World to the West Review – A Test in Delightful Cooperation

<p>Rain Games has a pretty fantastic track record of creating indie hits&period; <em>Teslagrad <&sol;em>has been played by 1&period;6 million players and has a 9 out of 10 rating on Steam&period; With their newest title <em>World to the West<&sol;em>&comma; they have created a game that builds upon Teslagrad’s universe and trades side scrolling for top-down action-adventure style gameplay&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In <em>World to the West <&sol;em>you take on the role of four different protagonists&comma; each with their own motivations and storylines that blend together&period; Each character is unique&comma; from Lumina the Teslamancer to Miss Teri the mind bender&period; Their storylines will intersect at times as they undergo their own quests and uncover secrets of a forgotten civilization&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s also an interesting layer of choice involved&period; An example of this is how you&&num;8217&semi;ll approach your enemies and obstacles without violence and try to utilize diplomacy at times&comma; or if you are lucky you might be able to bypass combat altogether&period; Alternately you can use brute force in seamless gameplay that alternates between exploring&comma; puzzle-solving and combat fluidly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125358" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125358" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-125358" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;16022014&sol;WorldToTheWest&lowbar;Screenshots&lowbar;0001&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;World to the West&comma; Rain Games&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125358" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;World to the West&comma; Rain Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>You begin with Lumina&comma; a young teslamancer who finds herself accidentally using a teleporter that takes her to a forest&period; She discovers that her grandfather had been there before&comma; and left notes that act as information for her journey&period; She is able to use a tesla staff and a blink ability that allows her to teleport across gaps or utilize pads that lift her to higher elevations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The second character is Knaus&comma; a little miner who uses his shovel to dig and tunnel under soft ground &lpar;like Bugs Bunny&rpar; he uses his shovel for combat&comma; but has less health than Lumina due to his small stature&period; Miss Teri on the other hand&comma; is a mercenary who utilizes the mind-bending technology of her homeland in order to control enemies&period;  Miss Teri is also able to sprint&comma; in order to move more quickly&period; Knaus and Miss Teri are unable to defeat enemies&comma; as they only can stun enemies with their shovel or scarf respectively&comma; while Lumina is able to defeat enemies with her staff&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125360" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125360" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-125360" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;16023438&sol;WorldToTheWest&lowbar;Screenshots&lowbar;0005&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;World to the West&comma; Rain Games&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125360" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;World to the West&comma; Rain Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The characters also have unique capabilities that make them suitable for different tasks&period; In addition to digging under things&comma; Knaus can also fit through small holes&comma; while Lumina is the only one able to use those previously mentioned boost pads to reach higher elevations&period; Miss Teri’s scarf works similarly to Lumina’s blink&comma; as she can cross some gaps if she has something she can use to pull herself across&period; The majority of World to the West’s gameplay involves cooperation puzzles between characters&comma; utilizing their skills to progress through various tasks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Each character &lpar;including the fourth Lord Clonington&comma; who is a strongman that punches things&rpar; can acquire items that will enhance their capabilities&period; There is a lot to do and a lot of ways to explore&period; From secret health upgrades to items and shortcuts&comma; each character has a ton of things to do and see&period; Even if you&&num;8217&semi;re progressing through an area you’ve already explored&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s interesting just using a new character&period; In some areas backtracking is important&comma; the first time you visit an area you may not have a certain character with you&comma; which will block certain pathways for you to explore&period; Luckily there is a fast travel system in place&comma; though it only works for characters who have visited the area previously so it&&num;8217&semi;s not perfect&period; It would have been nice if you could fast travel to places you&&num;8217&semi;ve been to with a character and then just switch to other characters to explore the previous unavailable areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125361" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125361" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-125361" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;16023551&sol;WorldToTheWest&lowbar;Screenshots&lowbar;0009&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;World to the West&comma; Rain Games&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125361" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;World to the West&comma; Rain Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>My only complaint with <em>World to the West<&sol;em> is that there are periods of time where there just isn’t enough direction&period; Sometimes you&&num;8217&semi;ll reach an objective and instead of getting a new one&comma; you have to wander around through areas you may not have explored until you figure out what comes next&period; The combat takes getting used to as well&comma; though it can be unfair at times&period; After playing World to the West I am eager to pick up <em>Teslagrad<&sol;em> and play through it as well&period; I haven’t had the pleasure of playing it but now that I see a different side of the universe established in <em>Teslagrad&comma;<&sol;em> it makes me all the more eager to give it a try&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>World to the West<&sol;em> is a game that is campy&comma; cartoony&comma; and surprisingly fun&period; The puzzles aren’t too difficult&comma; the character switching mechanic never really wears out its welcome&comma; and the world created by Rain Games is beautiful&comma; well crafted and colorful&period; If you are looking for an interesting adventure&sol;puzzle title&comma; give <em>World to the West<&sol;em> a closer look&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A Steam Product Key for World to the West was provided by Rain Games for the purpose of this Review&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;