Difference between revisions of "Pawarumi"

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|background = hsl(341, 81%, 98%)
 
|image = PawarumiSwitch.png
 
|image = PawarumiSwitch.png
|width = 324px;
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|width = 324px
 
|imagecaption = Switch Definitive Edition Cover
 
|imagecaption = Switch Definitive Edition Cover
 
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There are no lives or continues/[[Help:Glossary#Extend|extends]] in Pawarumi, only a bar depicting the amount of shield available, which can be recovered at any time by using the ''Boost'' mechanic. This also means that every run will automatically be a [[Help:Glossary#1cc|1CC]].
 
There are no lives or continues/[[Help:Glossary#Extend|extends]] in Pawarumi, only a bar depicting the amount of shield available, which can be recovered at any time by using the ''Boost'' mechanic. This also means that every run will automatically be a [[Help:Glossary#1cc|1CC]].
  
When hit, the shield depletes by a third.
+
When hit, the shield depletes by a third. Do note that ground-based enemies do not hurt you on contact.
  
===== Basic Weapons =====
+
Both the shield and super attack bars carry over from stage to stage.
 +
 
 +
==== Weapon overview ====
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
|-
! Serpent Gatling !! Condor Laser !! Jaguar Missiles
+
! Serpent Gatling (green) !! Condor Laser (blue) !! Jaguar Missiles (red)
 
|-
 
|-
 
|  
 
|  
[[File:Pawarumi-serpent.gif.gif|frameless|Pawarumi's Serpent Gatling Gun]]
+
[[File:Pawarumi-serpent.gif.gif|frameless|center|Pawarumi's Serpent Gatling Gun]]
 
||  
 
||  
[[File:Pawarumi-condor.gif|frameless|Pawarumi's Condor Laser]]
+
[[File:Pawarumi-condor.gif|frameless|center|Pawarumi's Condor Laser]]
 
||  
 
||  
[[File:Pawarumi-jaguar-missiles.gif|frameless|Pawarumi's Jaguar Missiles]]
+
[[File:Pawarumi-jaguar-missiles.gif|frameless|center|Pawarumi's Jaguar Missiles]]
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
Gatling gun; bullets fly in a spiraling funnel that is wider near the ship. Useful to hit enemies at the side of the Chukaru.
 +
||
 +
A laser that passes through enemies. Useful for hurting several enemies in the same vertical line.
 +
||
 +
Homing missiles; the aiming recticle is a cone in front of the Chukaru that follows the left-right movement of the ship. Useful for approaching enemies from the side.
 
|}
 
|}
  
[[File:Pawarumi-jaguar-missiles.gif|frameless|Pawarumi's Jaguar Missiles]]
+
==== Hitbox ====
 +
 
 +
The Chukaru changes shape depending on the divinity/weapon it is using, but the ship’s hitbox is always limited to the glowing pod in the middle of it.
 +
 
 +
Enemy hitboxes are circles and in the case of bosses a cluster of circles. (click on images below to see a bigger version)
 +
 
 +
<gallery heights=200px mode=packed>
 +
File:Chukaru's Hitbox.png|Chukaru’s hitbox
 +
File:ice-boss-hitbox.png|Ice Commander’s hitboxes
 +
File:Industrial Complex's Boss Hitbox.png|Cyborg Complex Engineer’s hitboxes
 +
</gallery>
  
 
===Trinity Mechanic===
 
===Trinity Mechanic===
Contrary to many shoot’em ups, Pawarumi doesn’t have any items to pick up and make your weapons progress, they are at their maximum potential right from the start. It features a game mechanic called Trinity: the three basic weapons are powered by three divinities: Condor (blue), Serpent (green) and Jaguar (red). Enemies are powered by those same divinities (colors). The interaction between a weapon hit and an enemy triggers one of the three bonuses of the Trinity: Boost, Drain & Crush.
+
Contrary to many shoot’em ups, Pawarumi doesn’t have any items to pick up and make your weapons progress, they are at their maximum potential right from the start. It features a game mechanic called Trinity: the three basic weapons are powered by three divinities: ''Condor (blue)'', ''Serpent (green)'' and ''Jaguar (red)''. Enemies are powered by those same divinities (colors). The interaction between a weapon hit and an enemy triggers one of the three bonuses of the Trinity: ''Boost'', ''Drain'' & ''Crush''.
 +
 
 +
A mnemonic to remember the different combinations can be as follows:
 +
 
 +
* the same colour always boosts / regenerates health,
 +
* green grass overgrows the red-ish soil (crush),
 +
* blue ice freezes the green grass (crush),
 +
* red fire melts the blue ice (crush),
 +
* and then drain is just the inverse of crush.
  
