PAX Prime: A World of Keflings – First Impressions

Here’s the thing… when a game has been out for ages on XBLA, and has been demoed over and over again with the “it’s coming, really” tagline at various conventions… it’s hard to get excited about it. Yes, there are some changes made for the Wii U version to make it more amenable to playing on the Nintendo system, but it still seems like a tired format of game that we’re not entirely sure has a place right now.

Still, you want to know what makes A World of Keflings special on the Wii U, and that’s what we’re here for. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Right now, the demo showcases you—the player—helping out little creatures, or Keflings, and it’s your job to assist them in rebuilding their kingdom and their society. You have to start from the ground up—that means Minecrafting it, by which we mean you need to collect wood, ice, dirt, and so forth—before you can start building. You bring it to a workshop and then get crafting!

You’ll also need blueprints for some of the buildings, and these various buildings allow the population to expand and grow, increasing the social complexity. As you progress, you’ll be able to direct various Keflings to carry out tasks for you (the tedious stuff, like acquiring crafting material) while you build.

The “fun” part on the Wii U is that you get to play as your Mii, and you can use the GamePad as an overhead map to see your kefling society all at once. You can also order materials using the GamePad as needed, once you’re out and about inside the game, to avoid traveling back and forth to the workshop every time you need something.

Look, if you’re into this kind of game… go for it. However, it doesn’t seem that this title has more to offer than what you’re already going to find in terms of building a village and society than, say, Minecraft or Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Yes, they’re all very different games, but we failed to see the point of A World of Keflings and just left the experience feeling bored.

Perhaps things will change when the game is released (we’re hearing “this year”, but we’ll believe it when we see it), but until then, we’ll stick with the games that are already allowing us to build and run little virtual social lives.

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Micah
Author: Micah View all posts by
Micah has been playing games since his first pong machine, and has been writing for as long as he could grip a pencil and not drool on the paper. So, for about a week.

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