Aura of Worlds is a 2D action platformer developed and published by Cognitive Forge. It’s a roguelike where each playthrough is different as you explore multiple worlds and dungeons, and use the environment to your advantage.
Upon booting up the game, you have the option to choose between easy, medium, or hard difficulty. I started off easy to get used to the mechanics, and even then I had a tough time. Aura of Worlds is challenging, but not frustratingly so. This game is the type where you need to have patience to get used to its premise and give yourself time to master the controls. It’s not as simple as it sounds, though, because every time you enter a dungeon, it’s randomly generated. Once you die, you can’t just try again; you need to work with a different layout.
The differently generated dungeons are a major selling point of Aura of Worlds. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, but it still adds an extra layer of fun and challenge to the game. However, this game ensures each dungeon sets a bar for a player rather than you trying to uncover different routes of a map. Every time the dungeon resets, you’ll face an onslaught of environmental roadblocks.
For example, each dungeon has enemies and traps (such as spikes), but there are also treasure chests hidden about where you can get different weapons and upgrades. All the dungeons will test your platforming skills in a unique way. Many areas require you to go downward to find the exit rather than moving from left to right or climbing upward. Really, you have no sense of where you are in this world.
After you find about three exits, you’ll face a boss. The first boss was super slow, and I wasn’t yet strong enough to defeat it relatively quickly. So, that was frustrating only because it took a long time. However, Aura of Worlds is one of those games where you’ll get stronger the longer you play, so the game gets progressively easier over time. The bosses grew in strength and difficulty, too, but not so much that it was jarring whenever you reached them.
You’ll die a lot when playing this game, especially in the beginning. Whenever you lose, though, you’ll still earn experience points and currency to buy new weapons (swords, daggers, bow and arrows, etc.), items (such as potions), and even spells. Spells can range from attacks (like fire or poison) to defensive (like dashing or shielding).
Buying and upgrading these items and spells requires the help from various NPCs in the hub area. You’ll need to unlock these NPCs and, to do so, you’ll find them within the dungeons and have to rescue them. It’s an excellent way to entice you to keep playing, all the while rewarding you for your efforts and allowing you to enter your next run with gusto.
I think the most difficult part of playing Aura of Worlds is the beginning and figuring out the environment. You can hit rocks, for example, in a cave to make them fall and harm an enemy. I often did it to myself accidentally, not realizing what I was doing at first. There was also an area where poisoned water filled the screen, so I panicked and found the exit as quick as possible. Because of that, though, I didn’t defeat any of the enemies or pick up any of the chests. So, I felt like I missed out.
The other frustrating part was performance on the Nintendo Switch. It lagged sometimes and booted me out of the game once. The runs don’t save in the middle (for obvious reasons) so I lost good progress because of this. Otherwise, the controls in Aura of Worlds were smooth. The platforming wasn’t frustrating, though some hitboxes of the enemies didn’t make sense. Sometimes I’d hit them dead on and it wouldn’t count or I’d completely miss and it would count. I still haven’t figured that one out.
Aura of Worlds is a game you’ll put many hours into once you get past the beginning hump of mastering the controls and bulking up your character. As of writing this review, I haven’t completed the game, but I can see myself going back to it now and again.