 
[[File:pawarumi-wheel.gif|frameless|center|Color Matching Animation]]
 
[[File:pawarumi-wheel.gif|frameless|center|Color Matching Animation]]
  
 
=====Boost=====
 
=====Boost=====
It cures the shield AND the enemy hit will shoot slightly faster. (x1.25 in discovery mode, x1.5 in normal mode, x2 in heroic mode)
+
It regenerates your shield AND the enemy hit will shoot slightly faster. (x1.25 in discovery mode, x1.5 in normal mode, x2 in heroic mode)
 +
 
 +
* Green Serpent weapon boosts on green serpent enemies.
 +
* Blue Condor weapon boosts on blue condor enemies.
 +
* Red Jaguar weapon boosts on red jaguar enemies.
  
 
=====Drain=====
 
=====Drain=====
 
It will transform enemies’ pain into energy to progressively charge each level of the Super Attack.
 
It will transform enemies’ pain into energy to progressively charge each level of the Super Attack.
 +
 +
* Green Serpent weapon drains blue condor enemies.
 +
* Blue Condor weapon drains red jaguar enemies.
 +
* Red Jaguar weapon drains blue condor enemies.
  
 
=====Crush=====
 
=====Crush=====
 
It will multiply the damages inflicted to enemies by a factor of x1.5.
 
It will multiply the damages inflicted to enemies by a factor of x1.5.
 +
 +
* Green Serpent weapon crushes red jaguar enemies.
 +
* Blue Condor weapon crushes green serpent enemies.
 +
* Red Jaguar weapon crushes blue condor enemies.
  
 
=== Super Attack ===
 
=== Super Attack ===
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A counter appears up above the ship exponentially growing when each projectile hits. A special bonus is awarded based on the final value of that counter.
 
A counter appears up above the ship exponentially growing when each projectile hits. A special bonus is awarded based on the final value of that counter.
 +
[[File:Pawarumi-super.mp4.gif|frameless|center|Super Attack]]
  
 
===Controls===
 
===Controls===
The game is designed for analog gamepads but attention has been paid for it to be also played with arcade sticks.
+
The game is designed for analog gamepads but attention has been paid for it to be also played with digital 8-way arcade sticks. The movement of the ship is analog (no inertia!), very fine and precise movement can be achieved with the joystick.
The movement of the ship is analog (no inertia!), very fine and precise movement can be achieved with the joystick.
+
 
 
Three buttons fire the three main weapons, a fourth one fires the super attack, and the last fifth one, "brake", halves the speed of the ship.
 
Three buttons fire the three main weapons, a fourth one fires the super attack, and the last fifth one, "brake", halves the speed of the ship.
  
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Button assignments are reconfigurable in the options.
 
Button assignments are reconfigurable in the options.
 +
 +
===Modes===
 +
 +
The main mode is '''Arcade''', where the stage order is also dependent on the difficulty they choose. Do note that any run in Pawarumi is effectively a 1CC run, since the game does not have lives nor credits, but a health bar instead.
 +
 +
'''Training''' mode allows the player to re-play individual stages. Each stage reached in ''Arcade'' mode will unlock here at the difficulty it was attempted at.
 +
 +
In addition to that there is also a '''Tutorial''' mode that features a small tutorial level.
  
 
===Difficulties===
 
===Difficulties===
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==Story==
 
==Story==
  
The story varies a bit depending on the difficulty taken – the stages (and therefore story sequences) are in different order, and the last stage is only accessible on the higher two difficulties, with the true ending only on the highest difficulty.
+
<blockquote>
 +
In the far future, an alternate reality… The descendants of Aztecs, Mayans, Nazcas… all united, spread their culture and technology all over the world.
 +
 
 +
They mastered light then gravity. With the ability to make the most dense rocks ”fly“, they started to build immense structures out of stones and went on building flying mineral ships.
 +
 
 +
Through their technology and their wisdom, they managed to make contact with three ethereal and powerful beings. Those deities took physical body in the shape of a Serpent, a Condor and a Jaguar and gave them access to their infinite energies, before leaving.
 +
 
 +
That power raised a keen interest amongst beings hidden in the shadows of the galaxy. They took control of Axo’s mind, the best pilot of Earth. She was the only one able to master Chukaru, the ship powered by all three energies.
 +
 
 +
Through her, they destroyed humans’ defenses… But Axo’s will is strong, will she manage to defeat them before her civilization is gone forever?
 +
</blockquote>
 +
 
 +
The story varies a bit depending on the difficulty taken – the stages (and therefore story sequences) are in different order, and the last stage is only accessible on the higher two difficulties, with the true ending available only on the highest difficulty.
 +
 
 +
Below the stages are laid in the order as in the Heroic difficulty, which should be the “true” story and ending.
 +
 
 +
''(TODO: move the strategy parts to [[#Strategy]] and actually add story here?)''
  
