Worlds of Aria Review (Switch): Loads of Fun Brought Down by a Horrible UI

Worlds of Aria is a table-top-style RPG that is obviously inspired by D&D. As such, I had high expectations because I love a good campaign. The story is full of whimsy, has amusing character interactions, and hits that all-so-important D&D itch that it is trying to scratch. Unfortunately, not everything is great in Worlds of Aria, as the user interface, while nice to look at, throws off the entire experience for anyone not playing on PC. 

A great co-op adventure

Worlds of Aria can be played by yourself, but like a true D&D campaign, it can also be played with up to three of your friends, making it a grand time if you know others who have the game. If you are by yourself, the empty slots are filled by CPUs that you control. Throughout the campaign, you and your friends will be given choices with multiple outcomes. Each player, or you playing as four characters will decide what actions to take. Depending on the actions taken, this will result in hilarious outcomes that you won’t always see coming. One minute, you could be chasing a chicken while the next you are trying to tame animals at the zoo.

No matter how many different choices are made, the game follows each character and allows them to shine. This really made it feel like a true D&D campaign, scratching that all-so-important itch I mentioned at the start. While I did play the game solo, I tried to match choices that the characters I had chosen would make. This resulted in fun outcomes and knowing there are a lot more choices to be made makes me want to replay the game to try them all out.

Transferring tabletop to the small screen

The gameplay of Worlds of Aria is very similar to that of D&D if you are playing with figurines. You choose characters to take up the various roles and embark on a quest for the ages. During the game, you must move your figurines to select what actions you wish to take, encountering different scenarios in each chapter. This simplistic gameplay design, while repetitive after a while, makes it very accessible for anyone, even those who are new to video games.

Upon making your choices, you will make your rolls and accept the results, good or bad. The game uses the less-conventional D100 style of gameplay instead of the basic D20 style but it works well for determining the outcomes of the rolls and makes the leveling system more impactful. When you take a level, your stat raises around three to five points which makes a world of difference. It would have been nice to see the team switch up the gameplay a bit since I got tired of moving characters to select actions. A more turn-based action style could have worked as well for certain parts of the game to help make it feel fluid but what is there stands out amongst other RPGs.

An unflattering user interface

The biggest pitfall of Worlds of Aria is its disastrous user interface. Throughout the game, you are required to move an on-screen hand to pick up your characters and select different icons. I can see how this would work well on PC. Unfortunately, playing it on Nintendo Switch felt like a huge hindrance. Opening the inventory of the CPUs was a near-impossible task as the on-screen hand would constantly slide past the small icon. When tasked to pick up characters and move them to a specific location within a small time limit, I couldn’t because the UI acted so poorly. It got to the point where I largely ignored the inventory of the CPUs, so I didn’t have to bother with it. Along with this, picking up items on the screen to place them in my inventory would periodically throw the item behind the inventory screen or place it in a part of the screen I couldn’t reach.

The verdict

Worlds of Aria is a fun experience to be had either solo or with a group. The number of choices and whimsical fantasy world are both compelling reasons to stick through the campaign to reach your heroic end. While the gameplay can be rather repetitive, it is very easy to understand and accessible to anyone, making it decent in my book. The true downfall of Worlds of Aria isn’t letting the Duke get the Staff of Wisdom, which kickstarts the campaign, but rather the clunky and periodically bugged UI that ruins the gameplay on Switch.

Worlds of Aria was reviewed on Nintendo Switch with a code provided by Ludogram. It is also available on PC.

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