The World Next Door

 PC
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. GameSpew
    Apr 10, 2019
    70
    Playable in one or two long sittings, The World Next Door is an interesting mix of genres. It won’t set your world on fire, but what is there is pretty fun. Without much reason to replay, you probably won’t jump right back into Emrys when you complete the game, but it’s well worth your time at least once.
  2. GameSpot
    Apr 1, 2019
    60
    The World Next Door plays like the first arc of something more, ending right when it seems like it's about to deliver the experience you want.
  3. Cultured Vultures
    Apr 8, 2019
    55
    Competent but uninspired match-three gameplay and a surface level story leave The World Next Door with little to offer unless you’re looking for a simple, relaxing experience.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 9
  3. Negative: 2 out of 9
  1. stolenoc
    Apr 19, 2019
    7
    The World Next Door is a flawed, but disarmingly cute, game about matching symbols on a grid and chatting with your charming monster friends.The World Next Door is a flawed, but disarmingly cute, game about matching symbols on a grid and chatting with your charming monster friends.

    The combat feels like it needs to go back into the oven for a bit- a really neat idea, melding the match-3 style gameplay with the top-down movement of the 2D Zelda games, that unfortunately just never quite feels right. The need to set up combos and pay more attention to the tiles than the enemies makes combat feel stressful and clunky, with the player often having to just run loops around the field to avoid enemies while slowly setting up the tiles.

    There's also a bit of a delay when it comes to selecting tiles, which makes actually moving the tiles around a little frustrating since, again, you're sorta forced to constantly run to avoid attacks.
    All that said, though, it's never difficult or frustrating enough to significantly ruin the experience, and setting up those huge combos does net satisfying powerful attacks.
    Additionally, the game also comes with an accessibility option that allows you to turn off enemy damage, which is a really nice touch.

    The game shines outside of the dungeons, where most of the conversations take place. The characters are fun, even though there are possibly too many of them for the short runtime to really let you get to know all of them. Despite that, I enjoyed my time with all of them, and especially liked each character's unique sidequest, where you got to learn a bit more about them.

    Unfortunately, this part of the game isn't without flaws either. There's only the one save slot, and it autosaves- meaning that any dialogue choices you make are final. This makes things frustrating, because without a chapter select you have to restart the entire game just to pick a different option in any given conversation.

    The World Next Door can be easily finished in one or two sittings, and probably won't really stick with you for long once you've completed it- but it's a unique and pleasant enough experience that, for its price point, I definitely recommend giving it a shot. I'd love to see the concept and world explored further in a sequel, that ideally will polish some of the game's flaws.    … Full Review »
  2. Daihti
    Apr 2, 2019
    8
    The game is awesome. The only problems I have is tethering and moving runes in combat. You have to be almost exactly in the center of theThe game is awesome. The only problems I have is tethering and moving runes in combat. You have to be almost exactly in the center of the square where you want to place it. Also you should definitely be able to change the controls. The controls for the keyboard are straight frustrating to use and even more frustrating that you can't change them. Also the reptile enemy's range is really frustrating because even when you dash through him he can easily hit you.… Full Review »
  3. dajhorn
    Dec 20, 2022
    2
    The World Next Door is a cartoonish game for young children, but it is too slow and too verbose to keep their attention. The voice acting isThe World Next Door is a cartoonish game for young children, but it is too slow and too verbose to keep their attention. The voice acting is so completely obnoxious that I can't be in the same room as somebody playing this game.… Full Review »
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