Shape of the World Review

<p><em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> is a first-person exploration driven experience&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s more like <em>Journey<&sol;em> and <em>Abzu<&sol;em> than <em>What Remains of Edith Finch<&sol;em>&period; With abstracted visuals and serene sound design&comma; Hollow Tree Games advertises it as &&num;8220&semi;a 1-3 hour escape from work&comma; anxiety&comma; and stress&&num;8221&semi;&period; It may follow through on that promise&comma; but is it worth the &dollar;15 asking price&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;139030" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-139030" style&equals;"width&colon; 3840px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-139030" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;31130201&sol;7e9ffe7e-6642-4171-b9e2-43e67fd3be13-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"3840" height&equals;"2160" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-139030" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Shape of the World&comma; Plug In Digital<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Shape of the World<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>It isn&&num;8217&semi;t&period; While the game does what it claims&comma; &dollar;15 is too much to ask for a game this short and simple&period; Players that become immensely absorbed in the world may find themselves spending upwards of three hours&comma; but most will be finished in under two&period; A one to three-hour length is usual for walking simulators&comma; but <em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> isn&&num;8217&semi;t substantial enough to resonate emotionally or spiritually&period; Its intentions are there&comma; though it won&&num;8217&semi;t make the same impact as the games it&&num;8217&semi;s inspired by&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Shape of the World<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s premise is ruined through its &&num;8220&semi;gamification&&num;8221&semi;&period; The journey takes you through several biomes as you ascend a mountain&period; The sights and sounds that encompass the landscape are truly breathtaking&period; With its simplistic visual style&comma; <em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> leans heavily on shapes and colors&period; Even the most jaded individuals should be awestruck by each scene&&num;8217&semi;s beauty&period; I sometimes found myself staring at the abstract creatures&comma; attempting to figure out what they&&num;8217&semi;re supposed to represent&period; It isn&&num;8217&semi;t some deep metaphysical experience that&&num;8217&semi;ll have you rethinking the way you look at the world&comma; but that&&num;8217&semi;s fine&period; It doesn&&num;8217&semi;t need to&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-139032 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;31130501&sol;96148fa0-b999-420b-afc4-789cc8ecdcb8-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"3840" height&equals;"2160" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Gameplay<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>If it did&comma; though&comma; its &&num;8220&semi;gamey&&num;8221&semi; structure would pull you out of that experiential mind-space&period; <em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> falls into the same rut some of these walking simulators fall into&period; They claim to be immersive escapes from reality&period; Games like <em>Journey<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Abzu<&sol;em>&comma; and now this want the player to get lost in exploration&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s difficult to do so when progress is gated behind tried and true game design conventions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It easily guides players through its expansive environment with signs that essentially act as way-point markers&period; Crossing these signs transforms the surrounding space&period; The most typical means of getting from point a to point b involves interacting with objects&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;ve found yourself at a dead-end&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s because <em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> inhibits true discovery and exploration through these interactions&period; Colorless or sparkly objects&comma; typically found at a path&&num;8217&semi;s end&comma; must be activated by pressing the interaction button&period; After activating all objects within the specified radius&comma; a staircase materializes&comma; leading the player to the next play space&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s an uninteresting way of handling progression&period; <em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> has such beautiful abstractions in sound design and visuals&comma; but with the game design so firmly rooted in the tangible space&period; This dichotomy makes it feel less like a passion project and more like an experiment&period; I wanted so desperately to get lost in this space&comma; but the game designers made it impossible&period; Real life is dominated by routine&period; The routine of finding the objects to activate the next staircase shatters the illusion of entering a window into another world&period; <em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> plays it safe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-139034" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;31130845&sol;9fc0f45a-cbbc-4ccc-9d6a-f5442f7660be1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"3840" height&equals;"2160" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Conclusion<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><em>Shape of the World<&sol;em> is fine at what it sets out to do&period; Its beautiful art direction and soundscape never failed to impress&comma; but I found myself constantly pulled out of the experience thanks to its reliance on traditional game conventions&period; By the fifth time I had to activate a series of colorless objects to move on to the next area&comma; I was ready to check out&period; At under two hours for the average player&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a bit much to ask &dollar;15 from&period; It comes recommended only to walking simulator fans for &dollar;10 or less&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Disclaimer&colon; <&sol;strong>Review code provided by the publisher<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;