Welcome Time Wasters!
I’m doing that thing again where I check out a game that is still in early access, and then hopefully post a full review when it launches. My unfinished game this time around is Aura of Worlds.
Aura of Worlds is a 2D rogue-like game that has players exploring through procedurally-generated worlds. Along the way, players will find gold, weapons, spells and other various items. The goal of the game is to reach the end of each level to move forward.
As it is right now, Aura of Worlds contains three different areas for the player to explore. This includes dark caves, Egyptian temples and overgrown ruins. Players are given a set amount of time to explore each level. Spend to long in a level and a giant skull will show up to chase the player down and kill them. This still gives the player plenty of time to explore, but keeps them from dilly dallying for too long. Also, they can dodge around the skull, which can give players a little extra time if there’s a particular piece of loot they really want to get their hands on.
Partway through these areas, players will have the opportunity to spend the money that they have in shops. The items in shops are random and can range from awesome to completely useless. Either way, the player has to do their best job to gear up for the final level of an area. Once there, the player takes on the boss of that area. The difficulty of these fights really just depend on how well prepared the player is. I took down the first boss easily enough the second time fighting it because the game gave me lots of grenades. However, the first time I was ill prepared and go taken down.
Speaking of death, it’s something the player is going to see a lot. That’s because Aura of Worlds has a permadeath system in place. Once the player runs out of healing items and health, they’re gone. The game then offers to let them start over again. When starting up, the game will give the player a few random weapons to choose from. Players can also randomize the weapons for different ones if they don’t like the initial offerings.
The weapons that the player can obtain aren’t overly varied yet, but I can see a fair bit of potential. There’s swords, daggers, spears and a crossbow. The secondary items are much better in my opinion. They include a grappling hook, boomerangs, grenades and more. The grenades are a big one for me. Not only do they do a good chunk of damage to bosses, but they will also destroy terrain in a level. This lets the player head through areas in different ways and may let them avoid more battles, thus saving up resources for those boss fights.
The graphics in Aura of Worlds are made up of spriteart that seems simple at a glance, but contains loads of detail. You can tell the game is in Early Access just because of how some of it moves. Like how the character glitch walks up against walls. However, it isn’t a major detractor from the experience of the game.
The audio in Aura of Worlds is solid. Each area has its own music that sets the mood. The sounds effects also fit well with the rest of the game. It really comes together into a cohesive experience.
Overall, Aura of Worlds is a good way to waste some time. It isn’t getting a score yet just because it is still in Early Access. Still, I can’t deny being happy with how the game is now and the price tag of $10 seems fair to me. A quick note here is that my copy of game was a gift from the developers.
Thanks for an awesome article <3!
Quick question; which items in the shop did you find less useful?
We're aiming to have every item have multiple situational applications.
You’re welcome!
I always skipped anything that has to do with vampirism. The amount of health gained back from it never warranted picking them over a health potion. Even when I needed healing, grenades are so useful I still went with them instead. They let me skip combat by blowing through terrain in the levels, or made bosses incredibly easy to take down.
The emergency teleport was another item I never really got a use out of. There really weren’t many chances to use it and even if there was it just wouldn’t occur to me to switch to it.
Hope that helps! Really like what you’ve got going on here.
I like how the potions are automatically used when the player is low in health (and they’re never wasted as hp doesn’t regen). Perhaps an option to also auto use the emergency teleport when out of potions to avoid a fatal hit would be nice, though I could forsee unaware players from seeing it as a bug or glitch..