Aaru’s Awakening Hits PS4, PS3 April 7th, Free for PS Plus

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Aaru’s Awakening Hits PS4, PS3 April 7th, Free for PS Plus

Aaru’s Awakening for PS4 and PS3

Proudly, and with great anticipation, we announce that Aaru’s Awakening is coming to PS4 and PS3 on April 7th.

At last! The plan was to release the game last summer but first we had to learn about the hefty work of post-production in video games. The hard way. Since this is the debut game for us at Lumenox Games, it has been a learning experience. The game started out as a school project for three of the founding members of Lumenox Games but took off when it won a game creation competition, IGI Gamecreator. Plus having faith it was a motivation to establish the company. Well…

Aaru’s Awakening is an “indie game”. So, what makes a game an “indie game”? Some say it has to do with size of the developer, others say it has to do with distribution or funding – but really there is no real definition. For us, it has always been about creating the game independently. No compromise. Working long hours and burning up the midnight oil has defined this process. No regrets. This game is our passion. So, you have to understand: We are excited.

Aaru’s Awakening for PS4 and PS3

That is exactly why we decided to hand draw everything on the screen, make our own score and design each level to utilise the game mechanic of teleportation in clever ways. For those not familiar with the game, Aaru’s Awakening is a fast-paced platformer that relies on the protagonists abilities to teleport and charge. To finish levels players must solve puzzles that require these abilities, often with split second decision in the rapid and deadly environment. To further involve you in this environment we created a story which is delivered through narrated cut-scenes and music that is fitting to the mood.

The game has been in a developing process for a long time now and we have taken all criticism humbly and with open eyes. We are thankful and we have changed the game accordingly – whenever we have seen useful points. And have updated the game to this very day. It goes without saying; we hope the gamers will like the result.

For those who are advanced in game, here are examples of the newest developments: As the game revolves heavily around using the shoulder and trigger buttons – much like with first-person shooters – we had ignored the conventional button jumping and assigned it to “up” on the left joystick. As we had gotten used to it ourselves, we felt it was easy and comfortable and did not anticipate gamers to feel any different. We were wrong and we figured out a way to assign the jumping to the same button that makes Aaru ‘charge’ – L1.

Aaru’s Awakening for PS4 and PS3

The charging ability makes Aaru dash through the air, enabling him both extra time in the air and the ability to break certain breakable objects. As you always tend to jump when you charge anyway, this made a lot of sense. At the same time we assigned the charging direction to the movement direction of Aaru – which makes more sense when using a controller – opposed to the direction of where you are aiming your teleportation mechanic.

So, as you can see, there is a lot to take under consideration.

One of our most severe criticisms revolved around the difficulty of the game. While we always wanted to make a difficult game, it’s important to make sure that the game isn’t to blame when a player fails to progress, and to make them feel satisfied when they do. For this reason we had to carefully review each of the game’s puzzles with the help of game testers that had no experience with them. A lot of puzzles got minor tweaks, while the boss levels perhaps took the biggest transformation. We now feel that the game is a lot more fluid and easier to pick up – making it easy to learn, but difficult to master.

While getting off to a rocky start – some loving the game and others having trouble with certain aspects – we now feel that it has become something most people can really enjoy. It makes us extremely happy to be releasing the game free for all PlayStation Plus subscribers on PS3 and PS4 so we can reach a larger audience and get as much feedback as possible. For the rest of you, the game is only $14.99.

Now we can use this valuable experience to keep working further on Aaru – the adventure is just about to begin.

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51 Comments

14 Author Replies

  • A fast-paced action platform now this is the originality in indie games that I like!!!!!!!!

  • Looks neat, thanks, and thanks for doing a PS3 version, I keep seeing these pop up lately as PS4 only.

  • Looks cool, will definitely try it out since I’m paying for it as part of my PS+ subscription. ;-)

  • Any chance you can also do vita version too?

    • Johann Ingi Gudjonsson

      We hope to in the future – we’ve noticed that the Vita community is really passionate!

  • Thanks for offering this beauty as a plus game, hope it gets received well as I can tell there was a lot of effort put into this.
    Good luck to all at Lumenox.

  • thanks… i’m looking forward to playing this

  • madmanwithabox12

    Looks interesting, would be cool if it was on Vita too.

  • This is why I love indie games. There’s no restriction to the creative freedom. There’s just an idea and how to execute it. This looks like something I’ll sink my fangs into. ^,..,~

  • i was excited for this game when it was announced, e-wallet ready and all. thank you for putting it as a PS+ game

  • I’ll be reviewing it on my Youtube channel (V-kwadraat) as soon as I can!

  • Everything draw by hand? Amazing art work people, can’t wait to play it tomorrow!! Plus member here!

  • Looks fun. I can’t wait to enjoy this month’s new Playstation Plus games on the PS4 and PS3.