 
===Alaska Secret Base class T.I.K.A.L===
 
===Alaska Secret Base class T.I.K.A.L===
 
[[File:Pawarumi-Ice-level.jpg|thumb|Alaska]]
 
[[File:Pawarumi-Ice-level.jpg|thumb|Alaska]]
 +
 +
''coordinates: [https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=8/60.633/-139.950 60 38'N 139 57'W]''
 +
 +
boss: '''The Ice Commander'''
 +
 +
The Ice Commander consists of a face and four floating hands. The hands slowly move in a pattern and fire lasers in order to narrow the space you can maneuver in, while the face shoots bullets. As you destroy the hands you have more space to maneuver, so a valid surivial approach is to prioritise getting rid of the two outermost hands. Another approach is to damage the face before destroying the hands to shorten the last attack.
 +
 +
===Xibalba: Doors of the Underworld===
 +
[[File:Pawarumi-xibalba-boss.jpg|thumb|Xibalba]]
 +
 +
 +
''coordinates: [https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/30.0500/-100.1000 30 03'N 100 06'W]''
 +
 +
Before reaching the Xibalba Keylock, you are flooded by several huge swarms of enemies. A good option is to use the ''Super Attack'' and rake in a lot of points as well.
 +
 +
mid-stage boss(?):
 +
 +
Xibalba Keylock – you need to ''boost'' the keylock three times in order to unlock it, while you are being attacked by several waves of enemies of the same colour than the lock is at that time.
 +
 +
After the door you unlocked closes behind you, a giant ball starts nearing you, making your space to maneuver ever smaller. In order to keep it at bay you need to ''crush'' the enemies that spawn. Upon doing so, the crushed enemy will crash into the ball bumping it slightly back.
 +
 +
boss: '''The Warden'''
 +
 +
The Warden spider has several attack patterns, but in addition to that, between its attack phase it will spawn three floating rocks each with a coloured portal(?). It will then turn them over and shuffle them in the style of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-card_Monte three card monte] and call you to perform either a ''crush'', ''boost'', or ''drain''. You may shoot at any of the rocks, as long as you use the right attack at it. If you guess correctly, that rock will fall and the boss will reappear weakened. If you get it wrong, the boss will regenerate a limb and with it some of its health. An easy tactic is to either always keep an eye on the same colour.
  
 
===Dune Ocean of Cha-Ni===
 
===Dune Ocean of Cha-Ni===
 
[[File:Pawarumi-desert-level.jpg|thumb|Dune Ocean]]
 
[[File:Pawarumi-desert-level.jpg|thumb|Dune Ocean]]
===Xibalba: Doors of the Underworld===
+
 
[[File:Pawarumi-xibalba-boss.jpg|thumb|Xibalba]]
+
''coordinates: [https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=6/-24.267/15.200 24 16'S 15 12'E]''
 +
 
 +
mid-stage boss: Pyramid
 +
 
 +
The pyramid flies off and later attaches to the head of the snake boss. The end-stage snake boss’ head will be of the same colour as that of the pyramid at the time you defeated it. The end-stage snake boss will use different attacks depending on which colour its head is. ''(TODO: explain the different attacks)''
 +
 
 +
boss: '''The Dune Queen'''
 +
 
 +
1. stage: catch the snake
 +
 
 +
2. stage: snake head
 +
 
 +
 
 
===Itzamatul Industrial Complex===
 
===Itzamatul Industrial Complex===
 
[[File:Pawarumi-foundry-level.jpg|thumb|Industrial Complex]]
 
[[File:Pawarumi-foundry-level.jpg|thumb|Industrial Complex]]
 +
 +
''coordinates: [https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=8/-39.150/175.617 39 09'S 175 37'E]''
 +
 +
The mid-stage boss consists of three turret towers in the middle (one red and two blue) and two green turrets flying into position from the left and right of the screen. The green turrets get replaced if you destroy them, so they are a good opportunity to ''boost'' your sheields or ''drain'' them to charge your Super. Another trick is that you can bypass some of the bullet patterns by passing the boss over the top of the screen.
 +
 +
boss: '''The Cyborg Complex Engineer'''
 +
 +
During the stage progression you will find three piece of equipment being transported. These are additional pieces of armour for the end-stage boss and if you destroy them during the stage, the boss will be easier to defeat and you will earn more points as well.  ''(TODO: explain in detail how the different armour pieces affect the boss)''
 +
 
