After the Eschatos announcement, here’s more shmup news! The Famitsu Golden Hall of Famer, NeverAwake, will finally make its way to Xbox. This nightmarish twin-stick shmup has been available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 since September 28th, but it took some time to be ported to Xbox.
The game received critical acclaim, with an overall Metacritic score of 88 on Switch and 84 on PS4. You can read the Retrolike.net review here. Although reviewer Danny (me) found the core gameplay excellent, we were slightly more critical. The game felt like it dragged on a bit, with uninspired story progression. However, a score of 7.5 is ultimately a good rating.
About NeverAwake:
Guide Rem on a quest to wake up from a neverending nightmare. Wade through the subconscious thoughts of a young schoolgirl as everyday experiences turn into frightening face-offs against her fears. Fight against Rem’s biggest phobias including evil dentists, vicious vegetables, dangerous dogs and other adolescent annoyances.
Bob and weave through bad dreams and mow down Rem’s inner demons with fast-paced twin-stick SHMUP combat. Stick and move with multiple attack patterns that lend to different movement styles, and clear waves of enemies with surreal specials like 360-degree explosions and shotgun-esque directional blasts. Purchase and upgrade items to improve passives and armor, and create the ultimate build to topple dozens of terrifying bosses.
“It is very satisfying to see NeverAwake’s positive reception and that it continues to receive awards,” said Azusa Kawamura, Producer at Phoenixx. “Our dream of launching on all consoles is almost a reality, and we can’t wait for Xbox users to try out NeverAwake in a few short weeks!”
