World to the West

If you like adventure games with a more joyful and childish tone, you should definitely try this game. This game has a lot to it: - Adventure: The game has a nice story, and quite a bit of dialogue. - Puzzle: You solve challenging puzzles, where you have to find clever ways of using the abilities of each character. - Fun gameplay: Each character has different abilities that are fun to use. This adds a lot of variety to the game, so that you won't get bored over time. - A rich world: You travel through a rich world filled with fascinating creatures and different kinds of people. The game really has its own style. The tone of the game is joyful and playful, like some of the old classic RPG games I played as a child (FF9, etc.). The world is very vivid, and filled with cute creatures. Also, the music really fits with well together with the rest of the game. This is the kind of game I will probably feel nostalgic when I play again in a few years.

"World to the West" is an Indie-RPG made by the Norwegian game studio Rain Games. My class and I was lucky enough to meet the team and visit their studio in Bergen, Norway, in October 2016. They let us play-test a demo of the game, and give constructive feedback to help them improve the game even further. Pros (+): + Great story + The characters are charming, well-developed and looks good (my personal favourite must be Lord Clonington) + Magnificent graphics, awesome art-wise + The game has about 20-25 hours of gameplay (If you're a completionist like me, hunting for achievements) + Tons of exploration, not just limited to the main story + Big map + Price is not too big, nor too small, got it on Steam's Summer Sale though + Superb, original and neat soundtrack Cons (-): - Story is a bit too short, in my opinion - I still don't like the font (told the developers I didn't like it too) - Combat system can be a bit... "buggy" at times - I got stuck some places, due to the lack of pin-pointers on where to go next - A bit annoying having to lead one character to a saving place, then switch character and lead another one to the same saving place (A bit repetitive in that way) So if you like RPGs, Indie-games, tons of exploration and a neat story, I'd recommend buying "World to the West".

My main gripe with this game is how it's structured. I'm sure a lot of people really like how there's 4 characters that each have different abilities, but personally I didn't like it that much. In Zelda, you just have Link, and an area you can't access means "come back later when you have the hookshot", for example. In this, an area you can't access means "come back later as a different character." That is fine, and all, except you end up exploring the same world as different characters who traverse it only a little differently from each other. You can't use totems you unlock on one character, as another one. Scarf girl finds a totem, and only she can teleport to it. And the first few hours of the game, at least, are populated with "get these two characters from point A to point B", except they might only barely help each other solve puzzles if at all. It's just "here's one puzzle, solve it twice". Now maybe, later in the game, the puzzles get more complex, and require teamwork, but I wasn't really enjoying the game enough to justify sitting through it until that point. I'd also prefer if the totems did not exist as anything other than save points, and you could just swap between available characters on the fly. It's kind of a huge pain to run around with each character to unlock the totem for them. But I realized that if that were the case, there would be no real reason to even keep 4 seperate characters at all. Anyway, the game looks nice, and connects to Teslagrad, which is cool, so totally go for it if you think you'll like it. I didn't, though. Also I loaded a save and lost a solid hour of progress, so that sucked.

This is really disappointing. Not just after how great Teslagrad was, but on its own merits or lack thereof. The game advertises itself as a Cookie and Cream style thing where you switch between characters so they can assist each other in advancing, but it's more like Donkey Kong 64 where you're just playing the same area four times in a vacuum with minimal impact on each other. Most chapters you don't even have control of more than one character, and only the final chapter lets you use all four at all. You're only allowed to switch characters at sparse fast travel points, which massively limits the capacity of puzzles; most of what actually happens is one character going off to do their own thing at a time, largely isolated from any impact of the others. The rare exception usually just means schlepping one other character through trivial areas you already cleared out to open one door, and then back a couple screens to get to the fast travel to swap back -- and since fast travel points are unlocked per character and not shared, that often means schlepping them across large trivial chunks of the [i]entire world map[/i] that you already cleared out. Worse, the fast travel points are only visible when viewing the map from one, so locating one can be a pain even if you've already unlocked it. Combat and boss fights are disappointing as well. Where Teslagrad's bosses were pseudo-puzzles that used your cool puzzle powers to either do indirect damage or create openings, these are mostly just a point and click adventure where the only solution is "use attack button on guy" with...very little thought or finesse, and almost no use of the characters' actual abilities. The difficulty is more jank than depth. All of this comes to a head when the final chapter suddenly springs a required collectathon of the game's hidden items on you for no particular reason. Teslagrad did the same at the very end, and while a bit rude it wasn't too much of burden because they could be found organically throughout the game and there was a simple central hub to quickly explore. Here, almost none of them are even accessible until the final chapter, as the entire game beforehand was on fairly tight rails and doesn't permit characters to venture out much until the last minute. So you're left with having to suddenly explore the entire world map all at once, so large that the main game up till then used barely a third of it if that, and so empty that there's nothing else of worth to do but collectathon, [i]four times[/i]. Upon finding enough of them to progress, the door opens to immediately present another door barely ten feet behind it that demands more of them. It's a shame because there's a neat world and lore going on, but the game just does very little with it and goes out of its way to be tedious.