===Astral Sector K-7Z4-C04TL===
 
===Astral Sector K-7Z4-C04TL===
 
[[File:Pawarumi's Astral Sector.jpg|thumb|K-7Z4-C04TL]]
 
[[File:Pawarumi's Astral Sector.jpg|thumb|K-7Z4-C04TL]]
 +
 +
''coordinates: NaN N, NaN E''
 +
 +
Final stage, only available on Normal and Heroic difficulty. The [[True Last Boss|true last boss]] and consequently the final true conclusion of the story is only available on Heroic difficulty.
 +
 +
end-stage boss: '''The Invader'''
 +
 +
tip: Beating the boss in Heroic mode gives a massive bonus based on how much Super and Shield you have left.
  
 
==Scoring==
 
==Scoring==
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=== Destruction Points ===
 
=== Destruction Points ===
Destroying an enemy will reward you with additionnal points depending on how strong the enemy was.
+
Destroying an enemy will reward you with additional points depending on how strong the enemy was.
  
 
=== Crush Bonus ===
 
=== Crush Bonus ===
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=== General tips ===
 
=== General tips ===
  
Combine ''Damage Bonus'' and ''Crush Bonus'' by quickly changing to a ''Crush'' weapon just before destroying an enemy.
+
Combine ''Damage Bonus'' and ''Crush Bonus'' by milking an enemy with ''Drain'' and then quickly changing to a ''Crush'' weapon to deal the killing blow.
  
 +
==Strategy==
  
'''''??? Provide some example calculaton ???'''''
+
As the amount of Shield and Super that you have at the end of a stage is what your ship will start out with at the beginning of the next stage, so it is incredibly important to have your shield as close to full after an end stage boss.<ref>https://twitter.com/DrLight66/status/1556036045246013441</ref>
  
==Strategy==
+
You can milk most bosses for score, but in most cases after a re-spawnable part shows up for the 8<sup>th</sup> time (including the first appearance), two undestroyable lasers will slowly appear and start narrowing the playing field until they destroy you. When they start appearing, it becomes a case of kill or be killed.''(TODO: double-check the timing details)''
  
 
==Achievements==
 
==Achievements==
 +
 +
Through the ''Achievements'' menu item you gain access to the gallery that unlocks additional artwork depending on different conditions, 30 pictures in total.
 +
 +
For the most part the conditions are written under the unlockable picture already from the start, but for some pieces the achievements are hidden.
  
 
==Console Releases==
 
==Console Releases==
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=== Nintendo Switch ===
 
=== Nintendo Switch ===
Released on July 7th, 2019 with a day-one patch, it was locked to 30FPS with a quite some input lag and worse performance in TV mode than handheld. The version features an exclusive alternate ship coloring that depends on the Joy-Cons used to play the game. The left joy-con will determine the color of the body of the ship while the right one will determine the color of the neon highlights.
+
Released on July 7th, 2019 with a day-one patch, it was locked to 30FPS with a quite some input lag and worse performance in TV mode than handheld. The version features an exclusive alternate ship coloring (named JoyFul) that depends on the Joy-Cons used to play the game. The colours of the attached Joy-Cons so that the player decides which one takes on the colour of the extremities, while the other slightly tints the darker parts of the ship. In all cases the pod continues to glow in the colour of the active weapon.
 +
 
 
[[File:Chukaru-neon-green-pink.jpg|thumb|Chukaru while playing with Neon Green-Pink Joy-Con|center]]
 
[[File:Chukaru-neon-green-pink.jpg|thumb|Chukaru while playing with Neon Green-Pink Joy-Con|center]]
 +
 
A patch was released a year later on June 1st, 2020 fixing the performance issues and unlocking the framerate to 60FPS in both handheld (720p) and TV mode (1080p) with dynamic resolution for the toughest parts of the game. The patch also added offline achievements to the Switch version, with an artwork gallery, and access to the alternate ship was simplified. It was also added the possibility to swap the effect of the joy-cons on the colors of the alternate ship.
 
A patch was released a year later on June 1st, 2020 fixing the performance issues and unlocking the framerate to 60FPS in both handheld (720p) and TV mode (1080p) with dynamic resolution for the toughest parts of the game. The patch also added offline achievements to the Switch version, with an artwork gallery, and access to the alternate ship was simplified. It was also added the possibility to swap the effect of the joy-cons on the colors of the alternate ship.
  
