Shape of the World – Review (PS4)

By Phil Neyman Last updated Jun 5, 2018

Are video games art? This question has been debated for decades. Roger Ebert once declared that “in principle, video games cannot be art.” That was in 2010 and months later he would go on to admit that talking about video games as a medium was out of his wheelhouse and the same way he wouldn’t speak ill of a movie he had yet to see and should not have made any sort of mention about games since he does not play them. Anyone still answering no this question well, they just haven’t been paying attention. This year’s biggest contender when it comes to proving video games can be art comes to us from the mind of Stu Maxwell and Hollow Tree games as the studio’s first game Shape of the World is finally released.

Touted as a relaxing and interactive escape to get you pleasantly lost, Shape of the World is a living, almost breathing, work of art, one that is painted on the screen in front of your eyes as your explore every corner of the world. This may seem like an odd choice for a developer known for working on titles such as Gears of War and Warhammer 40,000, but it’s because of this pedigree that Shape of the World has a polish to it that few first time studio releases have.

Shape of the World can’t be defined using any past games or genres simply because it feels like the first of its kind. Descriptive words such as Walking Sim and First Person Exploration will surely be used to define the game, but that only begins to scratch the surface.

Advertisements

It becomes clear very early on that the journey is more important than the destination. Even if the end arrives before you’re expecting it, the replay ability factor is incredibly high and you’ll be ready to jump right back in and start a new journey.

You begin in an almost completely white setting with very little visibility. As you make your way to what appears to be a checkpoint of some kind you are giving one simple prompt – by hitting the R2 button you can interact with your environment. Glowing monuments grow as you interact with them and a walkway appears that will lead you to your next environment. Moving through each point will drastically alter your surroundings. Each and every time you pass through them the colors of the world change as if by magic. Everything about Shape of the World feels like magic.

Not only will the colors change as you advance throughout the game, but the music comes alive as well. Composer Brent Silk has produced a soundtrack that will seamlessly evolve as you carve out your own path through the world. At first it’s subtle, each track flows together so well that you become so lost in the experience you don’t even realize the music is changing. That is until you briefly come out of your trance and realize that not only is the track different, but the music feels as though it is actually guiding you on your journey.

The music isn’t the only thing that evolves throughout the game, the world itself is painted right int front of your eyes as you make your way through each area and on to the next. Though there is not one word of dialogue spoken or written, between the music and the visuals guiding you along it is certain that you are on a journey and the path you choose to take is your own. Exploration is the game. The end game isn’t to see how fast you can get to the end, though there is a trophy for doing so, but to get lost in the game and briefly forget about the world around you.

Aside from interacting with objects and mystical creatures, the only other button you’ll be using is L2 to throw out seeds that you collect in order to grow more trees. Each time a seed is collected the colors in the world change and each seed will plant a very distinctive tree. Planting trees and destroying them can keep you busy for hours. Interacting with the trees can give you a quick boost and stringing them together will enable you to run, fly or even swim faster. Each of these instances gives you a sensual feeling of freedom and weightlessness that few games have yet to offer.

There are 28 seeds to find spread out across the various levels and you’ll want to locate and try every single one of them.

Another incredibly fun mechanic can be found in the later levels. Focusing on monuments and then interacting with them from a distance will catapult you into the air and send you flying towards the object in your sight. The feeling you have while flying from monument to monument as you make your way up the mountainside in the rain gives you a true sense of accomplishment when you finally reach the summit.

In our Interview with Creator Stu Maxwell at PSX 2017, Stu stated that his vision was to create a world that you could explore after a long hard day of work and just relax. He went on to say that when you have a long hard day and want to play games, you don’t always want to have your skills tested to the max in a shooter or intense online experience. Shape of the World is the perfect answer to this. You can chill, you can relax, explore, or just enjoy the music. As Maxwell states, it truly is a visual and oral feast that even borders on a sensual experience.

A single play-through can be completed in as little as one hour, but this isn’t a game that focusing on completing it and moving on. You play Shape of the World the same way you want to live your life – it’s not about getting to the end as quickly as you can, it’s about the journey and the paths you take along the way.

Look for Shape of the World as it launches June 5th on PS4 and Steam and June 6th on Xbox One and Switch.