Alwa's Awakening (PS4) | "Got to go Fast" Speedrun [1hr18m] + Intro. Commentary (2025)

*NOTE: a commentary-free version of this run can be found here: https://youtu.be/kD-aYwhrZY01. INTRODUCTIONAlwa's Awakening, an NES-style Metroidvania released quietly in 2017 to some fanfare before fading out, is a game akin to a shared secret among connoisseurs. If you're not on the same frequency as its small team of developers, it will probably seem to you like little more than a curiosity. Let me insert a word here about Elden Pixels: these four guys are brilliant, quirky, bold, almost super-humanly responsive to both fans and critics, and - last but not least - overflowing with inspiration drawn from their formative encounters with the classics. Their creation just drips with everything I long to see in both finished products and the creative processes that shape them. Love, care, eccentricity, personality, flashes of brilliance - as I say in my commentary, the game is so *alive* with the spirit of its creators that playing it almost feels like getting to know them. Elden Pixels quite simply filled Alwa's Awakening to the brim with references, allusions, little details everywhere revealing what the words "gaming experience" mean to them, names of people they know, challenges that seem meaningful to them, jokes they find funny, quirks they feel no compulsion to expunge - everything, in short, that gaming means to these guys is in it. It's bloody fantastic. This is not the game we deserve, but (together with a few others, such as Axiom Verge) the game that we need. 2. "GOT TO GO FAST"Alwa's Awakening is a hard game. No two ways about it. It can be as difficult, frustrating and painful as popping a zit on your back. Once you learn your way around its idiosyncrasies, though, it becomes something of a revelation: such simplicity, such depth.There I go gushing again. Anyway, this issue of difficulty - the "easy to learn, hard to master" dilemma of old NES games - is why I wanted to get this video out into the human ambit ASAP. While I was working toward the platinum, I noticed to my chagrin that the number of guides available for its toughest - and most rewarding - trophy, called "Got to go Fast" (beat the game in under 2 hours w/ no more than 4 deaths) was a nice round digit in between -1 and 1. That is to say: *0.*To be sure, there are pro speedruns aplenty waiting patiently for our perusal, and these can be incredibly fun to watch (the WR holder InfestedRiche is funny as hell). The problem is that, rather like Castlevania and many other old school platformers, it's too damn hard to pull off the movement tricks and glitches the speedrunners rely upon. As a result, aside from some overarching stuff we might learn about pathing, there isn't much the rabble is going to get out of them. Mercifully, an awesome YouTuber named Alzorath put a few glitchless "pre-speedrun testing" runs online that serve beautifully as a backbone for what I might as well call "noob trophy runs." What I've done here is refine his earlier, easier strats in a way that allowed copious room for error, made some segments safer, and boosted up Zoe's power by collecting more orbs.I'm sure there are even less taxing ways to obtain this trophy, but this is the best I could do in my limited wisdom. It works. It'll snag you a very comfortable time and make the low death requirement relatively painless.3. CONCLUSIONBuy the game. Play it. Then go for the gold - or platinum. You might be surprised at how satisfying it is. Above all, if you want more things made with loving care in the world, you need to support things that are made with it. You need to support the people who make it their mission to make things with it. Even if you end up not liking the game, once you get a sense for what these guys are all about by dropping in on some of their streams, watching some of their videos, and seeing just how much respect they have for their customers, you won't regret the purchase. *OTHER RELEVANT VIDEOSInfestedRiche's SGDQ 2017 run: https://youtu.be/8mpGa3gyFL0Alzorath's Any%, Glitchless Pre-Speedrun Testing [1:29:47] run: https://youtu.be/JA8Gzug9CmkAlzorath's casual walkthrough [lots of good tips in here for item-related trophies]: https://youtu.be/VUwgeGpsm88?list=PL5gcuKwKZBUGJ_AqU6thtQ5Onay8AWm6XPositron's Let's Play: https://youtu.be/jVLuQ-WcIOc?list=PLwQX4pVd9LWnqBjL0-NfltvyLda7qQlPBMikael Forslind's interview with Crit Hit: https://youtu.be/vO0Lnjkm7Ug?list=LLlH4Wbh5LoHsnLOiYdWn6aQMikael Forslind's "Devs Play" Series [Battle Kid 2]: https://youtu.be/2L6uUhwslKY?list=LLlH4Wbh5LoHsnLOiYdWn6aQSuspense's Speedrun Tutorial: https://youtu.be/bO3BVXc2BRM?list=LLlH4Wbh5LoHsnLOiYdWn6aQ