Unreal World review

Back in the 90s I used to read gaming magazines in newsagents without buying them. Well, I say read but mostly I just looked at the pictures and the score they gave a game. If it was in those magazines back then I wouldn’t have given a second thought to Unreal World. Despite a recent graphical update the game still looks graphically terrible, even by 90s standards. But in 2016 I just can't stop playing this objectively horrible, ugly game.

The art aims for realism over style - playing to pixel art’s weaknesses and none of its strengths. The UI features some of the most horrible screen waste I’ve ever seen. Rarely used information takes up valuable real estate while the main playing area only takes up half of the 4:3 game window. Yes, in 2016 this game still does not support 16:9 resolutions, unless you count a horrible stretch option which makes trees as fat as they are tall.

The control keys are obtuse, even more so than most roguelikes. The game uses the majority of the keyboard letters for different actions and there is practically no mouse support or context sensitive options. I want to right-click on trees and choose “cut down” from a list, but instead you have to maneuver your character with the arrow keys to face a tree, open your skills menu, select timberwork with the M key, then select “cut down a tree” from a list. The controls make doing simple things like picking up arrows and moving through forests a complete RSI inducing chore.

Oh, and the melee fighting system is boring, lacking basically any worthwhile tactical decisions. Using bows or javelins is better; you can hide behind trees for cover and manipulate line of sight.

The reasons I keep playing Unreal World despite all these drawbacks were mostly mentioned in the video - it simulates a life and a time that no other game does, and it lets me experience that time without jerking me off about being the chosen one. It’s the only game where I feel like an NPC, and that’s great. Most other survival games, like The Long Dark and Don’t Starve, lack NPCs entirely making their world’s feel empty. The fact that in this game I’m just the same as everybody else supports the realism of the sim and the believability of its unreal world.

The game has been in development since the 90s, (actually it holds the Guinness World Record for the longest developed game with continual updates) and all the 90s problems make me wish for a fresh remake, with modern game design standards. If Sami Maaranen is aware of modern standards it seems he mostly ignores them, instead spending development time bettering the simulation and the survival. Min-maxing is in a lot of games, where you dump all your points into strength to make an absurdly strong uncharismatic moron, for example, but this is a game that’s development has been min-maxed. It’s a great game that’s impossible for most to get into and play. It’s not Dwarf Fortress, but it’s halfway there.

Somebody else, going in with a list of changes, could go in and “fix” the game. But maybe they’d have to take points from its strengths to sure up its weaknesses. Perhaps picking up arrows and navigating through dense forests should be a chore for you on the keyboard to simulate the chore it is for your unreal character. And while somebody else could take care of the problems, I’m not sure anyone but Sami could have built the unique game that Unreal World actually is.