Fun, charming, and worth playing, not without some serious problems. [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*] Big open world with lots of secrets to explore. [*] Super great music. [*] Clever mechanic with multiple caracters exploring the same spaces. [*] Lots of rewarding puzzles. [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*] Frustrating and slugglish combat. Enemies with dumb AI. Most enemies not worth fighting. [*] [i]Incredibly buggy.[/i] I had to force-quit or reload more times than I remember. [*] Lousy boss fights. [/list] The game in general feels rushed and lacking polish. There are so many bugs, and not just random glitches or crashes. But I have a list of reproducable easy to find problems that I could report to the developers to fix. Menus and dialogs clumsy in a way it felt like it wasn't playtested. But is was still worth a play through. The map is large and it felt rewarding to take the four characters through the same areas and solve the puzzles differently each time. Visual style is beautiful and the music is on point.

I impulse bought this game not knowing anything about it and I haven't looked back. I played a short time, and it's really fun. For some reason it reminds me of animal crossing for the movement and play style but with Zelda mixed in. It's very smooth. Challenging and beautiful. The sound track is amazing in my opinion and in total is very relaxing. My one complaint is the default key binds and making the attempt to bind up a controller but that's minor. No biggy.

Incredibly good metroidvania game. You have 4 characters and each has a different move set. Like in Astalon Tears of the Earth you have to get to checkpoints to switch characters, except here each character has to get to a checkpoint themselves. Which makes the level design much more interesting and unlocking shortcuts much more rewarding. 10/10 game. Would mind control squirrles again.

This is a great indie gem if you're someone who likes the top-down gameplay style of the 2D Zelda games, like Link to the Past, Link Between Worlds etc, which also happens to be a sequel to the (mostly) great Teslagrad. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] World to the West takes place in an open, metroidvania style world, where you slowly gain access to more of the map as you unlock the 4 characters and upgrade their powers. The gameplay is more complex than other reviews have given it credit for. Like Zelda, most of the game is spent solving "puzzles", but these aren't necessarily in your face puzzle rooms like Teslagrad. Generally you know you need to get from point A to point B, or find an item in point B, and to do that you need to solve some subtle environmental puzzles using the 4 characters (or a subset of those). The complexity comes from the way the developers nave cleverly spread abilities over all the characters, so that there is some overlap of some abilities, and other powers are unique. To solve these puzzles you generally need to find the one character or sequence of characters that have the abilities you need at the time. In addition to the main storyline, there are a [i]lot[/i] of collectibles to find: 36 scrolls, a similar amount of health upgrades, and then maybe 100 money chests strewn around the map. These were my favourite part of the game, not only because I'm a completionist, but also because these allowed the environmental puzzles to shine: you really have to think about how the spaces are designed, and which parts stand out as something that can be exploited by a given character. In addition, the game has save points which serve as fast travel spots. Others have complained that each character must individually find these to enable teleporting, but I think this is a clever addition to the game that in some cases makes you solve the same environmental puzzle in 4 different ways in order to access all the treasures available to each character in each area. The combat was entirely serviceable for those used to Zelda's combat: each character has a main attack button along with up to 3 other abilities that might have some combat application. Combat comes into focus during some interesting boss fights and certain arena fight gates, but is otherwise not a huge portion of the game. [h1]Music[/h1] I found this game's music to be diverse and interesting. No particular track was so good that I would buy the soundtrack, but I remember enjoying it as I played! [h1]Story[/h1] At face value, the story was very bland: four heroes are prophesied to be able to beat the bad guy and his plot to destroy the world, so they have to find key items to stop him. Pretty uninspired. On the other hand, it was a nice opportunity for the devs to explore the interesting cultures present in the world of Teslagrad, including the mind-controlling Mesmer, the engineers from Motorland, the electric Teslamancers from the first game, and others. However, the game isn't set in any of these countries. The Mesoamerican-inspired native people of the titular "West" have a pleasantly developed history, but the game seems to sideline them for some reason, and decides that the (white) foreigners need to save their country for them, which is a bizarre decision that could so easily be avoided by including them in the playable party, as well as coming up with a better reason why they can't save themselves except for "prophecy". So story is probably the game's weakest part. [h1]Graphics[/h1] World to the West has simple but cute graphics. They're not amazing, and aren't awe-inspiring like Teslagrad, but I really have no issue with them. Check out the screenshots to see what I mean [h1]Linux[/h1] It supports Linux! And it runs without issues! Great job, devs!

