External Links


worlds.zip
Contains worlds.gam
Requires a TADS interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)
worlds.exe
Windows Application
worlds-apart-21.hqx
Includes HyperTADS 1.​1.3 for the Mac
Requires a TADS interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links. (Encoded in Macintosh Bin/Hex format.)

Have you played this game?

You can rate this game, record that you've played it, or put it on your wish list after you log in.

Playlists and Wishlists

RSS Feeds

New member reviews
Updates to external links
All updates to this page

Worlds Apart

by Suzanne Britton

Fantasy
1999

Web Site

Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

Brass Lantern
The story is revealed through cleverly meshed flashbacks and the game is full of interlinked themes and symbols that add dimension to the experience. The most satisfying of the game's puzzles are meta-puzzles, requiring the player to think outside the game whilst moving through the game--not in the sense of relating acts to an external system (the meta puzzle of 'what does it mean?') but in the sense that there is often little way of providing feedback on some of these puzzles--you either get it or don't--so the 'working out' of the puzzles goes on externally. (Sam Barlow)

All of this aside, "Worlds Apart" is a tremendously ambitious work, in that it attempts to deal not only with a physical environment but also with social realities, family history, and even spiritual state. It is scrupulously implemented. I ran into nothing I would qualify as a game-play bug, and there is a very large set of examinable scenery objects and of conversation topics. Though I think the story has some flaws, I hope it receives a wide audience. Considerable craft went into its creation; it is markedly different from anything else currently available; and it provides useful data for the discussion of character background and world-building in interactive fiction. (Emily Short)
See the full review

IF-Review
Casting a Critical Eye
A lot of the difficulty with Worlds is that it never lets up. The same tone and mood persists virtually throughout, and it's such a big game that this gets tiring after a while. You start craving some comic interludes or some random, messy violence. Well, I did, at least. (Yes, there is some violence, but it doesn't feel distinct enough from the piece to provide a sufficient contrast). Although the ending manages to maintain much of its clout despite this, I get the impression that a little change of pace about midway would have breathed some vibrancy back into it. Early on in the game, Worlds seems very alive and engaging; the majority of the later scenes are intrinsically no less so, but by the time they're reached I, at least, had been exhausted by the style and found it difficult to get new things out of it. This objection doesn't make the style or verbosity any the less worthy, however; it just makes it more difficult. [...] In short, Worlds isn't my cup of tea, in terms of themes, mood, or content. However, there's plenty that I have to admire about it: scope, detail, the quality of both code and prose.
See the full review

Play This Thing!
It takes place in a science-fiction world Suzanne Britton spent years thinking about and developing. Its plot episodes are there in large part to illuminate the world she has imagined, rather than the other way around. Implementation is deep and meticulous. There is a great deal to learn, and a great deal to dig into.
See the full review

SPAG
There is much to like about Worlds Apart, in the end--in quantity and quality, the detail that went into the worldbuilding is unmatched in any work of IF in recent memory, and it's unlikely that any player will catch all, or even most, of the story on the first try. If it's a little inaccessible at first, that comes with the territory--i.e., introducing the player into a highly complex and well-developed world--and it's hardly a fatal flaw. In its interactivity and in the quality of its storytelling, Worlds Apart is a remarkable accomplishment.
See the full review

Page Update History

v.13: 03-Mar-2013 08:12 - JTN (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed version number, Web site URL
v.12: 11-Jul-2023 02:11 - BiggerJ
Changed Web site URL
v.11: 10-Jul-2023 14:39 - Jonathan Van Matre
Changed IFIDs
v.10: 21-Mar-2021 07:43 - Dan Fabulich
Changed description
v.9: 29-Jun-2020 15:08 - Zape
Changed external review links
v.8: 28-Jun-2020 22:00 - Zape
Changed external review links
v.7: 23-Sep-2013 15:52 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
  v.6: 03-Mar-2013 08:12 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.5: 21-Feb-2013 16:03 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.4: 10-Aug-2010 14:11 - Dave Chapeskie
Changed Web site URL
v.3: 10-Aug-2010 14:10 - Dave Chapeskie
Changed download links
v.2: 02-May-2008 15:08 - Emily Short
Changed cover art
v.1: 16-Oct-2007 01:47 - IFDB
Created page