Video Game / World to the West

Four heroes. Four stories. One journey.

World to the West is a 3D open-world puzzle brawler developed by Rain Games as a sequel to their original game, Teslagrad. It was released on May 5, 2017.

It is set in the same universe as Teslagrad, taking place in a "World to the West" that is apparently an ocean away from the countries featured in the previous game. The player has access to four different characters with different abilities: Lumina the Teslamancer, Knaus the orphan, Miss Teri the mind bender, and Lord Clonington the "strongman aristocrat". Together, they will defeat an evil corporate executive known as Tychoon, while also exploring the secrets of the World to the West.

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This video game provides examples of:

• Action Bomb: The small rodents found in the desert areas.
• Action Girl: Lumina definitely qualifies.
• Anti-Hero: Clonington, though not dark or edgy, is mostly in it for his own honor rather than any saving of the world. He's also very, very egocentric.
• Bag of Holding: Later in the game, Teri gains a bag that she can use to store small critters for use any time.
• Bewildering Punishment: Lumina has no idea why Anastasia is trying to kill her.
• Big Bad: Tychoon.
• Black Bead Eyes: Pretty much everyone has these.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: The only reason Miss Teri is able to retrieve the second control core is because the arena is full of lily pads that just happen to be the perfect design for grabbing with her scarf.
• Bullfight Boss: Anastasia's fight, which requires Lumina to make liberal use of her blink ability.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Anastasia, who makes an appearance as the owner of an orphanage in Carte Blanche before she is revealed to be Tychoon's personal assassin with a grudge against Teslamancers. It even shows if Lumina talks to her in the market.
• Continuity Nod: Teslagrad's cards depicted the Teslamancers discovering the Guerickes Orb in a land with a step pyramid. This land has step pyramids, it's known that the Teslamancers got much of their technology here... and one of the last bosses is a 3D version of the Guerickes Orb.
  • Guess who's back? Oleg, from the first game. He even tells Lumina that he knows her father.
  • The cards of Teslagrad showed characters from the nations of Mesmer and Angloria. These characters are dressed virtually identically to Teri, Clonington and the Anglorian scientist.
  • To boot, in the good ending of Teslagrad, the woman from Mesmer and the man from Angloria were shown in a hotel plotting something out.
  • One of the cards in Teslagrad also shows an airship in a card about Mesmer. A similar airship later makes an appearance when it crashes in a stream.
• Cool Airship: The airship that the shipment of goods from Mesmer arrive in... at least until it crashes.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: His name is Tychoon. What did you expect?
• Deadpan Snarker: Teri.

Tenoch: You certainly have spirit, young lady.

Teri: That's what old people say when they can't say anything nice.

