Stuart builds a whole new world
I really liked the look of JIW-Games, Rising World. It is an open world, sandbox, resource gathering and building game, without the block styling of minecraft. The game is still in Early Access, which means that you’ll be privy to a few untouched glitches and craftable items that require no resources. Such as the sword and battleaxe. Is this game going to be able to contend with the all mighty Minecraft? Or will it sit on the sideline and watch Minecraft continue to run ahead?
Unfortunately for Rising World I believe it will be the latter. The game ticks all the right boxes for me. It’s a great resource gathering game, having you traipse all over the surrounding lands to cut down trees or mine some stones so that you can come back to your base of operations, after you’ve built it, to craft. The crafting system starts off as a basic, you can turn your logs into sticks or timber and from there you can craft a basic shelter from sticks, or you can create a crafting table, which unlocks further recipes for you to craft.
Rather embarrassingly, it took me 2 days and a YouTube video to figure out where the crafting section of Rising World comes in. I had originally thought the game just hadn’t implemented that side yet. However, it is sneakily hidden in your inventory at the start. The user interface in the inventory is not perfect, in fact the crafting tab was camouflaged. The writing doesn’t contrast enough with the inventory background, but once I had seen where it was, and I lessened the reddening of my face, I was able to craft on my merry way.
Other than crafting and creating your humble home and building whatever you can dream up, there isn’t much to do in game. You are able to hunt animals, but once you kill them you are not able to gather resources from them. So you are left with a sense of remorse as you killed that virtual pig or deer in the hopes of eating. So there you are, standing over the corpse of your fallen prey, dread of the vengeance that may fall upon you from the karmaic gods for slaying this poor creature.
The possibilities of Rising World are epic. As is the case with all sandbox games, you are able to do what you like. The limits are really your imagination, time and dedication. Rising World has nice graphics and the background noises make you feel alone in a world filled with wildlife. The screenshots and videos show that amazing things can be built, but I personally feel that there isn’t really a point in building something for the sake of building it. Or in checking off another recipe used. Once an element of danger is added to the game, so that when you build shelter it is to stop you from freezing, or the reason you craft a sword is so that when you are attacked you can defend yourself.
So far I have only talked about one side of Rising World, the single player aspect. That is because I haven’t played as much of the multiplayer aspect to the game, the servers were not ready for a while but they are now. The multiplayer side has great possibilities too. You are able to attack other players or destroy their buildings or steal their tools/land. Before multiplayer I had only seen this game as a crafting and resource gathering game, but it is so much better with other players. There still isn’t a need to build yet, just that you can build. You can, however, go on the servers and destroy other peoples hard work, if you are that way inclined. You’ll be shunned and challenged to duel if you do though.
The game does have a lot going on, but not enough to keep you glued to it at the moment. There are animals, that you know will be for food as there is a health, hunger and thirst meter. You know that there will be peril because of the aforementioned health meter. However, these parts are not yet fully in place. The lack of edge to the game means that it will be a benchwarmer until its full release. When it is released though I hope it does well, as it looks and sounds great already and I think, upon release, it will be a tremendous game to play. Although, in its current state of Early Access I wouldn’t recommend it on the single player alone, the multiplayer makes the game. The single player hasn’t got its hook yet, the edge is just outwith the grasp of the gamer.
3.5 whole new worlds out of 5