World Splitter is a console ported 2D retro puzzle game with a twist. While this looks like a platformer, instead it's a "two world" puzzle game where you are given a slider that you control with the mouse (or a console peasant children's toy gamepad) and you can drag it left and right and rotate it. This "moves" the pane between the first and second worlds which have different platforms and obstacles. You can also climb up the slider if it's on a slope, and this is required to do things like put yourself up on a platform or ledge in the second world. You also rescue little critters in various positions, with a scoring system a bit like a mobile phone app... which is about the disappointing mentality of some games these days.
On the upside the game is well polished and seems a serious and professional attempt at a game. Unfortunately the developers didn't consider if the unique concept is fun, or whether PC gamers would like it.
From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.
The game features somewhat simplistic 2D vector graphics, of the type you normally expect to see in low effort Flash/browser games and mobile apps. Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing.
The developers didn't design the game for modern gaming PCs, as such the game resolution caps out at 1080p, a very low resolution that became mainstream back in 2006 and became obsolete when 4K entered the mainstream in 2014. The game simply won't look right on modern gaming displays due to this failure on the part of the developers.
The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers.
Because this is a console game, it carries a number of deliberate design deficiencies. Compromises were made to cater to the inferior console gaming appliances that the game was designed for. These are unfortunate compromises and limitations that PC gamers shouldn't be forced to accept, but it's evident that PC was a second thought for the console-centric developers. The game is deficient as a result of these choices, and would have been so much better without the handicaps that designing games for consoles forces upon a game. Once more, console peasants have made gaming worse for everyone.
These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.
The poor quality of this game is reflected in the general public reception. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 3 players. That's right, only 3. This is a pitiful enough number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam, the overwhelming lack of interest in the game is remarkable, but also to be expected. This complete and utter rejection of the game from gamers should be a keen information point for anyone considering buying shovelware like this. Gamers just didn't take this seriously, and for good reason.
World Splitter has the almost comically optimistic (if it wasn't so sad) price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games, let alone the sheer number of free games available on Steam. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend.
