Background[]
Title screen shot.
Out of This World (also known as Another World in non-U. S. countries and Outer World in Japan) was one of the earlier puzzle/cinematic games where the player controlled a physicist who gets sent to another planet by accident, which they then must figure out how to survive through several situations afterwards. It was originally released for the Amiga and Atari ST computers and was then ported around to other platforms, along with being re-released multiple times years later on more modern gaming platforms.
Another World: SURVIVAL recreates a few scenes from Out of This World but gives it an endless survival/action theme, rather than being a puzzle game. Being released on the PICO-8 medium, the game can be played on various platforms. It was created by Liquidream and was published in 2017.
Gameplay[]
The player directs their character, Dr. Lester Knight Chaykin, through different Waves.
On the first Wave, the second scene from Out of This World was recreated, where Chaykin is by a body of water; tentacles from a submerged creature nearby can appear if the player lingers for too long by the shore. Giant leech-like creatures from other scenes appear on the ground, which Chaykin must kill them by kicking them. If one of the creatures is allowed to make contact with Chaykin or a tentacle grabs him from the depths then the Wave will have to be restarted. Killing a certain number of creatures will end the Wave and take Chaykin to the next one.
Wave 2 takes place inside a cavern (also being a recreated scene from Out of This World), which has the same gameplay as the previous Wave with the addition of creatures crawling along the cavern ceiling, which they can drop down on Chaykin and kill him if allowed.
Wave 3 takes place in another area from the original game where Chaykin encounters a bunch of alien soldiers. This time he is armed with a laser pistol that he picks up at the beginning of the Wave, which the soldiers also are armed with pistols. Chaykin can shoot the soldiers, along with defending himself via creating forcefields with the gun. Creating a super shot with the gun will destroy a soldier’s force field. If Chaykin gets shot then the Wave starts over; after killing a certain number of soldiers the next Wave will start.
All following waves mix elements of the leech creatures along with the soldiers. The player has infinite lives and can continue a game for as long as they wish.
Controls[]
- Play game/start new Wave–z key
- Move Chaykin--arrow keys (left/right to move, down to crouch)
- Kick–z key
- Fire pistol (Wave 3 and onwards)–x key
- Create force field–hold x key briefly, then release (an onscreen indicator will show where the force field can be created)
- Create super shot–hold x key for several seconds, then release after indicator appears
- Pause game/reset cart--enter or p keys
Trivia[]
- Another World: SURVIVAL was created for the LOWREZJAM programming contest, which, due to time constraints, was not finished with several extras that programmer/creator Liquidream wanted to include, as he hopes to add those features later at some point (such as sound) now that the contest is over.
- The game recreates the cutscenes of Chaykin getting killed by a leech-like creature and when he picks up the gun off the ground from Out of This World.