing. There isn’t that much exposition or story building in terms of keeping it moving along cohesively.
I experienced a game-breaking glitch, where I picked something up with my powers, threw it, and was stuck in a room because that item was needed to continue. I had to exit the game, go to the main menu, reload my save, and then go back to that spot.
Also, as a warning to people that have epilepsy, although there’s a mental health warning at the very start of the game, there is no epilepsy warning in the game at all. I played the game at night with the lights off and there were times when it would go from a dark screen straight to a blinding white one.
VERDICT
The feelings and memories that the game wants you to recount can be very powerful, making you think of them even after playing the game.
Unfortunately, the game itself made it a slog for me to keep playing. Although the premise was very personal to me, my own memories were the thing keeping me invested in playing further.
I do really like the overall concept and execution of the game and think that at a price tag of $19.99, it is worth it to try something with a deeper meaning.