This is a Zelda game that is simply too easy to be very interesting to me. A lot of backtracking and the like too with a too slow walking speed for the size of the map. I wonder if I would have had more patience for it if everything had just been sped up. But 5.7 hours was enough time for me.

As a huge fan of Teslagrad to the point where I became a significant member of its speedrunning community, I was looking forward to playing World to the West more than most people. Does it live up to the hype? Here's my review. The number one question of Teslagrad fans is, how does this compare to Teslagrad? Number one, it is much brighter and lighter than the dark themes that Teslagrad held. It is fully in 3D with very vivid, cartoony graphics. Some beautiful hand-painted scenes appear in some places as well. Number two, there are still puzzle platform mechanics, but it should be viewed more as an homage to Legend of Zelda in that you will frequently need certain items and different character abilities to navigate the terrain and the main objective areas. Number three, the game opens up as a fully dialouged, storylined action adventure akin to Secret of Mana, not at all like the wordless pictoral storytelling that Teslagrad did. The map is large and double layered, with a bright overworld and a spooky underground littered with tunnels and caves. There is a bustling town where you can talk to nearly everyone, and a crazy old lady drives the main plot. The overall game is much longer, slower, and more storied than Teslagrad, which is a turn-off to a speedrunner's mindset. Number four, however, is that the game will frequently remind you that you are in the same universe as Teslagrad. You have a Teslamancer as one of the four main playable characters, with familiar abilities. While you are no longer in Electropia, you find people from the neighboring countries, Mesmer and Motorland, and get to see how they interact and what they think of Teslamancers. Jørn Lavoll delivers a superb soundtrack, which includes many references to music from Teslagrad. And of course, we can't forget the hidden scroll collecting. Many reminders from Teslagrad wait to be discovered and appreciated. Now, the next question. How does this fare as a standalone game for people who have never seen Teslagrad? Overall, you can't help but compare it to Legend of Zelda. It feels very much like it, but is still quite fun in its own way. Since it is from a small Norwegian indie game developer, you can't expect it to be as huge as Breath of the Wild. But it's also one-quarter of the price. The opening chapters of the game introduce you to the main characters one by one, occasionally crossing paths, until late game when they all converge together and you are then allowed to freely roam. Until that point, the game feels a bit constrained and scripted. At first the characters are physically constrained from roaming, with obstacles they can't clear until acquiring special items later on. And even then, at one particular point after acquiring a new item and attempting to go back and explore with it, I was annoyed at the old lady literally stopping me and saying "No, you can't explore yet, go do your quest first." Another point some people may not like is that there are checkpoints throughout the world where you can teleport from point to point, but each character cannot teleport to a checkpoint unless they have personally visited it already, so there's quiite a bit of travel needed because you essentially need to traverse the world four times, once with each character, to acquire a sufficient set of checkpoints for each one. The main objective areas require the combined might of all four characters, so hauling each one to each area is a bit of a slog, but it can also be treated as a challenging puzzle because each character needs to take a slightly different path governed by their ability to circumvent obstacles. So there are often times when you see a shiny thingy you want to reach, and say to yourself, "Well, only that character can reach it. Now how do I get them all the way over here?" Overall I give World to the West a big thumbs up. To me, Teslagrad is Rain's Hobbit, and World to the West is their Lord of the Rings. A heavily expanded and richer gaming experience. I can't wait to see what's next.

I tried, but definitely can't recommend this game... It felt like a charming zelda clone at first, but quickly turned into a clumsy game, on every level: controller input, camera, texts... Puzzles are repetitive as hell... Feels like an overpriced alpha version...

World to the West is a hard game to recommend. I loved it. Well...I loved part of it. The game understands how to make exploration engaging by having micro-puzzles throughout the world with each character re-contextualizing how you need to approach the puzzles. In combination with the aesthetics and player controlled pacing, in the latter half, World to the West presents itself as a masterclass in exploratory gameplay. It's incredibly disappointing that the poor pacing in the first half, flimsy combat, and general lack of polish tarnish the experience. If you are a fan of exploratory gameplay consider checking this out, but everyone else should avoid this game with a ten foot pole. Full review if you like reading: https://frostilyte.wordpress.com/2019/06/06/world-to-the-west

What's fun in the World to the West is, each character has their own abilities to solve puzzles by switching between 4 characters and what I liked that I could play the same map several times for each character and try to figure out what the character that could solve the puzzles at this map, reminds me of a puzzles in a game series called "Wild Arms" so I enjoyed it a lot! I like how simple yet fun the game is, the world is colorful and cheerful and the dialogs are simple and interesting, The ost are so beautiful, I couldn't forget them and come back to listen to them again. I love this cute game so much! so glad I discovered it <3

