Some people bash their heads against difficult games for glory or for loot, but I’m just trying to survive Awaria so I can kiss another ghost. Łukasz “Vanripper” Piskorz, the developer behind cult hit Helltaker, is back with more cute girls to dangle in front of you in a game designed to make you work for it.
Awaria is free on Steam and Itch.io, but scoring a smooch from one of its ghost girls is certainly not. Like Helltaker, Awaria looks deceptively simple: You’re a speedy little mechanic stuck in 2D rooms with machines that need fixing. WASD controls move you around as you carry the right parts to the right machines. And then ghosts show up to try to kill you and suddenly you’re dodging attacks like in a bullet-hell shooter.
Your job would be pretty straightforward if it weren’t for the phantom ladies trying to fry you. Awaria reminds me of playing Overcooked. The machines are hungry customers, begging for the right object to satisfy them, and it’s on you to keep them fed. But you’re just a fragile little gal who falls to her knees when one of these evil girls touches you, so the machines have to wait while you lure the ghost girls around and dodge their attacks. Anyone who was forged in the fires of Undertale’s boss fights will thrive here. I was not and probably would’ve given up if each level didn’t end with the declaration that you’re “READY TO KISS.”
These victory scenes are a peek into what’s going on with each ghost girl and how they respond to a quick peck on the cheek. Zmora, whom you meet in the first level, is completely flustered. “Next time the shields fall, you’ll pay for this,” she threatens as the tsundere alarms go off. Cutwire leans in close and promises you she’ll be back to “stab you in the back.” And Nikita towers over you and calls you tiny. Awaria has something for everyone.
Eventually the girls decide that tormenting you is kind of fun actually, and team up to make you squirm. I was not equipped to handle two at once and surrendered after finishing a handful of levels. You can knock the difficulty down to easy and take a few more hits, or you can crank it up above normal and see how long you can last with a harsher time limit and machines that constantly break.
Helltaker gave you a secret ending for finding hidden keys in its levels and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more to Awaria than it seems. There were no dialogue options or branching paths in what I played, but the achievement list suggests the most nimble players may be rewarded for their efforts. I’m tempted to see what that is, if only because the game is so snappy to play. Restarting a level is instant and the throbbing soundtrack by Mittsies yanks you right back in every time.
Each ghost girl is destined to be someone’s favorite, even if I don’t find their character designs as personally targeted as the demon girls in Helltaker. It’s possible I just haven’t found Awaria’s equivalent to Cerberus yet, and I’m sorry for all my friends on Discord who expect me to talk about anything else if that happens. I guess I’ll have to go back to letting these women boss me around a little longer to find out.
