Rising World (JIW-Games)

Rising World (JIW-Games)

Facebook
Like JIW-Games on Facebook

Twitter 
Follow JIW-Games on Twitter

Website
Check out the official Rising World Website

Discussion
Give the developers feedback on the Steam Discussion Page

Purchase
Buy your Early Access copy on the Steam Store page 

After the success of Doom, every new game released with a first person perspective and guns were quickly labeled “Doom clones” despite whatever other merits they might have had. Thankfully people soon realized how stupid this practice was and instead recognized the first person shooter as a genre. However, here we are, many years later and every open world sandbox game with crafting involved is labeled as a “Minecraft clone.” Dismissing Rising World this way would be a mistake though, as despite the fact that the game is still in early access, it is already showing a lot of promise.

The first thing we noticed about Rising World while taking the early access version for a spin is how good the game already looks, especially on the highest detail settings. From the lush vegetation to the sunlight streaming through the tree canopy, Rising World is definitely progressing nicely in the visual department. The randomly generated environments look great and thanks to the detailed textures also look very realistic. Everything from lightscattering, lightglare, ambient occlusion, refractions and depth of field to environment mapping, specular lighting and more can be toggled from the graphics menu. The field of view can also be adjusted and the game features a day/night cycle. Objects, such as trees, are susceptible to physics, so if you chop one down you can expect it to topple over and roll down any slopes instead of simply hovering in mid-air. It’s still early access, so prepare for some clipping issues when exploring caves and a couple of visual anomalies here and there, such as animals stuck in the scenery.

Environments are randomly generated and you can choose between normal, superflat or even surreal world types, as well as whether you want caves or vegetation. In addition to the creative and survival modes the game will also feature stranded and adventure modes sometime in the future. Of course, the game can be played in either single or multi-player mode, with the developers focusing on making the latter cheat free. For example, your inventory is stored server side to prevent anyone from messing around with it.

Crafting is very easy and there is already a ton of stuff that you can create. With more than 200 different building materials the game also allows you to unleash your full creative potential. In fact, my first few hours with the game was spent simply messing around with all the interactive objects, such as the piano which can be used to actually play tunes.

Rising World has been receiving a steady stream of updates since its release and the developers show no sign of slowing down. One of the previous updates added hunger and thirst levels as well as the ability to gather and cook food. Future updates will include more animals, as well as monsters and additional biomes. There are also other exciting things in the pipeline, such as dungeons, ruins, temples, vehicles and a clothing system. Buying the game during its early access phase entitles you to receive all future updates without extra cost, which is always nice.

Obviously the biggest question is whether Rising World is worth buying at this stage. It is still in early access and missing many planned features, but for players who just want to explore and build things I would say it is definitely worth the investment. It is already easy to lose hours just messing around with all the building and crafting options in the game and from the looks of it things are only going to get better.

This preview is based on version 0.5.3.5 Alpha of the game.

Related posts

All Guns On Deck (Decaying Logic)

All Guns On Deck (Decaying Logic)

Seemingly satisfied with dominating the jigsaw puzzle genre on Steam, Decaying Logic has turned their attention naval combat. Well, strategy, real time tactics, action RPG, and naval combat to be exact. Combining all these genres into something that not only works, but is actually fun to play is quite a task, which is why the developers opted for Early Access to ensure everything is done right.

Coffin Dodgers (Milky Tea Studios)

Coffin Dodgers (Milky Tea Studios)

It is hard not to crack a smile while knocking old people off their mobility scooters as you dodge U.F.Os and zombies in a bright, cartoony setting. It sounds horrifying, I know, but then again Coffin Dodgers is a game that doesn’t take itself very seriously. This kart racer is currently available on Steam Early Access and pits seven retirement village residents in a race to the death against the Grim Reaper himself.

The Golf Club (HB Studios)

The Golf Club (HB Studios)

With Electronic Arts dominating the sports genre with their licensed titles I was surprised to see The Golf Club from HB Studios entering Steam Early Access a while back. The genre could definitely use some competition, but the question was whether anything would be able to match up to the might of Electronic Arts. I only had to play a few rounds in The Golf Club to find the answer.

Dog Duty ( Zanardi and Liza)

Dog Duty ( Zanardi and Liza)

Who are you going to call when the evil Octopus Commander and his army are threatening world-pace? Turns out it's not a marine biologist like we thought, but actually a squad of misfits! In Dog Duty, by Zanardi and Liza, you are given control of this squad of misfits and tasked with taking down the well-armed octo-scum.

Valhalla Hills (Funatics Software)

Valhalla Hills (Funatics Software)

Vikings are normally associated with fighting, pillaging and sailing, but Valhalla Hills from Funatics Software drops these Germanic Norse seafarers in a city building setting instead. In place of raiding and trading, the Vikings are trying to get into Valhalla after Odin decided to close the gates. The Norse god was clearly in a bit of a bad mood as he also exiled his son Leko for being more interested in building than the family business of battles and booze. This is good news for the Vikings though, as with the help of Leko they might attain enough honor to get to Valhalla.

Friendship Club (Force Of Habit)

Friendship Club (Force Of Habit)

Young Timmy Bibble is a boy with a very active imagination and he uses it to make his four imaginary friends battle each other. Ranging from a mountain beast and crazy old prospector to a duck and ninja-bandit-skeleton-thing, these characters are ready to kill each other for their spot by Timmy’s side. As far as storylines goes it’s pretty wacky, but then again who needs an excuse for some good old fashioned arcade action.

1 Comment

  1. SovereignBlanc March 5, 2015
    Reply

    Im burnt out on minecraft and some of the recent changes to it means i will probably never go back to it but this look like it could do the trick for me.

Leave a comment

2 × 4 =