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It was kickstarted in April 2017. <ref name="kickstater">[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pawarumi/pawarumi-a-neo-aztec-arcade-shootem-up-game Kickstarter Page]</ref>, received financial support from the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma)<ref name="cnc">[https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/aides-et-financements/resultats-commissions/fonds-daide-au-jeu-video-fajv--resultats-de-la-commission-du-27-avril-2017_568538 April 2017 CNC Committee results]</ref> and Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
 
It was kickstarted in April 2017. <ref name="kickstater">[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pawarumi/pawarumi-a-neo-aztec-arcade-shootem-up-game Kickstarter Page]</ref>, received financial support from the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma)<ref name="cnc">[https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/aides-et-financements/resultats-commissions/fonds-daide-au-jeu-video-fajv--resultats-de-la-commission-du-27-avril-2017_568538 April 2017 CNC Committee results]</ref> and Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
 +
 +
== Trivia ==
 +
 +
=== Name origin ===
 +
The humans from this alternate future master light and gravity. With such technology, they can very easily manipulate even the most dense and huge rocks. Everything in this world is thus made out of stones, flying stones! In Quechua, a language still spoken today in central America, “to fly” is ''“Phaway”'' and the word for rocks is ''“Rumi“'', hence, phawayru... phawaru... '''Pawarumi'''!<ref>https://press.manufacture43.com/sheet.php?p=pawarumi#history</ref>
 +
 +
=== Links to real places ===
 +
 +
Since Pawarumi takes place on Earth, the coordinates match with real locations, all of which are national parks:
 +
 +
* '''Alaska, Secret Base Class T.I.K.A.L.''' is located in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kluane_National_Park_and_Reserve Kluane National Park and Reserve] in Yukon, Canada
 +
* '''Xibalba: Doors of the Underworld''' lies in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Sinkhole_State_Natural_Area Devil's Sinkhole State Natural Area] in Texas, USA
 +
* '''Dune Ocean of Cha-Ni''' takes place in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namib-Naukluft_National_Park Namib-Naukluft National Park] in Namibia
 +
* '''Itzamatul Industrial Complex''' operates in the volcanoes of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongariro_National_Park Tongariro National Park] in New Zealand
  
 
==References & Contributions==
 
==References & Contributions==
 +
 +
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTT282THdSg STG Weekly #180: PAWARUMI] – WR run with commentary by DrLight66 (the WR holder himself) and Daniel “MsK`” Borges (the game’s dev)
  
 
[[Category:Independent/Doujin shooting games]]
 
[[Category:Independent/Doujin shooting games]]

Latest revision as of 08:23, 13 August 2022

⚠️ work in progress ⚠️

Pawarumi.png
Pawarumi
PawarumiSwitch.png

Switch Definitive Edition Cover

Developer: Manufacture 43
Official site: Pawarumi
Music: Grégory Desmurs[1]
Program: Daniel Borges[2]
Art: Alexandre Lutz
Charles Vernier
Alexandre Chaudret[2]
Release date: Steam: Jan 30th, 2018 (Manufacture 43)[3]

Xbox: July 7th, 2019 (Manufacture 43)[4]

Switch:
eShop: July 7th, 2019 (Manufacture 43)[5]
Physical: December 11th, 2020 (Eastasiasoft)[6]

PS4:
America: February 11th, 2020 (Manufacture 43)[7]
Asia/Japan: February 13th, 2020 (Eastasiasoft)[8]
Physical: February 14th, 2020 (Eastasiasoft) [9]
Europe: June 25th, 2020 (Manufacture 43) [10]

Pawarumi is a (horizontally displayed) vertical shooting game in a sci-fi setting with pre-Columbian culture influences. It was developed and published by Manufacture 43 in 2018. It was ported to the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4 in 2019.

The game tells the story of Axo, best pilot of the planet, redeeming herself from exactions perpetuated under alien influence. Her ship, Chukaru, is the only Earth one capable of mixing the energies of the Condor, the Jaguar and the Serpent gods. By a rock-paper-scissor like mechanic, firing one of its 3 weapons, depending on the type of enemy hit, will either charge its super attack, cure its shield or maximize damage.

Gameplay Overview

Basics

There are no lives or continues/extends in Pawarumi, only a bar depicting the amount of shield available, which can be recovered at any time by using the Boost mechanic. This also means that every run will automatically be a 1CC.

When hit, the shield depletes by a third. Do note that ground-based enemies do not hurt you on contact.

