My World – Action RPG Maker Preview

My World is an Early Access Editor and RPG game which has been created and published by The Game Creators. Content is being regularly updated on a weekly basis, therefore, my review will be on the games current state…

When I saw the trailer for this game I knew I had to get my hands on it. It’s refreshing to have a world-building experience outside of the pixelated caverns of Minecraft. The game is, at its core, designed for you to enjoy the simple pleasure of building your own worlds, nevertheless, you can easily access other people’s worlds via download on the steam workshop page. It’s up to the player to create their own fun out of the tools, much more so than Minecraft in some respects. I spent a good six hours on the editor for my first section of my world and I had a blast! Using my own creativity I came up with a story line and suitable quests for an area you can really immerse yourself in. I had to test my level in the same way a designer would before releasing content into their own games. After creating your world you can very simply upload your content onto the workshop.

What I love about the game is the ability to keep adding content to your levels without uploading it multiple times. Honestly, this game is a perfect place for someone who wants to satisfy their hunger for creativity or would like to embark into something completely different and learn new elements within game design like creating levels.

The main menu has been created in a very innovative way, which has its merits and its disadvantages. There are portals connecting each menu function within a 3D environment, although this is a really interesting approach I don’t think neglecting the standard menu system completely is the best idea. Sometimes you only have an allocated amount of time to play in that day, therefore having a faster method of accessing the menu should be implemented in my opinion.

Some of the menu elements include choosing your character, which again is done interactively. You can step onto platforms to pick between five different visual types. Walking into portals such as ‘Play game’ which allows you to play in any of the levels made by the creators of the game, worlds you have created or by others which you already downloaded. Other portals include the workshop which you can access to download worlds from other players or by going over to the ‘Multiplayer’ portal which allows you to be able to team up with others.  The true meat of the game lies with the ‘Create world’ portal where you can mess around with the editor and make your own content.

The game editor is well designed, the learning curve for creating levels is straightforward and GUI is very helpful with on-off toggle functionality. There isn’t an excessive content at the moment but there’s enough for you to have heaps of fun. While personally, I feel that making the worlds is much more rewarded than playing this game, I confidently think with added features that this game has huge amounts of potential.

In the combat system, you have the ability to use normal attacks with ‘left mouse’ button which you produce a combo of knock back attacks which stun locks lesser enemies. A stronger attack which can be used with ‘right click mouse’ button and a dodge roll with ‘CTRL’ key. The dodge can be used quite efficiently against harder monsters but there’s not much need for it with lesser foes. I honestly don’t see much use for the stronger attack, would be cool to see some features implemented where it breaks a monsters shield or something along those lines. You also have a set amount of health potions that you can drink, that heal a small amount of hit points by pressing ‘E’.

The choice of art style seems really well thought out. It’s low poly with creased edges (hard edges) with lots of visually pleasing colour schemes to attract you to the game. Its simplicity allows for content to be added more frequently which is better for all of us. All the sounds are of excellent quality and have been implemented very well which gives a more polish feeling to the game.

I had a positive experience with My World and although the good does outweigh the bad I had several issues with the experience. Most of the problems lie with a lack of options. Five characters which all do the exact same thing, quests that only allow you to collect and kill and a small player base which makes it hard for you to get feedback from your worlds on the workshop. As with most indie games without a budget, there is also the issue of relatively empty servers. I haven’t even managed to find a hosted lobby on multiplayer yet. It’s not a big concern for me but for others I think that could be a pretty big issue.

In the future, I hope for more complex quest, NPC and looting systems. This would allow players to create more dynamic worlds for others to get involved in the way we intended. The quest system as it stands is far too basic… Combat within the game doesn’t really appeal to me… a more customizable approach to both combat and characters would be an excellent addition to the game, giving us the freedom to do more will allow for a more fun experience!

I’m very happy with the game regardless of its flaws, I can’t wait to play more of this and I’m very excited to see future updates!