Cute and Enjoyable game, somewhat in the vein of Rare games (but with less collectables). Has a pretty varied cast of characters with equally varied talents, though not every character is equal (Ironically the Strongman becomes the weakest character quickly, being rather slow and unwieldy while not having many unique use-cases). For fans of Teslagrad, though this game does have connections with Teslagrad 1 and 2 through Lumina, this game does strike a different tone and seems geared to be friendly towards younger audiences, so keep in mind that, comparatively, this game is a good deal easier. The weakest points of this game are probably its control scheme, which can be pretty inaccurate, especially using ranged abilities, and the fact that you do have to individually control each character, often one at a time. The latter often means a lot of "backtracking" where you have to move each character in between fast-travel points, but on the upside this fact is used pretty effectively narratively where often characters move in and out of the story. I definitely think this could have been changed to Donkey Kong Country scheme where each character automatically follows the one the player controls near the end of the game though, just to make your life easier. Ultimately, I don't think these cons ruin the game at all though, more that they're points that should be improved upon if this game were to ever have a sequel or remake.

Progression of my feelings about this game: 1) Huh, this wasn't what I expected...okay, I will roll with it. 2) Okay, you have my attention, this is pretty interesting. 3) Kind of getting annoyed at these BS mechanics and controls here, but not the end of the world I guess. 4) I must be missing something / doing something wrong... 5) Nope, this game is just a dick. 6) Alt F4 This game is basically a LEGO game + Oceanhorn. Its cute and shiny and a decent premise. 4 characters all with their own unique ways to traverse the map and get through puzzles. I figure that I had played the Trine series and an absurd amount of LEGO games, so I would enjoy this game, but no. This game suffers from two absolutely fatal flaws: bad direction/map systems and lack of permanence. You have to get EVERY character to each checkpoint individually, they don't work as a unit and pretty much nothing you do on each character helps the other characters make it to the next checkpoint. So it just feels like you're pointlessly having to run each part of the map 4x for no good reason, just because the door at the end needs to have a mage blast, fist punch, and door crawled through by your digger dude and the psychic's animal pal. And every time you run through it, any enemies you killed along the way have respawned and all things you opened up are now closed again. Nearing the end of the game, their directions become pointlessly vague, so you just have to wander around looking for buttons to push, but you can't just waltz through the backtracking areas because remember all the enemies and blockages are still there, so you have to literally complete each puzzle area to explore around in your search. Its so flipping frustrating, especially since you already have no idea where you're supposed to go and now they make it hard to get anywhere. Then when you finally do find where you need to go, you will need one of the characters specifically to open the door or whatever, so now you have to get them ALL the way to where you are on whatever character you made the maze through with. But since every hero is different in how they get places, you have to take a completely different map route and it takes you forever to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B because everything you learned about pathing on Character 1 is meaningless for Character 2. Overall, it just made me more and more annoyed and even though I was reaching the end, I just Alt F4ed and uninstalled because it wasn't worth my time anymore. I was stuck and not happy about it. Would not recommend.

The game has cute graphics but don't let that make you underestimate this gem. It is a great game for all ages. The Linux port works like a charm.

World to the West is a game I've been looking forward to for years, ever since I first played Teslagrad in 2015, and I'd say it lived up to my hype reasonably well. Though it plays nothing at all like its prequel - it's in 3D, for a start, and takes place in an open world with vastly different mechanics - it takes place in the same fantasy realm and has quite a few callbacks to the original game. For a 3D game, it runs very well on my low-end computer, although the hitboxes can be a little bit problematic at times, particularly when fighting. That being said, however, the movement is smooth and the controls are learnable if not intuitive. The plot of the game isn't strong by any means, but it's acceptable, I suppose. It was mostly an excuse to get me to explore different areas, which was naturally delicious and ate up my time quite nicely. The dialogue, however, is extremely amusing. 10/10 would recommend that dialogue. "I'll give you one thing, young lady: you have spirit." "That's what old people say when they can't say anything nice." Mechanics are where the game really shines. It can best be described as a co-op game for one player, and the varying mechanics of the four different, interchangeable characters are used primarily to help the others progress. With so many skills, it took me quite a while to figure out some of the puzzles - they're not Teslagrad good, but they're clever nonetheless. It really isn't something I've played before, and for that I salute Rain Games. TL;DR: An innovative game with a few weak points. Not as good as Teslagrad, but a very fun way to kill a day or two of your time.

actually surprised how cool it is. quite fun. also pretty easy but interesting enough to clear your mind if your not feeling too good. there are some funny moments in it.