Both the shield and super attack bars carry over from stage to stage.

Weapon overview

Serpent Gatling (green) Condor Laser (blue) Jaguar Missiles (red)
Pawarumi's Serpent Gatling Gun
Pawarumi's Condor Laser
Pawarumi's Jaguar Missiles

Gatling gun; bullets fly in a spiraling funnel that is wider near the ship. Useful to hit enemies at the side of the Chukaru.

A laser that passes through enemies. Useful for hurting several enemies in the same vertical line.

Homing missiles; the aiming recticle is a cone in front of the Chukaru that follows the left-right movement of the ship. Useful for approaching enemies from the side.

Hitbox

The Chukaru changes shape depending on the divinity/weapon it is using, but the ship’s hitbox is always limited to the glowing pod in the middle of it.

Enemy hitboxes are circles and in the case of bosses a cluster of circles. (click on images below to see a bigger version)

Trinity Mechanic

Contrary to many shoot’em ups, Pawarumi doesn’t have any items to pick up and make your weapons progress, they are at their maximum potential right from the start. It features a game mechanic called Trinity: the three basic weapons are powered by three divinities: Condor (blue), Serpent (green) and Jaguar (red). Enemies are powered by those same divinities (colors). The interaction between a weapon hit and an enemy triggers one of the three bonuses of the Trinity: Boost, Drain & Crush.

A mnemonic to remember the different combinations can be as follows:

  • the same colour always boosts / regenerates health,
  • green grass overgrows the red-ish soil (crush),
  • blue ice freezes the green grass (crush),
  • red fire melts the blue ice (crush),
  • and then drain is just the inverse of crush.
Color Matching Animation
Boost

It regenerates your shield AND the enemy hit will shoot slightly faster. (x1.25 in discovery mode, x1.5 in normal mode, x2 in heroic mode)

  • Green Serpent weapon boosts on green serpent enemies.
  • Blue Condor weapon boosts on blue condor enemies.
  • Red Jaguar weapon boosts on red jaguar enemies.
Drain

It will transform enemies’ pain into energy to progressively charge each level of the Super Attack.

  • Green Serpent weapon drains blue condor enemies.
  • Blue Condor weapon drains red jaguar enemies.
  • Red Jaguar weapon drains blue condor enemies.
Crush

It will multiply the damages inflicted to enemies by a factor of x1.5.

  • Green Serpent weapon crushes red jaguar enemies.
  • Blue Condor weapon crushes green serpent enemies.
  • Red Jaguar weapon crushes blue condor enemies.

Super Attack

The Super Attack charges up through Drain, and can stack up to to 3 levels. Each level fires more projectiles that go even faster.

When triggered it deplets all of the gathered super power and its effect is a mix between a hyper and a bullet-clearing bomb: within the circle around the ship, enemy bullets are cleared, and powerful homing projectiles fire to all directions. Projectiles are able to hit several times.

A counter appears up above the ship exponentially growing when each projectile hits. A special bonus is awarded based on the final value of that counter.

Super Attack

Controls

The game is designed for analog gamepads but attention has been paid for it to be also played with digital 8-way arcade sticks. The movement of the ship is analog (no inertia!), very fine and precise movement can be achieved with the joystick.

Three buttons fire the three main weapons, a fourth one fires the super attack, and the last fifth one, "brake", halves the speed of the ship.

Default configuration
Action Keyboard Xbox Gamepad Switch PS4
Movement Up/Down/Left/Right Joystick/D-Pad Left Stick/D-Pad Left Stick/D-Pad
Blue Condor Laser W X (blue) Y Square
Green Serpent Gatling X A (green) B Cross
Red Jaguar Missiles C B (red) A Circle
Super Attack Space bar Y (yellow) X Triangle
Brake Left Shift LT (left trigger) ZL (left trigger) L2

Button assignments are reconfigurable in the options.

Modes

The main mode is Arcade, where the stage order is also dependent on the difficulty they choose. Do note that any run in Pawarumi is effectively a 1CC run, since the game does not have lives nor credits, but a health bar instead.

Training mode allows the player to re-play individual stages. Each stage reached in Arcade mode will unlock here at the difficulty it was attempted at.

In addition to that there is also a Tutorial mode that features a small tutorial level.

Difficulties

The game has three difficulty settings: Discovery, Normal and Heroic. Each one plays the story slightly differently with the orders of the levels changed. Only Normal and Heroic enable access to the last level, K-7Z4-C04TL. Only by playing in Heroic mode can the final boss be truly defeated.

