Wall World 2 creates a satisfying feedback loop as players literally and figuratively mine its depths. The hook is simple and there are familiar roguelite trappings but engaging systems make "one more run" constantly enticing.
Wall World 2 absorbed around 10 hours of an entire Saturday. A Saturday I was supposed to spend playing 007 Last Light.
Honestly, I feel like it’s high praise when your small, unassuming roguelite can draw a person in long enough to distract them from one of the highest production releases of the year. And Wall World 2 really does deserve it.
A few weeks ago the game’s existence came across my path and I was curious. All those hooks were there: attractive pixel art, an interesting trailer, and a hint of gameplay I’ve come to expect from the genre. But I told myself I didn’t have time. There was just too much to do and too much to play.
Carving out the time to play every game I have a passing interest in is a desperate passion of mine. I love games. I love diving into experiences new, old, familiar. Often enough, I always find something about any game that I treasure or enjoy enough to keep me playing for a bit or have had my fill. And eventually, I caved and gave Wall World 2 my time. A lot of it.
There is a joy in games that are deceptively simple. You look at Wall World 2 and know what to expect. Here is a game where players merely have to plunge the depths of a mysterious, never-ending wall. Creatures are fought and resources are earned, all to further enhance the capability to survive, go deeper, and uncover secrets.
Plus, how could I not love a game where the protagonist’s name is Ben?
Ben is the pilot of a robospider, a handy machine that is capable of scaling the unyielding vertical Wall. He spends his time away from the last vestiges of civilization fighting against creatures that lurk in the numerous mines along the Wall and a gargantuan Leviathan.
Without having played the first Wall World, I appreciate that developer Alawar included a kind of primer on the first game’s story to catch me up, instilling me with the feeling that the narrative actually had some importance to it. At the end of the first Wall World, Ben encountered a stranger who piloted a different kind of exospider and now he is continuing to seek out answers. To do so, he seeks out artifacts that will allow him to go further into the Hole, where signs of ancient and intelligent life exist.
The concept of a Wall that goes up and up and seemingly has no end is a fascinating, dystopian concept. It’s the kind of thing any good science fiction novel would incorporate, giving this feeling of desperate dread as humans hope to eke out a meager living in a universe that makes no sense.
Wall World 2 isn’t chock-full of narrative revelations and does kind of signpost where the story could be going. However, it doesn’t change my fascination with trying to understand and conceptualize the world. How old is this place? Are we on Earth? Where did all this technology come from?
Wall World 2 reminds me of one of the first PlayStation 4 games I ever reviewed: Super Motherload. It was a game where the player drilled and drilled deeper into the earth. The drill would periodically need to be upgraded to cut through harder minerals. Anymore, it feels like there’s countless mobile games that have a similar proposition–the kind of games you see in-game advertisements for.
The simplicity of those games’ goals make them tantalizing to the player. You need more money to buy an upgrade or a part that will help earn more money to buy more upgrades and things.
The feedback loop in Wall World 2 works in the same method and it’s better for it. Players control the robospider as it vertically scales the wall up and down searching for mines. Once a mine is found, players drill for resources or to complete quests. With a limited capacity, Ben has to periodically bring minerals and other items back to the robospider. Here, it’s possible to upgrade Ben’s movement speed or the drilling efficiency of his laser, the robospider’s main weapon can also be improved.
As players move through the upgrade tree, the amount of minerals required increases. But relics may also be discovered that grant Ben or the robospider additional equipment. New guns for the robospider can be found, Ben can acquire tesla armor that electrocutes nearby enemies, or stationary support beacons can be placed at mine entrances.
When first playing Wall World 2, players may feel inclined to dump all their resources into whatever upgrades can be purchased. But as the game progresses, it becomes apparent that a bit of strategy is required.
On any particular run, a mission is never going to be completed in one mine. Whether it be searching for scientists or destroying enemy hives, these objectives are scattered across multiple mines and the player has to be efficient. That’s because periodically, enemies will arrive from the left side of the screen to attack the robospider. Just because Ben is deep into a mine doesn’t mean the attack pauses. Thankfully, it’s easy to monitor when the next attack phase will occur, allowing the player time to gauge when it’s best to return.
When piloting the robospider, players will need to fight back the wave of enemies that come in a decent variety of threats. Some pepper you with bullets from afar, others will raze the robospider with an energy beam, while others will slash at the vehicle from scaling the wall.
After completing their objective, players will need to extract, which calls in a flare and starts a timer where enemies must be fought back before the rescue craft arrives. In either scenario where the robospider is being assaulted, there is a decent amount of tension. More than a few times I didn’t properly plan out my upgrades and died when I shouldn’t have. A handful of times I died because the flood of enemies was too great and I didn’t have an effective weapon to deal with the increasingly difficult waves.
There are times when the difficulty in Wall World 2 can spike a bit. As the player progresses through the Hole, new “biomes” of the Wall unlock. The number and types of enemies get increasingly harder the higher players scale the Wall. And there are simply a few enemies that devastate the health of the robospider early on in a run when players only have their basic machine gun turret for defense.
Interestingly, the mining gameplay is relatively simple and the challenge comes from managing the time it takes to go back and forth to the robospider depositing materials. Players will initially contend with rocks they break down relatively easy and some extremely bland enemies that pose virtually no threat. Soon enough, lava geysers make traversal extremely difficult or blocks begin to grow back rapidly, meaning that it’s harder to go deep into a mine without having to account for significant progress. Spend too long in a run and eventually the Leviathan will attack and players have to fight against it in a desperate escape.
The balancing act in Wall World 2 is quite simple and, for the most part, bad luck doesn’t entirely ruin things for players. One of the most important things to do early on in the game is save up special minerals that are used to upgrade Ben’s gear. Players can burn them on in-run upgrades but they are more valuable when used in town. Here, Ben’s base speed, carrying capacity, and mining efficiency can be leveled up. But players can also purchase new weapons, health upgrades, and a helper drone that picks up minerals and attacks enemies. The robospider can also be upgraded with a number of offensive and defensive options to ensure that future, more difficult runs are easier to manage.
There is a great degree of satisfaction that comes from diving into a run of Wall World 2, being conservative enough in an early stage to bring back upgrade materials, and then prep for a harder challenge. Rinse. Repeat.
Roguelites run on this addictive formula and have for years. While Wall World 2 doesn’t drastically alter expectations, the way it balances resource gathering and combat works. Plus it’s an intriguing concept housed in an unassuming package. I loved scaling the Wall and seeing grotesque monsters decaying in the background and feeling a type of fear that this world could contain such beings. The music and the visuals are charming, bouncy, and colorful. It makes the stakes light enough that it isn’t the end of the world to lose a run.
For those who have played the original Wall World, I can’t speak to the changes in the sequel. But after watching some videos, Wall World 2 almost looks like the same game just with a number of mechanical and visual improvements. And I’m not going to lie, I’m somewhat curious to go back in time and play the original. That being said, if a Wall World 3 is in the works, I’m wondering what Alawar would do to truly change up the systems to make it feel different enough.
Wall World 2 creates a satisfying feedback loop as players literally and figuratively mine its depths. The hook is simple and there are familiar roguelite trappings but engaging systems make “one more run” constantly enticing.