Interesting mechanics, nice art, and simple-but-satisfying gameplay. Not bad! A little bit like a Zelda game so far, but with a lot more talking.

Decent game, but not quite as good as Teslagrad. This game has a couple of boring parts, the puzzles are underwhelming, the bosses aren't great (partly due to less precise controls) and it has a bug here and there. But the overworld is fun to explore with all characters, the music is pretty good and I like the art style. It is just fun enough to recommend, but don't expect Zelda quality here. I'd get it on sale.

I really loved this game. The soundtrack is great, the gameplay is fun, and the art style is captivating. The gameplay gave me some Legend of Zelda vibes. You explore, solve puzzles, and collect items using the unique play style of four different characters. The game is short but I really enjoyed every second. The only downside is the ending, the story ends unsatisfactorily without properly ending each character's backstory. Nonetheless, it is a great game that I definitely recommend.

World to the West is a pleasant surprise for those who liked Teslagrad. Although it is not a sequence, it happens in the same universe. In World to the West, you play with 4 characters and one of them (the first one you play) is this bridge between Teslagrad and this game (if you played Teslagrad you can get some references). The game is fun and dynamic, mixing the gameplay between 4 very different characters with different skills, giving the puzzles and the exploration an interesting but not an exaggerated difficulty. World to the West has a very nice universe and a well-mixed interaction of each personality in the game. An adventure puzzle that will please how like exploration games.

Somehow Ok game with nice grafics, but with quite some flaws, as the medium story, the large amount of backtracking, the bad controls. Is all in all after some hours boring.

I am just a couple hours into this game, however it is delightful, charming, and just challenging enough. Figuring out the puzzles and exploring a colorful world full of cute characters and creatures has been really enjoyable. I think Rain Games did a great job putting this together. I have experienced some problems with the mouse controls (one of the characters Knaus uses ice skates and it was bugging out using the mouse), but this is just a minor bug. Everything else has worked great for me! The soundtrack for this game is great as well. I usually tend to play some music separately instead of in-game music but I really like this one! Check out a little more info of my first impressions of the game as well as a playthrough at: http://www.aimlessatl.com/2017/05/09/first-glance-world-to-the-west/

Plays like absolute ass. Mouse-based movement control works for Diablo. This ain't fucking Diablo. Attack cool-down is ridiculously slow, and will often work with the mouse controls to ensure you're facing the wrong direction and left open to get absolutely wrecked in no time.

Eehhh this game just. Doesn't work. You spend 8 chapters doing more straightforward gameplay and it's... okay but kinda dull. Then the last chapter begins and you're left to explore an open world with mechanics not meant for exploration. Have fun dragging each individual character across the entire map to get to one location that needs all four characters to solve a puzzle. Have fun doing this twice, also. Have fun collecting a lot of the supposedly optional secrets that at one point become mandatory for progress (not all of them, mind you, and personally I had enough by the time I got to that point to open the door anyways, but still...) Have fun getting literally softlocked with a character because you ended up in a location the devs didn't expect a character to be and thus put no way out, even though getting to that area took no skill. Have fun coming across one of the like, three puzzles for the mesmerist that actually needs a stored enemy, forcing you to go and buy/collect one just to progress. Have fun with the nonsensical plot that ends abruptly before most of the major plot points are resolved and before we learn much of anything about any of the characters. Have fun with the final boss who arbitrarily deals 4 points of damage in one phase of the battle while the other three phases are easy as heck. Have fun playing as the teslamancer 90% of the time because she is both the most combat-capable and free-moving character of the entire game. Have fun finding a puzzle she can't solve and thus needing to reluctantly drag another character across the map just to punch one door or climb through one tunnel. Have fun trying to figure out if that secret on the map is something you can get to directly or if you need to find a hidden exit in another room to get to it. Have fun fighting the same half dozen enemies over and over with no real variation throughout the entire game. Have fun with the ear-grating music that ranges from "this is gross" to "this is mildly pleasant but unmemorable". Have fun with the passable but bland aesthetic. Have fun playing Hob, not this game. It's such a better game in every aspect and this game, despite only taking me about 10 hours to complete, felt waaayy too long and by the end of it I was absolutely sick of it. No thanks.

Just delightful, such good characters and atmosphere and it is fun changing things up by switching characters when progressing.

By default, controller controls binds no controller buttons whatsoever even if you plug in a controller like the Xbox One Controller before starting the game. The game's controls aren't very keyboard friendly either. The game also foists multiple characters onto the player in quick succession. While it does subtly teach you the game's mechanics, some of the stealth sections are annoying, I nearly had trouble in Chapter II as a result. If you like Zelda games, you will like this one.

