The magic of a great video game is that it builds a world apart from our own that becomes inextricably linked with a player’s experience of the game. Some call this making the world itself a character, but no matter what the exact term is, the broader notion that a game world can evoke powerful memories and nostalgia is one revisited time and time again in remakes.
When it comes to the World of Mazes, an episode iteration on the grand Mazes Universe, this ability to craft a compelling and intriguing world is apparent from the very start of the game. Sporting iconic design and a quirky yet charming aesthetic, World of Mazes brings storytelling back to life with a title that hearkens to the glory days of PC text-based and point-and-click adventure games.
The World of Mazes combines the concepts of a puzzle game with an escape room and an overlay that hearkens back to fantasy themes right at home in a Blizzard game. Each world is a maze filled with puzzles and characters that help – or hinder – the player’s progress. Connected to one another by portals, players have to work their way through the maze and find the portal at the end in order to proceed to the next “world.” And we mean world in the literal sense.
Planets have their own distinct culture, style, and even unique creatures. Separating each maze from the last, the world’s various creatures can task the player with various side quests that can advance or hold back your progress in a maze. There is even a crafting system to help gamers better explore and traverse these many and myriad mazes that are all connected by “strange connectivity rules” that no one has mapped out yet. Maybe you will be the first?
Like the best stories, World of Mazes is told in chapters and, like each maze, chapters are self-contained yet linked together in the broader World of Mazes universe. Chapter 1, Saving Princess Maya, takes gamers to Aztyle Maze where it is discovered that our titular princess was kidnapped by none other than her arch-nemesis Evil Kilo. Alongside her loyal servant Gelayon, the player must retrieve portal fragments to advance to the next maze. Following this initial quest, the player then encounters a whole motley cast of characters that are willing to help you rescue the princess, but at a price. Game maker, RiseAngle Inc., promises a few hours of gameplay for the experienced gamer in Chapter 1. Watch the gameplay trailer of Chapter 1 here!
Chapter 2, Secrets of the Ancients takes players to the much more expansive Grezorth Maze. You’ll need everything you learned in Chapter 1 – and then some more – to make it through this awesome chapter. A maze that is under the perpetual threat of destructive meteor showers, players have to unwind the mysteries of the Grezite Scroll to help the populace build Grezite Shells that will shield them from the shooting stars raining down from above. Continuing to work with Gelayon that we met in the first chapter, players meet characters like Engilava, a lava engineer monster on a scientific quest, as well as the ghost of a kid that died tragically years ago yet is still unaware of it. Like we said, this game prides itself on building a strange yet compelling world filled with quirky characters, and Chapter 2 takes that to the next level. Watch the gameplay trailer of Chapter 2 here!
As RiseAngle’s founder Kaveh Vahdat says of World of Mazes, “World of Mazes is the game universe that checkmarks all of our criteria. It is full of unexpected mysteries calling into you to unfold them, it is super fun, has challenging puzzles, lots of in-depth characters, humorous conversations, and mesmerizing environments. It also gives you a chance to be a part of something bigger and become a better person, a more compassionate one. You literally cry when you try to help one of our characters, the ghost of a dead kid with unfinished business. And best of all, World of Mazes is a completely non-violent game. You can’t kill anyone or anything in this game. You must find other ways to progress.”
With two chapters down, it is easy to say that what we have isn’t enough so far! Coming to new platforms in the future, RiseAngle’s vision for the future looks towards expanding the player base while keeping old fans satisfied. One thing is certain, iterative storytelling is far from dead and, in fact, it looks like we have some new masters on the scene.
