Today, with the amount of new indie games being released, it feels like almost everyone is trying to produce a platformer in an attempt to stand out to the audience. | Alien Pixel Studios did precisely that with Unbound: Worlds Apart by giving us a fun platformer that has very intuitive puzzles thanks to its main gameplay mechanic, the portals. Because this game is still being developed, I've only been able to play the demo version of it. | Regardless of this, I still found this game to be pretty enjoyable, and I look forward to its full release in March 2021. |
Gameplay
In Unbound: Worlds Apart, you play as Soli, a mage who can make portals into another world open and close at will. Don't get me wrong, though, and the portals aren't your generic run of the mill portals where they can only take you from Point A to Point B. In this game, there are different portals with different attributes. The Prologue has three various portals you can use.
The first portal is a stationary portal you summon that alters your surrounding environment to let you go through walls or around enemies.
The second portal changes the environment's gravity. It allows you to make your way around or over obstacles. Personally, I had a lot of fun with this particular portal. There were a few puzzles in which I had a little trouble with, but I found that the struggle only adds to the feeling of success you get after completing a puzzle.
The final portal is a light portal that gives off light when you stand still and has a fast decay time when you walk around. I found this portal to be the most difficult to use because there are platforms that will only appear when the light portal is up. So if you move too fast, you won't be able to step on the platform. But then again, it only makes it feel that much more satisfying when you finally beat a difficult puzzle.
Story (spoilers for the Prologue Ahead)
In the Prologue of "Unbound: Worlds Apart," the game has you playing as Soli. One day, during a village ceremony, one of the Village elders tells you to go find your brother because the ceremony can't start without him. As you set off on your quest, a portal suddenly opens and destroys the village, setting everything on fire and scattering the villagers all over the world. As you try and make your way back into the village, you suddenly fall into a hole where you gain the power to make and control portals at will. As the village's last hope, one of the few village elders still left in the village gives you the task of defeating Arawen to save the village.
Art and Design
Despite this game being a 2-D platformer, I found the visuals of the game to be stunning and beautiful. You can tell from the quality of the world design that the creators wanted the game to feel good and fun while playing it. Looking at the background of the world, it is very detailed and really makes this feel more than just an indie game. The developers of this game paid amazing attention to all the little details of the game, from the particles that are left behind while you are running to the vines that you can jump on and interact with. The visuals for both the portals and the worlds past the portals are also different and appealing. In my opinion, that is the charm of the game. Even though it is a 2d platformer, it feels that everything on the graphics end is well thought of and polished.
Music and sound
Because the Prologue is just a demo, there wasn't a full soundtrack or variety of music, which is to be expected. Going past this, I still found that the atmosphere of the game was really amplified by the simple, ambient background music. The sounds of interacting with the world are nicely made. Unlike other games, the death sound was not as jarring and frustrating even after multiple deaths.
Final verdict
For a demo that came out a year before the full version is scheduled to be released, I am impressed and in love with this simple but great game. When taking in all the factors from the gameplay to the music, I have decided to give this game, "Unbound: Worlds Apart," an 8.5 out of 10. The game is excellent, and I highly recommend at least trying the demo and give the game your thoughts and opinions, but it has some gameplay elements that need to be tweaked a little here and there. The game still has a year before the full version comes out, so anything is still subject to change. If you like this game and would love to Support the developers, they have incentives for donating to them. The base-level gets your name in the credits of the game. If you choose to donate more, the Levels after this include digital Artwork and the Digital soundtrack for the game as well as an extra copy for your friends. The Prologue is free to play on steam be sure to check it out.
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