I got this along with Teslagrad back when they were on Sale, For 1$ and 3$ respectively. So, For a puzzle 3D action Platformer, I'd say the game was excellent in it's ingenuity when it comes to puzzles. The different tools used to solve them as well as some of the unique aspects of the items themselves. The bosses were sometimes too simple but still fun as well as remixes of music from the previous game. The only complaint I have is QoL things such as map markers aside from ones you receive later in the game. There aren't necessarily markers to determine which adventurer goes to what puzzle and where. Also. Backtracking... I don't want to LONG backtrack to pick up collectibles that tell a story that is effectively pointless for the universe of Teslagrad. The secrets scrolls to teslagrad actually had importance for the history of both characters that appear in this and the previous game where as the items tell the backstory of Blue Lady. If there was an extra ending content, then I would say by all means loremasters, go and grab it. Grips aside, Overall, I enjoyed the game for what it offered, I hope that the developers have a followup or an additional game to bridge the 2. Sidenote, getting catfished by the MC of the 1st game.

Nice stylized cartoony graphics, great music. Puzzles are fun to solve and not too challenging. Fighting is varied thanks to the different abilities of the four characters. The story is entertaining enough, if not particularly deep, and the writing is good overall. If you're into Zelda-style adventures, you're going to love this.

This is a great game. I like these graphics and the world and story is awesome!

Shiny exterior, dusty, drab and dull interior. World to the West ultimately falls short in every aspect it prides itself on. Its strongest suit being its puzzles/platforming in this hybrid puzzle action adventure game, though that is saying bugger all when analysed in the grand scheme of things. This game is four times longer than it needs to be, and that's because you quite legitimately repeat most things... four times over, each character completely independent of one another. I've never seen a game both underutilise, yet overutilise its characters in nearly every instance of itself as there are very few key moments in the game that solely rely one any one single character, yet when it does, it almost emphasises that specific character too much. World to the West feels like a mad cacophony of shallow ideas jury rigged to a half-assed effort. The problem is it falls short, far too short in everything it implores you do. The combat is tacky, boring, unengaging and honestly infuriating, and tedious. The longer the game went on the more I tended to avoid encounters. This is only compounded by how piss poor the controls are. The game uses an 8-point direction scheme even when using a mouse, which means your mouse cursor isn't always representative of the true direction you are facing, or an action might occur, such as attacking, or using the Teslamancer's projectile attack or dash. Half the time my characters wouldn't attack or respond to left clicking resulting in me taking more hits than I should have. The game would have benefit far more from its exclusion, as it only really felt to serve as a means to falsely pad out time in the already overwhelmingly bland environments that lack diversity and depth. There's a currency system in play that also feels entirely unnecessary in the grand scheme of the game, with the money only serving two purposes; to either buy minions for the mindbender, or to buy map pins for the 'collectables', which only equate to health shards or oddly, lore tablets. The story is by far one of the weakest I've experienced that simply boils down to 'bad guy doing bad thing and must be stopped'. It's no spoiler to say the conclusion was as satisfying as licking a soiled lollipop, literally no ones story is concluded and not even a single word/piece of text is spoken or displayed in the extremely hodgepodge cutscene that kicks you out the door to thank you for your arduous time. I was utterly shocked and dumbfounded by its abruptness. An insurmountable effort was made to get through to the end only for it to feel entirely in vain. The puzzles are the best part about this whole experience, but I'm really not aiming to compliment the game here. Most puzzles boil down to platforming or finding a way to 'climb' an obstacle. There's some deviation with the Teslamancers shock rod but it's mostly limited to bouncing the projectile of pylons. To reiterate my earlier point about the game duration, the game's biggest cardinal sin is that you must repeat most, if not everything, four times, separately for each individual character. The map is quite expansive and convoluted but travel is made easier by the way of totems you can fast travel to. Or so you would think. That is until you realise that totems are only unlocked for the characters that find them. That means for the map to be completely open and traversable for every character, you must run the course, four. Complete. Times. This only builds frustration when you focus on one character to explore, get them to the other side of the map, and have to repeat the process, another three times. Seriously, what were the devs thinking with this? I have to reinforce this point because it's the most prominent issue the game has, you must understand what you are getting yourself into. Honestly, it's a game that promises much with its pretty visuals, and the allure of something greater beyond the horizon to the west. It's such a shame that it's a harrowing journey of repetition, uninspired brawling, lackluster puzzling, and a completely uninspired narrative. It couldn't be a bigger bludge if it tried. This game has promise, intrigue, and potential when you first load it up, by the end it's simply hot air. Not worth your time, or your money. You want a good action adventure? Go play Ori. You've been warned, this is as weak as they come. A real shame considering the appraise for Teslagrad.

