clickbliss

Single Press- Shape of the World is an ambient album you can explore

• by Amr (@siegarettes)
  
• Developer- Hollow Tree Games
  
• Publisher- Plug-In Digital
  
• PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
  

Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.

Good atmosphere is like a bath, or meditation. It’s a space where I can leave myself, slowly taking it in over prolonged periods of time. At its best, a piece ebbs and flows, cresting like a wave and building a small narrative. Shape of the World is one of these standout pieces. It sits alongside games like Proteus, or Future Unfolding, that make an compelling argument for the walking sim, and the subtle power of simply existing in a space.

Shape of the World draws its world as you walk through it. Hills and valleys reveal themselves from within a soft fog, the trunks of trees fold upward from the earth, and foliage paints itself in like watercolors dissolving into wet paper. Everything is rendered in chunks of flat color, with lighting and fog effects lending subtle gradients. Objects are rendered in almost singular tones, with only a single accompanying color to fill in details or shadows. This gives each frame a strong illustrative quality, as if created out of watercolors or ink washes, without necessarily invoking those materials directly.

To complement its style, Shape of the World centers its exploration on continually palette and mood changes. Triangular gates mark the next destination, and walking through them sends a wave through the world that changes its color and sound. It gives a visual rhythm to the game, and provides a small peak and break to each area. Subtle details and interactions enhance the journey between gates.

 Movement is very smooth, with easy acceleration and deceleration curves that imbue a floaty, dreamlike quality. Seeds can be thrown to create trees, which can be pulled through, giving a small burst of forward momentum. Obelisks and monuments populate the world, causing the world to react, pulling you skyward or building a set of stairs that curve through the world to guide you the next destination, while slightly increasing movement speed. It’s just enough interaction to avoid distracting from exploration, while keeping you thinking about moving through the world with intention.

Small auditory complements accompany these interactions. Subtle tones swell as you approach a gate. Stairs mark their presence with a recognizable rhythm. Low bass rumbles as you are pulled skyward by monuments. Its smart audio design that makes the world feel more reactive. Alongside the sway of foliage, and strange creatures that populate its spaces, it goes a long way to avoid the feeling of sterility exploratory games sometimes fall victim to.

These touches help give Shape of the World a positive momentum, which builds up to a climax that’s not flashy, but still manages to feel uplifting. There’s a perfectly paced arc here that explores all its ideas then concludes, running short enough to be concluded within a single session and easily revisited in the future. 

There’s a certain complexity in cataloging exactly what makes Shape of the World work, but its appeal is simple. It’s a space to decompress, wrapped in the joy of sound and color.