In a subterranean world surrounded by dirt, the people of this land live on the inside of a sphere.  Around the sphere are wind holes that provide its citizens with air to breathe, and those holes are guarded by wind monks.  In the game you play as (mostly) Robert, a young man who was adopted by one of the wind monks.  On a trip to retrieve a missing item for the wind monk, Robert comes across a girl he falls for.  Turns out she’s actually a thief, but they both get caught up in an adventure where they’ll discover Robert’s true identity, and that the wind monks aren’t what they seem.  The Inner World is a cartoony point and click adventure game available to download on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices, but reviewed on PS4 here.

The game is split into five chapters, each about as long as a TellTale episode, which is nice because you get them all at once so it feels like you’re playing a FULL game here.  You control Robert directly, and can press a button to bring up hotspots of items on screen that you can interact with.  Then you’ll get a picture cue allowing you to do things like examine an item, pick it up, use it, talk to someone, or combine an item with something else.  You can also bring up an inventory to do the same thing.  The controls are a bit unconventional and frustrating at times, at least on the PS4 version.  Honestly, I would’ve stopped playing because of this, but the charming visuals, interesting story, and excellent voice work kept me reeled in enough to put up with the lousy controls.

The only other main problem I had with the game is that the puzzles aren’t very logical and intuitive.  For instance, in order to get a bird down from a ledge so you can capture it, you’d think you would use a worm you picked up to lure it down.  But nope, you must use the worm with a stick to create a slingshot to shoot something to get the bird down.  Luckily there is a very extensive hint option you can use if you get stuck, but I felt like I had to use it way too often.  If the game used some subtle hint clues in the text, like “This rolling pin would be great at bashing in bricks” when you pick it up, I think the game would’ve been better.  However, if you enjoy point and click adventures and don’t mind some slightly weird controls and logic-defying gameplay, you might enjoy this one anyway.  I know I sure did.

Kid Factor:

The Inner World is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Suggestive Themes, Mild Language, and Use of Alcohol.  There is some light cursing here and there, using words like damn and ass and bitch.  But that and the suggestive themes are nothing worse than what you’d see on The Simpsons or something.  You do visit bars and make a worm drunk on fermented fruit juice, but that’s it.  Definitely best suited for teens and older, but I might be OK with some preteens playing it, too.  Good reading skill is certainly helpful as well.

Tags: Game Reviews