TOKYO – Dec. 12, 2022 – NeverAwake, the twin-stick shoot’em up set in the world of a young girl’s horrifying dreams from developer Neotro Inc and publisher Phoenixx, celebrates a hauntingly successful PC launch with a new accolades trailer. Console preorders begin today on the Nintendo Switch ahead of the Thursday, Jan. 19 console debut.
NeverAwake achieved an 84 Metacritic score, ranking as one of the best indie games of the year, and one of the top 40 critically-acclaimed games out of the 12,000 plus titles released on Steam in 2022. These post-launch accolades from worldwide media follow pre-launch awards from Japanese events, including the Tokyo Game Show 2022 First Selection designation and the Vermilion Gate Grand Prize at Japan’s most prestigious indie game event, BitSummit X-Roads.
Starting on Thursday, Jan. 19, dreamers on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 will seek to free the little girl Rem from a literal nightmare prison. Bob and weave through a colorful, hand-drawn bullet hell while facing Rem’s biggest fears: vegetables, dogs, the dentist, manifestations of school day pressures, and everything else a child dreads.
The disturbing machinations of Rem’s mind take twisted forms, but she can use an arsenal of twin-stick weaponry, accessories and upgrades to create attack patterns one could only dream of. Face her phobias and frightening foes across 80 different levels and dozens of boss battles along with various balance updates included with the console release.
Dive deeper into the dream land with the official NeverAwake “Nightmare World Art” digital artbook and soundtrack, and listen to the soothing lullaby-like song “AWAKE,” by DJ, singer-songwriter, and producer YonYon, streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.
“We knew NeverAwake was a special game the moment we saw it,” said Azusa Kawamura, Producer at Phoenixx. “Being recognized as one of the top games of 2022 is a dream come true, and we are beyond thrilled to bring NeverAwake to a brand-new audience on Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.”
NeverAwake is available on PC via Steam for $19.99 with support for English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese language text. The emotional “Nightmare World Art” digital artbook is also for sale for $7.99, as well as the NeverAwake soundtrack also for $7.99. A bundle with the game, artbook, and soundtrack is available for a 22% discount.
About Neotro Inc.
Neotro Inc. is a Japanese independent game development company based in Yokohama with a particular affection for arcade games and has previously released the 2D fantasy side-scrolling shooters VRITRA Complete Edition and VRITRA HEXA for exA-Arcadia. By bringing two words “Neo” and “Retro” together, Neotro Inc. chose their name to follow the saying “OnkoShuin”（温故知新, which translates to “learning from the past” and “carrying old wisdom to create new.”
About Phoenixx
Established in 2019 by industry veterans, Phoenixx aims to support innovative and creative developers from Japan and around the world. Its mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one creator, one game, and one community at a time.
To learn more, visit the Phoenixx official website, Phoenixx Facebook page, and follow @Phoenixx_inc on Twitter.
