I have a problem. It’s been over two decades since Capcom released Power Stone 2, and I have never stopped thinking about it. The frantic, physics-driven arena brawling, the loot mid-fight, the sheer joyful chaos of it all. It remains, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest multiplayer experiences ever put to a screen.
And yet, for reasons that continue to baffle me, Capcom has left it to rot in the vault while the rest of us have simply had to cope. Granted, both games in the series were included with the Capcom Fighting Collection 2 last year with some additional quality of life features. And I know that beggars can’t be choosers, but it really just felt like too little too late.
So, when I sat down with Kyoto-based indie studio 17-BIT at PAX East 2026 to go hands-on with Awaysis, I certainly wasn’t expecting what happened about ten minutes into the demo to happen. The momentum-based movement, the physics-driven combat, the arena-style mayhem with enemies flying off ledges… I set the controller down for just a moment, looked up, and said, “This feels like Power Stone.”
It absolutely is. But it’s also so much more than that.
Awaysis is a physics-based co-op dungeon brawler from 17-BIT, the studio behind Skulls of the Shogun and GALAK-Z, set in a lush floating paradise under siege from a Dark Lord and his army of adorably goofy Grimlins. You play as one of a band of small, unlikely critters on a mission to ascend the floating mountain, restore the world’s water supply, and… convince a frog to get out of a hot tub. It wears its whimsy and silliness proudly, and the colorful, vibrant world it’s built is immediately inviting. The environments have a warm, storybook quality that makes you want to explore every corner of them.
But don’t let the cute aesthetics fool you. The moment-to-moment gameplay has real teeth. Combat is built around momentum and physics, and from the jump it feels wonderfully unruly. You’re sliding into enemies, knocking them into explosive barrels, and/or sending them sailing off platform edges and into the void below. It’s chaotic, but even when you mess up, the accidents can result in just as exciting outcomes. Pull both triggers simultaneously, and you’ll throw out a powerful uppercut. Get enough air, and slam down with a sword strike. It’s immediately button-mashy in that satisfying, pick-up-and-play way, but there’s more depth underneath if you want it.
That accessibility-meets-depth balance was something 17-BIT COO Raj Joshi was eager to emphasize during our time together.
“I want it to be very accessible, super skill-friendly,” he told me. “Like, anybody… even adults who don’t play games a lot. But you’ll have a depth to gameplay where it’s a real advantage if you’re strategic.”
He’s not wrong. The combat has a combo-streak system where successfully blocking three attacks in a row earns you stacking stars over your head, stunning nearby enemies. It’s a mechanic that rewards the player who can stay cool in the chaos instead of just mashing away (I’m very much the latter, unfortunately). Stringing together slides, dodges, and strikes into something fluid and stylish is very possible, and when it clicks, it feels great.
The game also features a three-element magic system featuring fire, water, and earth, each coming with two tiers of power. Fire conjures small and large fireballs, water summons waves, and earth magic, impressively, can escalate into a giant spinning spike ball that you can actually steer around the arena. Weapons like swords, axes, hammers, and spears each carry distinct special attacks, and anything you can pick up—whether that’s food, enemy drops, you name it—can be thrown as a weapon. I didn’t play the co-op mode, but you can even toss food to teammates, or try to knock items out of enemy hands. The interactivity of the world is one of Awaysis’ most impressive qualities in the way that it rewards experimentation.
There are rail systems throughout the levels that players can lock onto and ride at speed, launching out of them to reach new areas, a mechanic with strong Ratchet & Clank DNA that gives the game a kinetic energy beyond just its combat. Sliding down slopes, catching fire, then dunking yourself in a nearby water source to put it out, Awaysis is full of these little physical comedy moments that emerge from its systems. It hardly feels scripted.
Helping all of it feel cohesive is a dynamic music system that scales with the action. When enemies appear and the battle heats up, the score rises to meet it. In quieter moments, it pulls back. That soundtrack, it turns out, is the work of Hip Tanaka, the legendary composer behind Metroid, EarthBound, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, who also helmed music for the Pokemon Company for roughly a decade.
Joshi lit up talking about landing him for the project. “We reached out and were like, ‘Hey, do you want to help?’” he said with a grin. The whole campaign score is his work, and even from the early demo levels, it’s clear the game is in excellent hands sonically.
Beyond the campaign, which will ship with 24 levels at launch spanning lush grasslands to lava-filled caves, Awaysis is loaded with multiplayer content. Up to four players can tackle the campaign in local or online co-op, with a shared-lives system that gives downed players a 10-second window to be revived by a teammate before it costs the group a life.
There’s also Brawly Ball, a soccer-inspired PvP mode, King of the Hill, and additional Fight Party modes still to be announced. For a game so clearly built for bragging rights earned through couch co-op chaos, the suite of competitive modes makes it feel like a full party package rather than just a campaign with tacked-on extras.
Whether or not Awaysis ever gets called a Power Stone successor in mainstream coverage, the lineage is unmistakable. More importantly, though, it earns it. 17-BIT isn’t just chasing a vibe. The studio has built something with a clear identity and a world worth inhabiting. If you, like me, have spent the last 25 years mourning what Capcom left on the table, Awaysis might finally be our answer when it comes to chaotic arcade dungeon brawlers.
Awaysis is coming to PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. The free-to-play demo is also currently available on Steam.
