Worlds Apart

This is my second time playing "Worlds Apart" and it was an incredible, cathartic experience. It just pressed all the right buttons for me. Yes, I needed the Hints twice - once because I genuinely didn’t know what I was supposed to do, thinking I’d tried everything, and the second time was that I hadn’t realized one of the items was useable in a certain way. (Spoiler - click to show)Specifically, getting rid of the guardian and using the globe. But the rest of the puzzles were solvable pretty intuitively. That being said, the Hints system is one of the best I’ve seen. Context-sensitive, gives hints little by little, and it remembers where you left off if you call it up again. No need to go through all the hint revealing again.

There’s some disorientation because there’s no explanation about the game world. Player character knows more than the player and the game narration doesn’t really elaborate on setting, races, culture, etc. However, these things can be pieced together with character interactions and there’s more of a sense of being there because of the lack of initial exposition. Still, separate documentation about the basic races, continents, and social structure would be nice from the start, so that names and places aren’t confusing.

The game was completely accessible. The status actually had a command, which more games should implement. Some screen readers cannot access game status lines, and if compass directions are put there, it’s pretty useless for a blind player. Also, menus are number-based, which is the most useable for blind players. True menus do not work well with any Mac interpreter, that’s for sure. As a blind player, this aspect alone would make me rate it higher than I otherwise would. But even without these considerations, I still give it a perfect score. This is just icing on the cake.

Interestingly, the game map is tiny, yet the content is huge. It does help that the world changes often, so due to repeated exploration, it’s a good thing the map is small. Flashbacks are implemented well, and the tutorial for using unconventional abilities for the player character was cleverly done. There was an in-character reason to have it, so it felt seamless.

But I think the best aspects of this game were story and characterization. The people are definitely distinct, believable, and evoke strong emotions. (Spoiler - click to show)I had Lyesh sever ties with Yuri and found I didn’t feel all that bad. It was like, "You don’t need a coward for a friend." But I could also see it in Lyesh’s character to forgive him. Then I had Lyesh go and help Lia, since I reasoned she still cares for the girl. In fact, my thinking is she still cherished the memories of Yuri, but she was an adult now and it was better for her to just complete the separation that he started. My favorite character would have to be Saal, though. A warrior but not cruel; a lover of tricks but not dishonest; a predator but compassionate; someone with agendas but not to use people. It’s neat to be able to talk to the characters and ask them about things I’ve seen and heard and get a lot of information that way.

The story, though, had elements I adore. A close-knit mother/daughter, mentor/student relationship; special abilities; losing friends and making new ones; transitioning from codependence to independence and empowerment; bonds that last forever; and a bit of pain just to make things interesting. (Spoiler - click to show)There is even a winged serpent in the game, and I *love* that. I have a fascination with snakes and reptiles. And I tend to prefer dragons that are serpentine as opposed to lizard-like and fire-breathing. Truly, this game had everything I enjoy: integrated puzzles, a knapsack to satisfy my packrat tendencies (at least in IF), in-character puzzles, vivid and reasonable characters (not dysfunctional), and a story that left me feeling cleansed and comforted.