The World Next Door is a fast-paced puzzle game with visual novel elements and was developed by Rose City Games and published by Viz Media. The story follows Jun, who gets a once in the life opportunity to visit the world of Emrys. A world that is normally closed off to humans. After a mix-up, she gets stuck on the other side and has to figure out a way to get back home.
Right away from the time, I began my journey with this game, I was immediately drawn to the art. It’s both very detailed and super cute, especially the sprites of the characters as they move around the board. It added further character to what I found to be a charming game. I was very impressed with the amount of detail that went into the backgrounds of each area. With each new shrine, I couldn’t help but anticipate what the next one would look like. Let’s just say I was not disappointed!
Moving onto character design, I loved how each character looked different than the last. At the same time, the characters still looked as though they belonged in the world of Emrys. I found myself often talking to everyone I came across to get a feel for their personalities. I liked the variety of how many different types of magical creatures there were. Plus the fact that they speak their own language was rather enduring. Even the enemy design had me marveling at the detail that was placed into them.
The next thing that really grabbed my attention was the music in this game. It gave me strong nostalgia points. It brought out memories from my time with Animal Crossing and A Night In The Woods. A lot of the time, I found it very soothing as I played through the game. The music does a beautiful job of setting the scene, which is an important factor.
The controls were relatively easy to pick up when navigating the world. Despite the fact that this was a puzzle and visual novel game, you can move freely. I found this to be very interesting as both styles of games aren’t always known for their movement. When it comes to battling the controls weren’t hard to learn so much as remembering to press the right buttons while dodging and matching.
Which brings us to the battle portion of the game. Within each shrine, you have to defeat enemies by matching the runes. I personally liked how you could freely move across the board. The player isn’t locked into a certain row like you usually would be with typical puzzle games. As long as you can slam that rune down next to its match; then you can make a move. You can also have those you choose to bring with you into the shrine aid you in battle. All you have to do is line up the summon rune with the correct pattern that corresponds with your party member. They can then make their specialty move. The further you go the more characters you can bring along.
I really enjoyed the aspect of fighting enemies while matching the runes up with one another. It really kept me on my toes and surprised me how challenging it could be at times. The player has to do just more than solve puzzles, they also have to avoid taking damage while trying to clear the board. How cool is that? Although I will mention for those who just want to to get through the shrines, there is an assist mode that you can turn on to avoid taking damage. At the end of each level, you face a boss unique to that shrine. Which was super fun and further added to my enjoyment of this game. While I didn’t particularly find the bosses to be overly difficult; I did enjoy going up against them.
The biggest elephant in the room for me was the story. The dialogue was entertaining enough and well written. However, there were far too many holes that were not filled throughout the story. Apart from Jun trying to make it back to her world; there is also a mystery that presents itself. Sadly it just didn’t deliver in the way that I expected it to. It was also fairly predictable, and that is not always a bad thing. But when you add in the fact that there were so many things that remained unexplained it matters. Mysteries are all about the in between, and the story within this game severely lacked that. I hope that there is a second game in the works to further explain what was left unsaid within this game.
Despite that the lack the of story I still had a ton of fun with The World Next Door. I would have much preferred if it had been longer, but this would be a good game for someone who doesn’t have time to log several hundred hours within a heavily story driven game. Plus there’s a versus mode for those who like to go head to head with friends. I recommend giving this game a go, it’s not one to be missed. You can find The World Next Door on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
~Thage Basilisk~ 