Level Order
Discovery Normal Heroic
Alaska Alaska Alaska
Dune Ocean Industrial Complex Xibalba
Industrial Complex Xibalba Dune Ocean
Xibalba Dune Ocean Industrial Complex
K-7Z4-C0A7L K-7Z4-C0A7L

Story

In the far future, an alternate reality… The descendants of Aztecs, Mayans, Nazcas… all united, spread their culture and technology all over the world.

They mastered light then gravity. With the ability to make the most dense rocks ”fly“, they started to build immense structures out of stones and went on building flying mineral ships.

Through their technology and their wisdom, they managed to make contact with three ethereal and powerful beings. Those deities took physical body in the shape of a Serpent, a Condor and a Jaguar and gave them access to their infinite energies, before leaving.

That power raised a keen interest amongst beings hidden in the shadows of the galaxy. They took control of Axo’s mind, the best pilot of Earth. She was the only one able to master Chukaru, the ship powered by all three energies.

Through her, they destroyed humans’ defenses… But Axo’s will is strong, will she manage to defeat them before her civilization is gone forever?

The story varies a bit depending on the difficulty taken – the stages (and therefore story sequences) are in different order, and the last stage is only accessible on the higher two difficulties, with the true ending available only on the highest difficulty.

Below the stages are laid in the order as in the Heroic difficulty, which should be the “true” story and ending.

(TODO: move the strategy parts to #Strategy and actually add story here?)

Alaska Secret Base class T.I.K.A.L

Alaska

coordinates: 60 38'N 139 57'W

boss: The Ice Commander

The Ice Commander consists of a face and four floating hands. The hands slowly move in a pattern and fire lasers in order to narrow the space you can maneuver in, while the face shoots bullets. As you destroy the hands you have more space to maneuver, so a valid surivial approach is to prioritise getting rid of the two outermost hands. Another approach is to damage the face before destroying the hands to shorten the last attack.

Xibalba: Doors of the Underworld

Xibalba


coordinates: 30 03'N 100 06'W

Before reaching the Xibalba Keylock, you are flooded by several huge swarms of enemies. A good option is to use the Super Attack and rake in a lot of points as well.

mid-stage boss(?):

Xibalba Keylock – you need to boost the keylock three times in order to unlock it, while you are being attacked by several waves of enemies of the same colour than the lock is at that time.

After the door you unlocked closes behind you, a giant ball starts nearing you, making your space to maneuver ever smaller. In order to keep it at bay you need to crush the enemies that spawn. Upon doing so, the crushed enemy will crash into the ball bumping it slightly back.

boss: The Warden

The Warden spider has several attack patterns, but in addition to that, between its attack phase it will spawn three floating rocks each with a coloured portal(?). It will then turn them over and shuffle them in the style of three card monte and call you to perform either a crush, boost, or drain. You may shoot at any of the rocks, as long as you use the right attack at it. If you guess correctly, that rock will fall and the boss will reappear weakened. If you get it wrong, the boss will regenerate a limb and with it some of its health. An easy tactic is to either always keep an eye on the same colour.

Dune Ocean of Cha-Ni

Dune Ocean

coordinates: 24 16'S 15 12'E

mid-stage boss: Pyramid

The pyramid flies off and later attaches to the head of the snake boss. The end-stage snake boss’ head will be of the same colour as that of the pyramid at the time you defeated it. The end-stage snake boss will use different attacks depending on which colour its head is. (TODO: explain the different attacks)

boss: The Dune Queen

1. stage: catch the snake

2. stage: snake head


Itzamatul Industrial Complex

Industrial Complex

coordinates: 39 09'S 175 37'E

The mid-stage boss consists of three turret towers in the middle (one red and two blue) and two green turrets flying into position from the left and right of the screen. The green turrets get replaced if you destroy them, so they are a good opportunity to boost your sheields or drain them to charge your Super. Another trick is that you can bypass some of the bullet patterns by passing the boss over the top of the screen.

boss: The Cyborg Complex Engineer

During the stage progression you will find three piece of equipment being transported. These are additional pieces of armour for the end-stage boss and if you destroy them during the stage, the boss will be easier to defeat and you will earn more points as well. (TODO: explain in detail how the different armour pieces affect the boss)

Astral Sector K-7Z4-C04TL

K-7Z4-C04TL

coordinates: NaN N, NaN E

Final stage, only available on Normal and Heroic difficulty. The true last boss and consequently the final true conclusion of the story is only available on Heroic difficulty.

end-stage boss: The Invader

tip: Beating the boss in Heroic mode gives a massive bonus based on how much Super and Shield you have left.

