Wall World review

Wall World is a little indie game about driving a huge spider tank up an endless wall, while periodically mining and defending your vehicle from attack. There’s no real why or where, you just exist to gather resources, upgrade your gear, and keep on climbing. It’s kind of a bleak metaphor for life in general.

It’s cute enough aesthetically. Your little pixelated dude has a special suit that lets him leave the tank, and a device that both allows the removal of weaker rock and the sucking up of resources. There are multiple colours of material, which you need to return to your spider when you’re full.

Some of these can be spent on upgrades between runs, which is essential, as you begin Wall World feeling severely underpowered. It’s incredibly slow and ponderous, to the point that it just feels like a slog. I’d like to qualify that by saying it gets better, but it takes a long time to reach a point where it’s even moderately enjoyable. The problem really is that the gameplay loop is just boring.

You climb the wall, mine the rock, defend against swarms of enemies, upgrade, repeat. In itself that’s fine, and no different to many games, but here it’s just so slow and dull. Movement is cumbersome, even after upgrades, and the cannon on the spider takes an absolute age to change sides. These were the first few upgrades I chose and the difference was barely noticeable. Upgrade enough and it becomes playable, but the initial slog is off putting.

There’s just no pop or rush to any of it. The mining begins with small caverns that eventually open up, but it’s rare you stumble across anything exciting. The only sense of urgency comes when you’re free under attack, and that gives way to frustration fairly quickly. There are NPCs to find in the mines who’ll give you blueprints for new stuff, which is where the game eventually begins to become interesting.

You can erect repair stations and turrets to help fight off the waves of enemies, while your suit can be modified to increase pretty much every attribute. Once you hit a certain threshold, Wall World kind of wakes up, but it would have been an easier sell if it didn’t start off so restricting.

It does look pretty lovely at times though. It’s not rare to find visually arresting pixel art these days, but the backdrops in Wall World can be very appealing to the eye. From fields of ancient pyramids, to cities and forests, you’ll travel through multiple biomes and fight against increasingly ruthless enemy types. It really does capture the bleak sense of perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. You must climb the endless wall, you must farm the raw materials, you must ensure to survive. I just wish it would get to the good stuff faster.

If you’re not put off by an initial slow start and can get through the first few levels of upgrades, Wall World does become enjoyable enough. The gameplay loop is very simple and not particularly interesting, but it’s pretty and visually varied enough. The tower defence element is sometimes more frustrating than thrilling, though, and the only real rush comes from finding new secret rooms and blueprints in the mines. Still, if you want something simple, mildly challenging, and colourful, Wall World will kill a few hours.