Where World to the West succeeds the most is the way in which it's four protagonist comes together to form a team to navigate the large open world, while also solving puzzles and unlocking new areas of the map. Where it falters is in the back-tracking that added hours of padding to the game which required me to go through all parts of the map 4 times to see and explore the completed world.Where World to the West succeeds the most is the way in which it's four protagonist comes together to form a team to navigate the large open world, while also solving puzzles and unlocking new areas of the map. Where it falters is in the back-tracking that added hours of padding to the game which required me to go through all parts of the map 4 times to see and explore the completed world. Once you reach a totem though that character can jump to that area of the map, which makes things nice but oftentimes I found myself going totem to totem with each character a chore.
WttW borrows heavily from other top-down adventure puzzle games like The Legend of Zelda series and that is a good thing. The homage to the Zelda series is pretty evident from the start where the story unfolds by a wise old blue lady; and the stories of the four characters are slowly peeled back as you play each of them in their respective chapters, and then slowly form alliances with the other characters as you 'bump' into each other [read, crash from above].
The puzzles in WttW aren't particularly difficult, though they really excel when you have to use 2-4 of the characters to reach certain places and you are tasked with thinking about your characters and their move set. I would often get to a point and then realize that I needed a different character to bash, dig, or teleport to a new place and have to backtrack some to switch out characters (which can only be done at totems). This made things both interesting in that you had to think in 4 dimensions in a way, similarly to the Zelda Ages/Seasons series and how you have to think about the wand and changing the environment. Playing as different WttW characters can change how you traverse the map which leads to interesting ways of reaching points in the map and feeling victorious when you discover the right person to use, especially when you get it on the first try.
WttW has a charming cast of characters with dialogue that reaches comedic heights as well as dramatic somber tones. When the world map gets -- redacted -- the story really comes together. That ending was really well done.
I did notice some odd drops in framerate, mostly due to several enemies being on screen at once, or highly animated fields of flowers, waterfalls, and other scenery adding to the sluggishness, but none of those were game breaking.
There isn't much to do in WttW after the end credits, though I have a feeling that I will be back for another play through once time allows. I highly recommend World to the West for anyone looking to get their top-down action adventure puzzle game on...this game is a nice indie gem, and not too steep in price for an eShop title. Give it a go, you won't regret it.
(Sidenote- WttW is set in the Teslagrad universe of Rain Games previous game, but it's not required to have played that one before venturing West. While there are some shared characters, previously playing Teslagrad won't help or hinder your experience here.)… Expand
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