Hands-on with Awaysis, the isometric motion magic [Preview]

Awaysis puts physics, motion and speed front and center in a nostalgia-fueled isometric co-op adventure, and it really gets us moving.

I grew up on SNES multiplayer games, fawning over the likes of Secret of Mana, Pocky & Rocky and Legend of the Mystical Ninja, and later Four Swords on the Gamecube. My brother and I would make sure our weekend rentals usually included something that gave us an adventure that we could play together, where cool action was mixed in with equally cool worlds. I’ve been playing isometric action games and rpgs for 30 years since then, but they never really managed to hit the notes of those early 90s games.

Well, based on my time with it at PAX East I’m pretty sure Awaysis might remedy that situation.

The game, developed by 17-Bit, follows their VR focused endeavor Song in the Smoke which launched in the height of COVID. Things were dark and getting darker, so with their next project a pivot to something with more heart and energy was needed. Awaysis creates that energy with movement and speed, quite literally. We control one of four animal heroes (I was an adorable fennec fox!) and battle hordes of enemies from arena room to room, solving non-obtrusive puzzles along the way as we make our way to a goal. The game is presented in a charmingstyle with a lot of focus on color and smooth animation; as I run around with my hero his ears trail back behind him, flying forward when I come to a stop. It’s a cute little detail, but it adds some nice life details to the mix.

The demo kicks off with us surfing down watery slopes, launching over ramps to pull lite tricks. We can even slide along rails on edges, ripping across the playing field at top speed. It’s meant to teach us that momentum is highly important here, as it helps not only with getting from one place to another but also how we take on enemies. The controller triggers function each arm, so tapping one lets us swing with the right or left, much like pinball with individual flippers. We can buttonmash but it’ll only chip away at our enemies. Much like pinball (again) the real power of comes with physics, as using our momentum as we slide along a rail just right can allow us to land much more powerful smashes on our enemies, really clearing them out form the field. As we play through the demo we discover this fairly quickly — almost every arena has some kind of a rail or edge or stream to ride on — so it becomes a little more tactical to make sure we’re aiming ourselves correctly.

That’ doesn’t take into account’s amplified with the enjoyable chaos that occurs when we have four players on the sreen at once, all trying to either scoot along the rails or avoid collisions. We can harm each other (by accident!) but we can also heal each other, and the game rewards us for doing so. I played the game both within a squad of four and by myself, and the challenge scaled accordingly without issue.

Awaysis‘s use of motion and momentum is a fun spin in a co-op action adventure, and some slight nods within the demo hint at a pretty expansive story and world that will go along with it. It’s time to give my brother a call to bring the extra controllers, because the couch co-op will assuredly be taking place.

This preview based on hands-on at PAX East 2026. Images and video courtesy publisher and SideQuesting. This video first appeared on The SideQuest for March 26, 2026.