Cute game with potentials. 4 characters with unique abilities: Teslamancer could blink The kid miner could ice skate on water, shovel to go underground undetected, crawl through small holes Mindbender could take control of monster to use its abilities Strongman could climb and break stores barriers This game has 2 main maps: an overworld map and a underground mine map. Usually in one area you will see it is set for multi characters using their own skills to walk through, which means you don't need to change characters most of the time. There are totems to be activated for teleport and game save, but a totem is unlocked for one character rather than all 4 of them. So you will need to run same path several times because some puzzle doors require all 4 to unlock it. The first 8 chapters are well story-driven, but starting from chapter 9 it feels different and the way point is confusing. After i get all the special cards location i instantly go for them because all the achievements in this game are cards related. Some cards are almost impossible, but getting them are really satisfying. 8/10 of the game. Would be great if one totem can be used for all characters once it's activated.

Fun adventure/puzzle game with a little combat - had a nice progression to it where your characters learn new moves (or you get new characters) so you can get to other places that were blocked previously, though not quite complicated enough to call this a metroidvania game. Artwork was good, story was fine, there were some funny moments and I liked collecting the cards for achievements. Took me a while to get into the game, but once I got control of all the characters, I couldn't stop playing. I didn't like that you had to get each character to each checkpoint for it to unlock for them, but that was part of the challenge I suppose.

+ Nice pullzes. + Interesting storyline with charming characters. + Good bgm. - The map can be improved. (e.g. marking discovered shrine or battery for future collection) - Spending too much time on travelling in the late game. Tips: [[spoiler] The maximum sum of HP of all characters is 60, but it can be sth like 16 + 16 + 14 + 14.[/spoiler] [[spoiler] One battery is unable to be collected until the water level drops. (Just before the final boss fight)[/spoiler]

Absolutely adored this game. It isn't flawless, but what's there is beautiful, accessible and meticulously crafted. The final chapter requires a lot of backtracking and repetition, which may turn some people off. Pros: - The level design is inspired. The design reminds me of Lego Star Wars meets old-school Zelda - Audio/visuals are top notch. This game is gorgeous and has a great soundtrack - Engaging story. Players that enjoy narrative and exploration are sure to be happy in this world - It respects its users' time until the very end. Aside from the last chapter, this game is fast paced. I beat it over a day and a half and relished every minute. Did not overstay its welcome Cons: - I did experience a few bugs, especialy with the mercenary character, but nothing game breaking. I was able to get out of every issue I saw and never lost any progress - Difficulty curve is wild. One boss about halfway through the game is way tougher than anything else in the game (unless I just had no idea what I was doing). The games' final encounters are weirdly uneven, with the very last being an anticlimactic breeze - Lots of backtracking and repitition in the game's final chapter. This was not a dealbreaker for me, but might be for some people - Story ends with a few questions left unanswered

This game is a mix of action rpg, adventure, puzzle platforming, and light metroidvania. The game's controls and mechanics are solid and enjoyable. The gameplay is balanced between the characters you control in both the amount of time and significance of actions. This means no character doesn't feel like an afterthough (a mistake that is easy to make in a game like this). The game's story is light but fitting. Where the game could be better: The music didn't grip me. It's not bad, it just didn't stand out in a way that would prevent me from eventually muting it. There are a few points in the game where a new mechanic is introduced, and what to do in the situation isn't very intuitive. The environmental style is a bit bland. There are cartoonish blades of grass and such, but often it seems like a little too bit reused a little too much. It's not the best action-rpg ever, but it's got it where it counts. I recommend picking this up on sale.

EDIT: This is probably one of my all-time favourite games. There, I said it. I don't often leave reviews but this is great. I finished the main store and there's *STILL* more parts I'm working to figure out. I *love* the way they've used achievements to tell part of the back-story -- really makes you (well, me) want to "catch 'em all" 61% so far? On top of that, there are collectible red jewels (?) that are needed to unlock a final area and I think I need about 30 and am yet at 24 (?) Yet another fun addition that has you hunting areas you've passed and attempting to ace challenges placed. As an indie (yeah yeah, I know) I will be drawing inspiration from this for years. Thanks, devs! ORIGINAL: Astonishingly not-hand-holding mostly puzzle with a little light combat metroidvania involving multiple characters with different abilities that you receive both of (characters and abilities) in a cute and well scripted story. During the story you lose access to various characters and, as mentioned above, the puzzles are compelx enough and the world wide enough that you don't necessarily immediately know where you're supposed to go next. As I write this, I have at least two paths before me and I'm enjoying a lot. Great fun in a beautiful stylish package. Recommended :)

