Wrongworld by Sludj Games
There’s something inherently engaging about playing a survival game. The sense of urgency that comes from finding way to survive as long as possible before you inevitably die of hunger or ailment. Wrongworld by Sludj Games is a crafting game all about survival, but it’s marginally less foreboding as I make it sound.
With not much of a narrative set-up, you’re thrust into a whimsical world full of creatures and a wide array of resources scattered around a randomly generated map. Your goal is to survive as long as possible and perhaps find a way home.
Arts and Crafts
If you’ve played a survival game with crafting elements like Minecraft before, Wrongworld has a similar loop. Find resources which you use to craft tools and things that’ll help you stave off hunger and survive longer. It’s mechanically, simple but the amount of things you can craft in this game is where you start to see how varied your experience can become.
Wrongworld offers a plethora of unconventional things to craft that gives the game an overall uniqueness. Standard things like food recipes, gathering tools, structures, armor, potions, are all present here. However things like a fast travel cannon, a mountable hamster, and a jetpack help maneuverability immensely. These address a big issue with a lot of crafting games that have a big world to explore but have no means to help you explore more efficiently.
Other craft-able objects include weirder things like a cloning station that is helpful in case you happen to die. There are a number of craft-able objects that acted like carrots on sticks when I was playing. I wanted to craft the weirder things because I wanted to see how they worked and how they could help me survive. I’m impressed with the amount of things you can craft in this game, and it helps the overall survival experience feel less repetitive and more engaging.
Survival Game – Emphasis on Game
It’s also a game that thankfully isn’t too difficult. Often survival games will try and create a difficult experience that challenges you to learn and start new play-throughs. Their hope is that you learn the most valuable resources and the best ways to survive via trial and error. his approach can be off-putting. Sometimes people just want the survival experience without the frustration.
Wrongworld curbs that frustration thanks to forgiving design choices. Every item you find has a use and most enemies don’t pose much of a threat. Crafting is easy, and resources are plentiful. It makes for an overall more laid back experience where you quickly learn the ins and outs of the game.
Wrongworld does a fantastic job of constantly making you interested in exploring the randomly generated world it has created for you. It’s by far one of the most fun randomly generated world’s I’ve ever explored. You’re constantly coming across things in the environment that are equally surprising and genuinely interesting.
One time I came across an abandoned satellite tower; when I repaired it, I was greeted with a helicopter which gave me rare crafting materials when I played its pattern memorization game.
Another instance involved a UFO which was trying to abduct me by sucking me up into its spaceship. Random things like challenge boxing rings and vending machines are all scattered around the map in a nice spaced out manner. And on top of that, more natural disaster effects like tornadoes and meteor showers happen randomly. It makes exploration genuinely fun and exciting by keeping you on your toes.
Wrong World Design?
The only issue I had with the game’s environmental variability. There is a lack of detail and foliage overall. The world can at times feel too flat, and there are no jungles of steep hills to contend with. It makes the world feel less interesting than it could have. There are no caves, which I feel would have mixed up this particular survival experience in interesting ways. It’s a minor complaint, though, because I feel the game does a good job of offering variety when it comes to crafting and exploration.
Wrongworld’s whimsical art style does help alleviate the more morose concepts of hunger and survival inherent in this genre. Creatures look cartoonish and goofy, while the overall landscape of the world can contain a number of different visually different environmental biomes. I liked the tone, because it is simplistic but still has character.
Most creatures look cute, and the character you play as looks like an Ewok. With its tone it doesn’t appear to take it self too seriously. This approach helps make the overall experience feel a bit different. Without it, it would be less enjoyable.
Rightworld
There is not much wrong with Wrongworld. It’s an overall great survival experience that is not too difficult. It also offers one of the most fun and engaging worlds that I’ve ever had to survive in. There isn’t any multi-player, which I know will bum fans of the genre out, but it still offers a compelling single-player experience.
Sludj Games have created a fun and addicting survival game that will appease many fans of the genre.
Wrongworld is available via Steam.
Watch the trailer for Wrongworld below:
