While Breath Of The Wild satisfies that Zelda itch in a big way for Switch owners, there’s still an audience out there hungry for traditional 3/4-overhead action/adventure fantasy-RPG titles. There are a few games available for the Switch that come close to hitting the mark, but none come as close as World To The West. While the title isn’t without its fair share of issues, if you’re looking for an enjoyable entry in the genre to sink a few hours into without breaking the bank, this might be just the game for you.
World To The West’s main hook is that the game actually splits your attention between four different playable characters. Each of them has their own specialty, and you’ll need them all to solve the games multiple puzzles in order to make progress. The puzzles range from forehead-slapping obvious to difficult head-scratchers. As long as you keep in mind the abilities of each of the characters, you shouldn’t be stuck for too long. Pro-tip: try to keep the characters together as much as possible, as exploring too much with one may lead to having to switch over and cover that same area all over again with the character/ability you need to progress.
Combat in World To The West is also fairly unique when compared to other action/RPG titles on the market. Each character approaches enemies differently, meaning that given who you’re currently playing as, you will have the ability to either stun, control, or eliminate enemies altogether. So, the game ultimately breaks down into a mix of storytelling, exploration, combat, and puzzle solving. Each aspect is competent and enjoyable, but never really hits any mind-blowing benchmarks. Serviceable is a great adverb for this game.
Visually, WTTW is interesting. It’s cel-shaded isometric presentation is certainly eye-catching, especially during the first hour or so, but I never really found myself bowled over or wowed by any single environment, character design, or animation. It looks about as serviceable as it plays, and while that’s not a bad thing per-se, I still longed for moments that would elevate to title from good to great. Sadly, they never really hit.
I’m also sad to report that there’s nothing new, memorable, or ground-breaking in the sound design department, either. The game sounds fine, but I was never presented with a score that stuck with me. These types of games need world, battle, and dungeon music that you want to hum along to, since you’ll be listening to it for hours on end.
World To The West is far from terrible, but at the same time it’s not exactly great or memorable. This is a solid, competent, and serviceable title that will satiate your hunger for an action/RPG title until the next big release comes along- just don’t expect it to do much more than that.
