Awkward is a party game that plays off of how well you know others. For this review, I played with a few different groups to see how the game would work in various party settings. There is fun to be had here, but the game is not without flaws.

The core gameplay of Awkward is that it asks a question of one player and provides two potential answers to choose from. After that player picks one, another player has to guess which answer the initial player chose. If the correct answer was chosen, their compatibility rating goes up. At the end of the game, you can see who has the highest compatibility.



Developer & Publisher: Snap Finger Click

Digital Only // 5+ Hours Played // $11.99 // Review Copy Provided

You can choose to send your answers anonymously to the game’s servers. They compile the choices and, after each question and answer round, a pie graph appears to show you how the community voted. This was one of the more interesting aspects of the game. Seeing so many of my choices in the minority was certainly a shock!

Awkward has different modes depending on the number of players you have and you can play with a range of 1 to 6 players. For example, there is a single-player mode where you can guess which way the majority of the population has answered. You can also have random match ups or team up to see which team knows each other better. The core gameplay of picking between two options remains consistent through all modes.



Play at your own risk.

The game is played with just one controller, which is a great feature for a party game. It even pauses between each question and answer, so it is easy to pass around the controller without missing anything. This way, you don’t need to own multiple controllers to play with multiple people. Technically, you only really need the right joy con, which makes passing around even easier.

The crux of the game is that the questions and answers are meant to cause awkward situations. There is a warning at the start of the game that talks about how Awkward is based off a card game that has been banned for 100 years to really hammer this home! Supposedly it “has the ability to ruin relationships and start fights”. I was excited, and a little nervous, to play this with my friends and family. I was expecting the fun and hilarity to come from “WTF” and “OMG”-type moments, based on what this warning had promised.



Warning: Not all questions will cause awkwardness.

The issue is that the questions aren’t really that awkward. The majority of the questions throughout the game are tame. There are many more of the “Would you rather be James Bond or Luke Skywalker” ilk, than anything causing dissension. The game has an M rating, but I only encountered a small number of questions that would be deserving of this rating.

There are 3 rounds to every game, and the questions and answers do get more difficult as the rounds progress. In theory, this seems like a good choice. It allows players to ease into the more potentially divisive topics. However, each round also gets fewer questions, with the 3rd and final round having a single question per group or team. Every game only has one or two questions that are potentially problematic.

Playing with a new group for the first time, it is nice to have some time to warm up. However, this becomes an issue when you want to play multiple games with the same group. There is no way to play more of the “awkward” content without also playing warm-up questions. You have to plod through all of the fluff in order to get to the juicy stuff every time.



An example of one of the more divisive questions!

These choices are disappointing because this game had real potential. When I got to some of the questions in the 3rd round, it did cause some unease. Some of the topics even started heated debates with the group I played with. It was interesting to see how people felt about these issues and who felt more strongly than others. But they were so few and far between that the majority of the game felt tame in comparison. We found ourselves just pushing through the lighter content to get back to the final round as quickly as possible.

The lighter content wasn’t bad, though. It could be interesting in its own right. There were certainly times when I thought my friend or partner would have answered one way and they answered the other. It was exciting to learn a little more about their outlook. It acted almost like the old game show The Newlywed Game.



Marty and The Doc – not very compatible!

However, it feels as if Awkward wants to have its cake and eat it too. Because of some of the more risqué content, this game received an M rating from the ESRB, but this mature content is minimal. They could have made an interesting PG-13 game for a larger group to enjoy, or they could have leaned harder into the mature and challenging content. The way it is now, the game is too diluted to be a true adult game but goes too far at times to recommend this to a younger audience. The balance is off.

I did have a fun time with Awkward, but it could have been much stronger if it had picked a clear direction and stuck with it. Each game starts slow with easy questions and builds to one or two heavy hitters. If you are looking for something with more constant awkwardness, this might not be the game for you.

Thank you for reading. If you’re interested in other party games, check out our reviews of Runbow and Astro Bears Party. Also, consider donating to our Patreon to keep content like this coming!