We’re living in something of a golden age for TTRPGs. Everyone and their dad has an actual play podcast, Baldur’s Gate 3 received acclaim as a TTRPG in video game form, Netflix is developing a D&D show; that’s right, kiddos – Dungeons & Dragons is mainstream now. Tabletop RPGs are also being made more accessible to capture a wider audience, and that’s what makes Worlds of Aria so appealing. It’s a fun, low-cost entry point for kids and adults who want to experience a more streamlined tabletop game.
Narrated by Critical Role’s Laura Bailey, Worlds of Aria consists of four accessible and replayable campaigns ranging from two-four hours each. You can play them solo, but bringing a friend or three along for the adventure is the best way to emulate the tabletop experience. Throughout each chapter of the campaigns, you’ll be faced with various decisions. Do you run away from an approaching group or enemies or stick around in hopes of securing some loot before they descend upon you? Do you kill a monster or listen to it, learning it’s more than meets the eye? The decision always rests in your – and your co-op partners’ – hands. You’ll also encounter NPCs in between chapters during each campaign. You can choose to go along with what they propose – sign a document, accept their guidance through some ruins – and those decisions may or may not lead to consequences down the road.
There are a couple moments, though, where the game railroads you and goes in a predetermined direction regardless of your choice. For example, in the very first campaign you can lie to an NPC and pocket a valuable item yourself while handing him a different one. Regardless of your choice, he forcefully takes possession of the item at the end of the campaign and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
The decision-making is fun, and offers incentive to replay Worlds of Aria to see alternate solutions to the conundrums the game throws your way. However, each decision and story is very plot focused; the game leaves little room to build up or invest in characters. You’re presented with a handful of characters to play as, but outside of their predetermined backstories, nothing truly separates them as characters. You’ll have to apply some headcanon of your own to flesh them out as characters.
The “role-playing” of a TTRPG is lacking in Worlds of Aria as you’ll end up caring more about the stat upgrades you’ve invested in the characters than the characters themselves. I do appreciate how they can actually die during the campaigns, giving the stories a bit of weight. However, if you don’t resurrect a fallen companion and instead substitute them for a new adventurer, you’ll be at a disadvantage because your newest party member won’t have any stat upgrades; they’ll be at a disadvantage at times compared to those who have been in your party since the beginning.
Worlds of Aria have five goals for your party to meet during each chapter of a campaign. One mandatory, four optional; three known, two secretive. Completing these objectives will net your characters stars and you’ll use those stars to level up your party members. It’s straightforward, though the goals can be frustrating at times. For example, a secret goal in the second campaign is to kill an NPC. However, if you don’t want to and instead make the storytelling/character developing choice to leave them alive, you’re SOL. No star for you.
Levelling up your characters’ skills improves their chances for success on their dice rolls. The dice system Worlds of Aria uses was confusing at first, but easy enough to get the hang of after playing for a bit. Your characters’ attributes reflect their chances of success when rolling. If your character’s combat ability is 52, they have a 52% chance of succeeding on combat rolls. Going against what most people are familiar with – that high rolls equal better rolls – Worlds of Aria actually rewards lower rolls. It makes sense once you think about it from a visual perspective; if your chance of success is 25%, then rolling lower than a 25 with your dice is what you’re aiming for. Because of this, critical successes in Worlds of Aria reward the lowest rolls possible. Getting a 1 with a d10 and the percentile dice is just as fun and beneficial as rolling a 20 in a d20 system.
There are some minor frustrations that drag the experience a tad. Controlling the character pieces, at least using a controller on the Switch version, is a frustration beyond comprehension. The thumbsticks are either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. To determine which action a character takes, you place them in an assigned circle. However, the game hates registering them and placing them perfectly is, at times, a herculean task. This is an annoyance-turned-frustration when a 10-second timer descends for some decisions; you won’t need 10 seconds to decide what to do, but you might need 10 minutes for the game to register your character’s miniature – and therefore your decision.
Some mechanical frustrations and lack of character development don’t stand in the way of Worlds of Aria being a fun and accessible introduction to TTRPGs. The plots are very engaging and full of twists, and you’ll hang on every dice roll just like you would rolling a d20 in your tabletop campaign. It’s a great way to share the tabletop experience with kids or introduce RPGs to a non-gaming friend. First Worlds of Aria, next Dungeons & Dragons.
