Game: Worldless
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam (Windows))
Developer|Publisher: Noname Studios | Coatsink Software
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone 10+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £15.99 | EU €19,99
Release Date: November 21st, 2023
Review code provided with many thanks to Plan of Attack.
Find Yourself in Worldless
Worldless is a unique adventure game featuring action-based, turn-based battles. It is a 2D adventure that blends relaxing platforming and exploration with tense combat. It’s an odd clash, but if you take in the experience, you’ll find something that shines compared to other titles in the genre.
Worldless has a plot that is open to the player’s interpretation. So I guess I’ll do my best to give you mine. You play as a nameless, bright entity who appears to be part of a universe where two sides always appear to be battling with the other. As you explore the various landscapes in the game, in the background, you often see two objects fighting. Sometimes, they appear as monsters, and other times, they are just simple stars. It appears it’s your destiny to be embroiled in an endless battle. But after being handed a rough defeat, you kinda get knocked outside of the conflict and have the opportunity to forge your own path.
Another entity observes you throughout your adventures, surprised by your new awakening. Maybe this time, your destiny isn’t set in the stars as you think. But I’m probably way off with what the developers were aiming for. The point is it’s up to you. You can play this game and interpret a deep meaning for yourself or just simply view it as a fine piece of art and move on. Either way, I liked what it was going for.
Calming Exploration
The general template of the game design is that of a 2D adventure game. Make your way through various locations, seeking out new moves to help you access new areas. Exploration sections of the game focus a lot on platforming, which feels responsive and relaxed. Even if you take a tumble into the abyss, you respawn instantly at the last platform you were on. If you get a little lost where to go, you can pull up a handy mini-map which gives you a vague idea of the direction you need to head next. Even when I was a bit confused on my travels, I was pretty content just taking in the scenery and enjoying the soundtrack.
Tough Combat
Combat is where things feel quite unique but tough. Every so often, you’ll meet some baddies, and the game will shift to battle mode. Like typical RPGs, each character takes it in turn to attack. Unlike RPGs, you have active control in attack and defence.
When it’s your turn, you have a small window of time to land as many attacks on your opponent as possible. This could be melee or magic-focused, which act as the two core attacks to begin with. When the roles are reversed and the enemy attacks you, the player can actively defend by holding down an appropriate block. You can block magic and defence, and the enemy will give a small window of a hint of which attack they will use by a horizontal or vertical line prompt on screen before they attack.
When you have worn the enemy down enough, you activate a finishing move, which requires a few button prompts to complete. You can activate this early, but you won’t be shown the correct button prompts, adding a bit of risky guesswork. Once you have scored a victory, the enemy will no longer be a problem unless you manually choose to activate the battle again. I initially found it handy to repeat battles to try to get better at combat. You can unlock more combat moves and skills by using a skill tree.
It’s a unique combat system, but I totally sucked at it. The main problem for me is the prompts often come too fast to keep up with. There are also these attacks which can only be defended by pressing one of the defence buttons at just the right moment. Something I almost always failed. To top it off, you can’t rely on the same moves.
You must keep mixing things up; otherwise, your regular attacks lose significant bang, turning battles into mountainous slogs. If you fail a battle, you simply get knocked out of it, free to try again at will, from the start, of course. You can retreat and explore, looking for easier battles, but at some point, you still need to take on those tough boss fights one way or another.
All of this won’t be a problem for people who click with the combat. In fact, some gamers will find it very rewarding, feeling a massive sense of triumph upon victory. But if you’re looking for a casual experience, this may cause you to walk away. I would probably get on better if the game had some form of slow-down feature, but currently, there is no accessibility for this.
Take in the Art
The graphics and soundtrack are beautiful. Art direction for this game was clearly very important to the developers with its mysterious yet cosmic appearance. The game’s music and appearance complement each other with the tone feeling calm and relaxed as you explore the world and then becoming much more tense during an inevitable conflict. I really found myself quite immersed in the experience and could easily just have the soundtrack on in the background (it is available on Steam if interested). The game ran excellently in TV and handheld modes.
Conclusion: Easy on the Eyes, Hard on the Combat
I liked Worldless, but I wasn’t very good at it. Visually, the game looks great, and I had a lot of fun exploring the world and trying to make sense of the vague story while taking in the scenes and listening to the score. Combat, however, is tough. It’s not broken or glitchy. It just takes some fast fingers and careful attention to really master it. I liked it in principle, but it just didn’t click for me. I still give Worldless a solid recommendation. If you’re up for the challenge, you will discover a unique adventure that’s well worth taking the time to master.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
