We all know the world is round, but what if it could round and flat at the same time. Geometrically speaking that would be a circle and there lies the core premise of World of One, an intriguing new indie, puzzle-platformer now available for PC. Borrowing heavily on the silhouette art style of Limbo with some dashes of color tossed in for effect, World of One offers a unique approach to the side-scrolling platformer by wrapping a linear level into a circle, basically giving you multiple worlds to explore from a 2D perspective.
As with most of these indie PC games these days, there’s not much in the way of story or motivation, and what little story there is gets withheld to the final parts of the game. World of One eases you into its unique navigation and puzzle-solving elements as you start to explore your surrounding and figure out what you can and cannot do in this world. You can run and jump, move boxes and flip switches, and even go up against various monsters and bosses.
Obviously, if you walk far enough in one direction you are going to end up where you started, and World of One uses this clever looping concept to create some pretty clever puzzles and navigational obstacles that will have you moving left and right to solve puzzles and advance the levels. Considering how small the worlds were, I was surprised how much gameplay they could squeeze out of them.
Most of the puzzles are fairly straightforward once you realize how compact each world is. There are only so many possibilities given your abilities and the items available in each world, so logical thinking should get you past even the toughest brain teasers. For me, combat was the only downside to the gameplay in World of One. Boring, repetitive, and even unfair are all words I would use to describe it, especially the first boss, which actually turns out to be tougher than anything that comes after.
The presentation is what really hooked me. The stylish visuals, the smooth rotation of the level, the charming animations, and some seriously creepy moments all kept the game fresh and new for my six-hour adventure. I appreciated the minimal use of icons and HUD elements that allowed me to immerse myself in the game’s intricately crafted world design. The music perfectly fit the ambience of the environments and dynamically rose to the occasion when a boss battle ensued.
While there is no narrative reason to replay World of One, no scores, leaderboards, etc. the game does have 37 achievements, most associated with super-secret stuff in the game, and for those looking for the ultimately challenge, take on the Hardcore mode where you only get three lives to finish the entire game.
I really enjoyed World of One. Its unique perspective to side-scrolling platform games along with great controls, immersive soundtrack, and some truly clever puzzles made this a pure delight from start to finish. The intrusive combat elements, while frustrating at times, still never broke the experience for me, and even though more story elements are trickled out to you near the end, you still come away with more questions than answers. Even if you only play it once, World of One is an adventure worth taking.
