Why did I sign up to cover Wall World 2 when 1) I never heard or played Wall World 1, and 2) I couldn’t tell you what it’s about. All I remembered was I had a review to do, and it was on the PS5, so I needed to get up before the rest of the family to play on the big telly; otherwise, it would mean streaming it to my Steam Deck. Yes, you can do that; don’t you know?
Then it dawned on me why I wanted to review the game: the resource gathering and visuals. Granted, this was based on the screenshots rather than the videos, but believe it or not, you can form an opinion about something static and less dynamic than a YouTube content creator. Hey – you’re reading this, right? The flame keeps burning… Anyways, this is a sci-fi survival-type game that moves at a very, very slow pace.
You play as Ben the spaceman. That’s the simplified version, but he wears a thing called an exosuit and pilots a robotic spider (which you can name!) and scavenges for resources and artefacts so that his people can survive an onslaught by a group of wrong ‘uns. I couldn’t immediately tell you if they’re aliens or robots, so I’m referring to them as albots. Typically, the game will be a mixture of piloting the spider by ascending a large wall, and the second part is sourcing the goodies that reside within the mine.
Even playing Wall World 2 on the big telly was hard going as there are dedicated entry points to mine, so my method was to pilot the spider along until I could press circle, then get out of the spider to control Ben. He’ll drift along the corridors as you blast away Minecraft-like blocks out of the way to collect currency for upgrades, resources for said upgrades, plus clues to other parties that have left behind tech and artefacts that temporarily upgrade the spider. Also within these mines are enemies that you have to blast with your drill or additional weapons.
These two parts in Wall World 2 mimic each other somewhat, as the exosuit can take damage, as can the spider, but both gauges are separate. Ben will take hits from enemies inside the mine, while time progresses, new waves of enemies will attempt to destroy your spider – and this can be expedited by destroying enemy spawn points. As blocks are destroyed, you can vacuum up the contents and then return them to the spider and rinse and repeat. The capacity of the vacuum is appalling, and the movement of everything in the game (loading screens, too) is incredibly tedious. Sometimes at a tooth-pulling pace.
When these waves come on, you return to the spider and manually control a turret, which is again terribly, terribly slow. Using the gems from the mines, you can upgrade your gear to increase turret speed, damage, and even how fast you manoeuvre in the mines. However… these are temporary for the run, and for permanent upgrades, you need to apply these at your hub. That said, completing missions such as finding gear or miners is enough to make progress, though there is a leviathan boss to beat – if you think you can – so it also makes sense to risk your haul and upgrade the spider.
Back at your hub, there are three main areas to peruse. There’s a hangar for upgrading the spider, such as the damage it takes, drilling power and regen skills, plus there’s a merchant that boosts your exosuit, which is a no-brainer. Finally, there’s a bar where you can drink cocktails that provide a buff for your next run, such as increased drilling power or improved vacuum. Naturally, I’m going to say the latter is essential. The bar also provides side quests, but expect to grind some levels to beef up the ol’ spider if you want a chance.
There’s an ongoing thread in Wall World 2 where you navigate a hole for a whole new discovery expedition, and this was interesting as there wasn’t that time limit, but you periodically attempt it based on unlocking new upgrades and exploring new biomes. As you progress and can increase the speed of tasks, Wall World 2 is much more bearable, but it’s such a slog to get there in the first place. It’s relatively forgiving in its approach, but it’s whether you have the energy to rinse and repeat a lot of the same stuff. Coming back to the opener, I liked the idea of resource gathering, and this was my favourite part of the game, but I have to say, even for me, it’s a bit of a slow process, and I can’t really say that the rewards are all that great, either.