An adventure game where you control four characters with many areas to explore and puzzles to solve. The story was simplistic but was enough to drive progress through the game. Each character has their own silly back story and motives for working together. With their unique abilities, you unlock new areas with the ultimate goal of taking down the big boss. The exploration aspect wasn't as rewarding as I had hoped. Aside from story chests, most of the treasure chests you find are filled with gold. This is a bit pointless because there isn't much use for gold in the game. There are also some story tablets strewn across the land that you can collect. Once they are all collected, you are rewarded, but by that time, the reward isn't all that useful. The puzzles themselves were not too complicated, but you do need to scout each area a bit to figure out what needs to be done. The puzzles vary in complexity. I found that towards the end, many of them were just alternate paths to the next area. Overall, it was a simple but enjoyable adventure game.

World to the West is a fun little game, it packs in both combat and puzzles, with four distinct characters each with very distinct playing styles and strengths. Time wise, you can probably get through the main story in 8 hours and probably a few more hours for achievements. If you are looking for a light hearted game with a brilliant soundtrack and simple yet elegant play look no further. However, key binding are odd, but you can remap them and I would suggest doing so. I personally used wasd and jkil.

I was looking forward to playing this game, but I was left frustrated with various issues with the control setup such as: -Numbering the controls from 1-10 instead of the appropriate labels, forcing the players to learn through trial and error. -Issues with the controls with the Totem teleport system, rendering them completely useless forcing walk all the way across the map. -Attempting to apply changes to controls renders the controls useless, forcing you to reinstall the game It's because of these issues that destroyed any drive to play this game at all. I'm not sure why some people are not having similar issues, but I've done everything in my power to overcome these issues and they have remained fruitless.

The game is good so far. Lots of puzzle solving with action, but the need to rebind all of the controller keys because there is no default controller mapping is kinda frustrating. Still, I recommend the game. Lots of fun!

Really a joy. I like what they did with the world they started building in Teslagrad. The puzzles are enjoyable and leave you with a sense of accomplishment without slowing down the pace of the narrative. 7/10

Bought into this game after reading one of the top positive reviews that claimed 20 to 30 hours of "relaxing" gameplay despite having registered 8.5 only. Left after little more than an hour due to: - slow, unresponsive, clunky and overall awful gameplay; - bland art direction; - unnerving, repetitive background music and sound effects; - unimaginative puzzles that don't leverage the characters' abilities cleverly at all; - impossibly boring backtracking (yes, even for the short time I played). Don't be fooled by the cheery reviews and the catchy trailers: this game has nothing to offer but an unrewarding experience that will surely leave you dissatisfied. After digging some more in the (observably more grounded) negative reviews, it seems my instincts were right, so I finally convinced myself to give up on this and ask for a refund.

At three dollars on sale, it's hard to complain I wasted my money, but my time is a different matter. I refuse to run through every screen in the game with each of the four characters independently. The level design is fine the first time, but it's not THAT good. From the reviews, I understand the story somewhat revolves around this limitation, which makes it an intentional design choice. In my opinion, that was a mistake, but if you can get past this gameplay contrivance and enjoy it, good for you. Also, on startup, the camera controls were bound like so; Pan Up: Right Trigger Pan Left: Right Trigger. Pan Down: Left Trigger Pan Right: Left Trigger AND Pan Right: X There were some other questionable bindings, but that was almost enough to quit by itself before I figured out what was going on. Whether or not that was some funky hardware/software interaction with my rig, I can't say but coupled with the other design decisions in this game...

Such frustrating game, it has some good point like the different powers and great checkpoint systems. BUT it has a lot of bad points like the isometric platforming makes this one of the worst platformers which is shocking compared to teslagrad! Combat is horrible, just the worst I've played in a long time and I would of prefered that they remove it all together. The music is almost non-existant and very bland, the sound effects are OK but very generic. This game was such a disapointment, I can't recommened this game even at a discount.

Surprisingly brilliant little puzzle-platformer! Although by "little" i mean only the cute visual style. The world is pretty damn huge and the level design makes it appear even bigger, most areas being navigable in entirely different ways by each character. Plus considering the cleverly overlapping storylines on top, it's easily on par with the best AAA titles in terms of time that can be spent in and intriguing challenges. Well done, worth every penny.

A great game! Challenging boss fights for the most part and a great story! I found the controllers a bit wonky at first, but it quickly grew on me!

Perfect little adventure. While you get to re-play most maps 4 times, once for each character, theor skills are sufficiently different so it does not feel like a chore. I like it since it makes the world more real and less gamey

I love this game! It is a Zelda-like RPG/Platformer with four cute, adorable characters. Charming music, beautiful landscape and a nice atmosphere make it a great experience, dialogs adding some comedy. Absolutely recommending this.