• Deflector Shields: Drones have them. Luckily, they drop their shields when they prepare an attack, and it only takes one hit to kill them.
• Demolitions Expert: Knaus seems to be well-acquainted with explosives from his work in the mining colonies, and later obtains dynamite as a weapon and utility.
• Difficult, but Awesome: To use Knaus's dynamite, you have to have a good sense of timing and a good sense of aim. However, it's the most powerful weapon in the game in damage-per-hit, able to one-shot most monsters.
  • Lumina's tesla staff can also qualify. Though it can only be aimed in the cardinal and intermediate directions and takes time to charge, it is extremely powerful if it hits.
• The Dragon: Anastasia to Tychoon.
• Dungeon Bypass: Played with. Knaus's shovel allows him to dodge large portions of dungeons, but only if the ground is soft enough for him to dig. Early on it's his only method of survival, so it's intentional, but it has its limits.
  • Clonington can also climb ledges, allowing him to clear areas much faster and easier than his compatriots.
• Expendable Clone: Averted. Clonington's creator tells him to not get himself killed, as it's difficult to make clones.
• Flash Step: Lumina, like all Teslamancers, is able to blink with her boots, allowing her to cross short distances and access areas that are blocked off by gates.
• Foreshadowing: If you talk to a woman in the marketplace as Lumina, she acts very surprised. Turns out she's actually the masked assassin that you fight twice in the game.
• Free-Fall Fight: Clonington's portion of the final battle against Tychoon is this, with the platform they're on falling out of the sky.
• Game-Breaking Bug: For a time shortly after release, Knaus's ice skates only allowed him to skate north, thereby rendering large portions of the map unreachable.
• Genocide Backfire: Judging by Anastasia's dialogue during her first fight, the Teslamancers that visited the world to the west wreaked untold devastation. Now, she's going to take revenge on Lumina.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Clonington's preferred method of interaction.
  Scientist: Punch it, Clonington.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Like the previous game, there are a bunch of scrolls available to the clever player that tell the game's backstory.
• The Great Flood: In the cards, Chal uses this to recreate the world after it has been devastated by the warring disciples.
• Guide Dang It!: Sometimes the game doesn't tell you how specific objects can be interacted with. Notably, there are doors that you can only open by killing all of a specific monster in the area.
  • Miss Teri suffers from this. It's relatively unclear what all the various monsters do if she can possess them, although it's relatively easy to figure out that they can all attack as normal.
    • Flailmunks are capable of jumping long distances and can carry keys in their mouth. They can also fit into small spaces.
    • Grues can be ridden and can sprint like Teri herself.
    • Rock crabs can be forced to sit down in soft ground, and can be stood on in this position, though they will try to throw the player off. This allows Teri to climb small ledges if there's soft ground nearby.
    • Slapsquatches can be ridden and can climb, much like Clonington. They can also throw Teri a great distance if she orders them to.
    • Snorthogs can be ridden.
    • The little explosive gophers can destroy blocks with their explosions, and can fit into small spaces.
    • Fat fish can be ridden.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Teri kind of gets the short end of the stick through most of the game, as she's the only character who can't reliably fight. However, it turns out that her mind-control is necessary in the final fight because of an oddly specific requirement that the doomsday machine be turned off by the person who activated it.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Anastasia is pretty cruel in her quest for revenge.
• Hidden Elf Village: The village of Tenoch's people, which apparently has never been visited by outsiders before.
• Hollywood Magnetism: The magnetic elevators that Lumina can ride immediately stop after reaching a certain height.
• Human Cannonball: Supposedly how the orphans were sent to the World to the West, though they were told they were being sent to the moon. It's called the "Moon Bullet."
• Ideal Hero: Knaus pretty much qualifies. He only wants to help his friends, no matter what.
• Immortality Inducer: The backstory of the game indicates a "blue fruit" which seems to be this.
• Irony: The ultimate fate of Ratrich and his bullies, and later Tychoon? Buried in the "shame pits" that they put children in earlier.
• Kid Hero: Knaus qualifies.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: The protagonist of Teslagrad, who makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the game.
• Kids Are Cruel: The kids running the mining colony that Knaus lives in at the start of the game are very much examples.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Teri isn't that enamored with helping save the world, but she does it anyway.
• Large Ham: Clonington.
• Lightning Gun: Lumina's Tesla Staff, which gains the ability to fire balls of lightning early on.
• Locked Out of the Fight: Each boss fight can only be completed by a single character. Lumina is the only one that can fight Anastasia or the Guerickes Orb, while Knaus has to fight Ratrich, Teri "fights" a giant fish, and Clonington does battle with a massive grue. They all get individual portions of the final boss battle according to their abilities.
• MacGuffin: The control cores that allow control of the weather machine.
• Magic from Technology: The first of two possible interpretations of how Teslamancy works.
• Magitek: The second of two possible interpretations of how Teslamancy works.
• Meaningful Name: Miss Teri. Mystery.
• Mentor Archetype: Tenoch to all of the characters.
• Mind Manipulation: Miss Teri's scarf allows her to do this to enemies, which allows her to harness their unique abilities.
• Our Clones Are Identical: Clonington is a genetically engineered clone.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: The announcer in the boxing ring describes Clonington as "the second most aristocratic aristocrat."
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Anastasia is pretty horrible to Lumina simply on account of what her precursors did.
• Punny Name: Teri is inevitably addressed as "Miss Teri".
• Puzzle Boss: Anastasia qualifies - once you've dodged her attacks and/or parried them, she pauses to repair her rocket hammer, and you are given a chance to strike.
• Ride the Lightning: Lumina's blink boots.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Flailmunks count.
• The Savage Indian: Strongly averted. Tenoch's people are very laidback and pacifist.
• Shout-Out: Like in the first game, grues.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Anastasia is out for revenge on all Teslamancers, and Lumina is the easiest target.
• Spin-Offspring: Lumina is the daughter of Teslagrad's protagonist.
• Stranger Behind the Mask: Anastasia is finally revealed after her second fight when she takes off her helmet.
• Stronger with Age: Oleg, who can be fought in the boxing ring after Clonington talks to him. He has by far the most health of any character in the game.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Miss Teri, despite not actually being able to fight, gets a role in the final battle by controlling Tychoon to have him shut off the weather machine.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Later on, Knaus gets a stick of dynamite that lets him do this.
• Walk on Water: Knaus gets ice skates fairly early on that allow him to do this.
• Worthy Opponent: Clonington wants to make his entrance at the Affluent Society with a great prize. He eventually settles on a massive grue, declaring that it is a worthy opponent.
• Would Hurt a Child: Evidently, Tychoon, judging by the wrenches he throws at Knaus. And the thousands of children working in his mining colonies.
• You Can't Fight Fate: In the cards, Xinu is depicted trying to change his people's fate after viewing a "dread future" in a seeing-glass.