Scoring

The total number of points awarded by an enemy at the moment of its destruction can be displayed by turning on the "display points" in the game section of the options of the game.

Damage Points

Hitting any enemy will give you points proportionally to the damage done. An extra 25 points are awarded when using Drain on an enemy and 200 extra points when using Boost on an enemy.

Destruction Points

Destroying an enemy will reward you with additional points depending on how strong the enemy was.

Crush Bonus

Destroying an enemy with a Crush weapon will multiply the destruction points by six!

Super Attack

When the Super Attack is triggered a combo counter is shown on top of the ship. It raises faster with many or very strong enemies. Each combo hit will reward with 2674 points.

General tips

Combine Damage Bonus and Crush Bonus by milking an enemy with Drain and then quickly changing to a Crush weapon to deal the killing blow.

Strategy

As the amount of Shield and Super that you have at the end of a stage is what your ship will start out with at the beginning of the next stage, so it is incredibly important to have your shield as close to full after an end stage boss.[11]

You can milk most bosses for score, but in most cases after a re-spawnable part shows up for the 8th time (including the first appearance), two undestroyable lasers will slowly appear and start narrowing the playing field until they destroy you. When they start appearing, it becomes a case of kill or be killed.(TODO: double-check the timing details)

Achievements

Through the Achievements menu item you gain access to the gallery that unlocks additional artwork depending on different conditions, 30 pictures in total.

For the most part the conditions are written under the unlockable picture already from the start, but for some pieces the achievements are hidden.

Console Releases

Xbox One

Released on July 7th, 2019, it runs at 1080p on Xbox One and 4K on Xbox One X.

Nintendo Switch

Released on July 7th, 2019 with a day-one patch, it was locked to 30FPS with a quite some input lag and worse performance in TV mode than handheld. The version features an exclusive alternate ship coloring (named JoyFul) that depends on the Joy-Cons used to play the game. The colours of the attached Joy-Cons so that the player decides which one takes on the colour of the extremities, while the other slightly tints the darker parts of the ship. In all cases the pod continues to glow in the colour of the active weapon.

Chukaru while playing with Neon Green-Pink Joy-Con

A patch was released a year later on June 1st, 2020 fixing the performance issues and unlocking the framerate to 60FPS in both handheld (720p) and TV mode (1080p) with dynamic resolution for the toughest parts of the game. The patch also added offline achievements to the Switch version, with an artwork gallery, and access to the alternate ship was simplified. It was also added the possibility to swap the effect of the joy-cons on the colors of the alternate ship.

Playstation 4

Released on February 11th, 2020, it runs at 1080p on PS4 and 1440p on PS4 Pro. The light bar of the Dualshock 4 changes color depending on which weapon is being used and flashes red on low shield energy. This feature is also enabled on PC when playing with that controller.

Physical Releases

PC

Only available to Kickstarter backers, it released in a triptych digipack with manual and ex-libris cards of the artworks of Alexandre Chaudret with bright highlights. It was sent to backers on August 2019. It includes executables for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Playstation 4

Released on February 14th, 2020 courtesy of Eastasiasoft through Play-Asia, it was limited to 2000 copies. Marked as "Limited Edition", the box includes a regular PS4 blu-ray with a manual in a regular PS4 plastic case and a CD with the soundtrack.

Nintendo Switch

Released on December 11th, 2020 again courtesy of Eastasiasoft through Play-Asia, it was released both as a limited edition of which 2000 copies have been produced and as a regular edition which the number of copies printed is unknown. The limited edition is similar to the PS4 edition as it contains an additional soundtrack CD. The regular edition is a regular Switch plastic case with a manual. Both are marked "Definitive Edition" as they already include all the patches of the eShop version.

Development

The game was developed by a small team of French Indie developers based in Bordeaux. The game uses the Unity3D game engine, FMOD sound system and Rewired to support a wide range of controllers.

It was kickstarted in April 2017. [12], received financial support from the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma)[13] and Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Trivia

Name origin

The humans from this alternate future master light and gravity. With such technology, they can very easily manipulate even the most dense and huge rocks. Everything in this world is thus made out of stones, flying stones! In Quechua, a language still spoken today in central America, “to fly” is “Phaway” and the word for rocks is “Rumi“, hence, phawayru... phawaru... Pawarumi![14]

Links to real places

Since Pawarumi takes place on Earth, the coordinates match with real locations, all of which are national parks:

References & Contributions

STG Weekly #180: PAWARUMI – WR run with commentary by DrLight66 (the WR holder himself) and Daniel “MsK`” Borges (the game’s dev)