Worldless review | PC

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One of our favourites from EGX 2022 is finally out and ready to be put through its paces, gather round as we give you the lowdown on Noname Studios’ Worldless.

by James
Michael Parry

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​@james_parry

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Developer: Noname
Studios
Publisher: Coatsink,
Thunderful
Platforms: PC, Xbox
PlayStation,
Nintendo Switch
Players: 1

SO, WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
Imagine a turn-based platform adventure game with a wireframe-inspired visual style and you’re already close to the audio visual experience that is Worldless. From the word go the style of the game has you hooked, with it’s clean design choices and soothing ambient music.

IS IT SOME SORT OF WORD GAME?
While an uninformed search could lead you to a similarly named clone of a popular word game, here the emphasis is an interface which doesn’t involve text, besides the speech of an NPC. It immediately adds a sense of something polished and well thought-out from the word go.

WHAT DO YOU DO IN GAMEPLAY?
The platforming sections are fairly straightforward. You quickly acquire an air dash and a combination of it and a standard jump lead to some simple challenges, where it goes up a notch is when the environment starts to get more complex, with switches, manually triggered platforms and pendulums propelling you about the level.

The other main element is the turn-based combat, which includes a real-time element to the actual strikes and blocks depending on the turn you’re on. Like the platforming, it looks simple on the surface, with either physical or magic attacks being dished out or blocked against. Fairly quickly though, elements are added in, leading to strengths and weaknesses to bear in mind, and the experience acts on a bit of a risk/reward thanks to one mechanic which adds another dimension to encounters – absorption.

ALRIGHT, WE'LL BITE, WHAT'S ABSORPTION?
While defeating enemies is all well and good, the ultimate test in combat is to weaken and then absorb the essence of your foes. While you can get away with just winning encounters, really to gain physical or magical skill points in serious numbers, you’ll need to squeeze them out of your enemies.
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To do this, you need to hold your own in combat long enough to fill a meter, and then trigger a timed series of button presses to complete the move. The trick is that the weaker the enemy, the more prompts will be revealed. If you try to take a shortcut, you’ll be presented with prompts obscured by question marks and have to try your luck.

Fortunately, the presses you do get right do count for the next time around, so you can come back and complete the sequence rather than starting from scratch.
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It feels somewhat similar to Pokémon’s traditional catching system, but without the random element of unfairness when that Squirtle you thought was in the bag manages to run away.

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT?
This is always a hard question to answer, as it’s so subjective. That said, the balance between frantic button presses and really working out the optimum timing of counters to protect your shields and give you a fighting chance in harder battles takes a while to get the hang of.

There’s the odd boss too, usually larger and testing your skills so far to the limit, as you might expect, but there’s no sense of an uneasy difficulty spike.

What is encouraging is that a failure in any face-off doesn’t mean all is lost – you can go again with everything reset, no questions asked.

Any battle where you didn’t absorb the enemy also remains on the level for you to revisit later, perhaps when you’ve picked up a few skills.

ANYTHING YOU WEREN'T A FAN OF?
The map and skill trees, while very much in keeping with the style of the rest of the game, could be a little easier to follow.

Otherwise your mileage will vary depending on how much patience you have for roguelike trial and improvement when it comes to the combat, and the platforming side is solid without really breaking the mould or really making you sit up out of your chair.

FINAL THOUGHTS?
Worldless is a beautiful, challenging journey which has some very clever design layered on top of a solid, fun game.

Depending on your mood, you might find slogging away for long sessions a bit of a grind, but the satisfaction when you get the hang of an enemy and steal their power is huge.

Definitely not one to discount as “just another indie game”.

9/10