  • PS+ free? Okay, I will try it (plus I like puzzle platformers)

  • “Aruru’s Awakening”

    ~Sid Shuman

  • It looks great and the price is right :)
    I’ll try it out tomorrow

  • Been seeing lots of indie hate lately on Ps Plus forums but glad to see that’s not the case for this game! Looking forward to picking it up, along with tower of guns :D

  • Vita Vita Vita Vita Vita Vita Vita :D

    But I’ll try it on PS4. It’s always nice to check games like this, made with so much passion and sweat.

  • I’ll check this out.
    Still waiting on PS+ lineup for this month though..

  • Looks great! Excited to try this greatness out

  • Longtime PS fan (One, Two, Three and now the Four,) so first of all I am really glad for the ongoing support the PS3 is getting.
    Secondly this is a pretty looking game and I will probably scoop this one up.

    Expect Greatness,

  • Is it tomorrow yet?

  • Looks cool, I love games that give me funky controls to play as an animal such as Stranger’s Wrath or DK Country; but just what the hell kinda animal IS this beast?

    • Johann Ingi Gudjonsson

      He’s a rooster, since he’s the champion of Dawn – but obviously a rooster that takes the gym seriously.

  • Where are these games? I checked my ps plus line-up and its not changed.

    • Johann Ingi Gudjonsson

      If you’re on Playstation 4 it will not show up as the Plus line-up, so just go to the New games section and download it there for free.

  • I’m sick of 2d indie side-scrollers.

  • This should be pretty good. I’m excited for the game.

  • Where’s the games?

  • What time will the free April games be available?

  • so we only get one game this month?

  • This game reminds me quite a lot of Okami. It looks really great, and can’t believe it’s a freebie. Props to the developers. I’m sure this is gonna be a diamond in the rough for the PS+ folks.

    @27/28: No. The rest of the games are going to be available later today. Check in roughly two/three hours.

  • Íslenskt nafn, ágætt!

  • What time are the games going to switch? I’ve been checking since 12am and still nothing….

  • It’s 5pm here and still no games?

  • You and me both buddy

  • LEFT__4__DEAD__2

    Give It Time, Sometimes It Will Take A Long Time For Them To Put Stuff On The Store. ;)

  • Honestly, jumping with L1 sounds as cumbersome as jumping by pressing up. The art style has me intrigued though. I’ll see what others think of the game before jumping in.

  • Where are my free games I want them now

  • Nearly 7pm EST here and still no drop? What gives?

  • Never Alone is showing up on the Free games page of the store at a discounted price of $8.99?? What gives?

  • all the free games are showing up with a price but no ps plus free price under it whats going on? and bastion has no ten percent off sale either it just reads 14.99

  • Getting tired of the tap dance you guys have been putting on the last couple of months when it comes to the Plus benefits. If it’s not broke, don’t mess with it folks. Just my humble opinion.

  • It’s almost 7:30 and the store is usually updated by now, was there some sort of delay?

  • the game is not appearing as free for me and i have my psplus active, what gives? not the only game either all the supposed free games of April do not appear as free.

  • haha, what? Tap dance? that’s funny.

  • Yeah, got now the free games! thx

  • You guys seriously have nothing to play that you can’t wait a few extra hours? Jeez.

  • Why isnt this game available for ps plus italy?
    I cant find it but i have downloaded the other ps4 games
    I checked in my ps3 too i couldnt find it

    • Johann Ingi Gudjonsson

      It should arrive to EU PSN shop today. Games generally arrive on Tuesdays on US shop and Wednesdays on EU shop.

  • Thanks :D

  • This is the most awesome FREE PlayStation Plus game I’ve played since, well, Retro City Rampage was free for us on the PS3 back in December of 2012… Holy cow, time sure is going by fast. Honestly, this is the coolest free game on PS4 right now. I’ve already made my mark on your leaderboards and I honestly believe this has all the makings of a modern day gaming gem.

    I love the Unreal Tournament inspiration. If you guys add multiplayer PvP where you get to crush the other player by using trap switches to turn the level against them, that would be really cool too. I love the art direction, the sound design, the mechanics… It’s all put together very well. Right now, I’m at the end of the game. I have deleted Bloodborne already, but this is staying on my PS4 hard drive indefinitely.

    Please don’t stop making games. The art direction in this game reminds me of Earthworm Jim, Rayman Legends, and Dust An Elysian Tail. that being said, I can dig it and I hope to see more in the future.

    • Johann Ingi Gudjonsson

      Thanks a lot for the kind words! I have noticed your name on the leaderboards, you are competing with developer times! – and yes, we’re planning on making many more games :)

  • I’ve just played Monster Bag, and it’s awesome. Beautiful story and really fun game! Congrats to the studio and thanks Sony for putting it into the list this month.

  • Oops, wrong post LOL. But I’m still looking forward to play Aaru’s Awakening this weekend.

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