The Inner World – The Last Wind Monk is an intriguing title that I recommend as it confronts topics, right from the outset, that are by no means easy and echo a lot of the nonsense going on in today’s world. But it views them from the naïve perspective of the would-be-king, Robert, a flute-nosed Asposian who thought he had saved the world in the first installment of this series, but now finds himself confronting the terrible threat of a new, fascist dictatorship willing and able to wipe his species off of the face of Asposia.
This follow-up chapter to the original Inner World improves the structure of the first by expanding the roster of characters and deepening the mature themes in the game without soft-pedaling the facts and language. The mobile version is more comfortable to play thanks to the use of the touch screen rather than the constant pointing and clicking with the mouse. It’s a shame that it doesn’t have lightning-fast load times when switching screens and more of a robust hint system for puzzles that were a bit on the difficult and/or obtuse side.
So, if you played the original Inner World, I certainly get the appeal of the narrative and what these appealing characters bring to the table. I’m sure there are plenty of callbacks that gamers who played the original can appreciate that I wasn’t able to. But as someone that came into this fresh, I can say it’s a fun game that somehow doesn’t quite hit the lofty mark it is aiming for. The vibrant art, contrasted by the dark themes the game covers comes across quite well but, sad to say, those themes aren’t always portrayed in the best possible way to fully drive those bleak topics home.