Alwa’s Legacy review for Nintendo Switch

I suspect that if you really want to get the most out of Alwa’s Legacy, you?ll need to have been a fan of its predecessor, Alwa’s Awakening.

It?s not that there?s some deep, impenetrable lore that you need to know in order to understand what?s happening in Alwa’s Legacy. Nor does it build on some crazy, unique gameplay that the first game established. Rather, it?s that Alwa’s Legacy is a pretty generic Metroidvania platformer, and unless you?ve formed a bond with the characters and the series thanks to the first game, there?s not a lot here that?ll set the game apart compared to the many, many other games of this genre that populate the Switch?s software library.

I mean, I can see why some people have that bond. Alwa’s Legacy has some nice retro-inspired graphics, and it?s got a map that?s big without being unwieldy. If you?re looking for a Metroidvania platformer that you can sink your teeth into for a week or so, you can do that here, and you?ll be rewarded with pretty much everything you?d expect from one of these games. You can explore to your heart?s content to find all kinds of secret areas, and the combat and platforming elements are solidly done.

But the same could be said for any number of other games on the Switch. Alwa’s Legacy is better than many of them, but not as good as others. It?s fine for what it is, but if you want something that?ll really blow you away, this probably isn?t it.

Elden Pixels provided us with an Alwa’s Legacy code for review purposes.