The Game Census
The World Next Door cover art

The World Next Door

Rose City Games · VIZ Media · 2019-03-28

SteamGOGEpic Games Store

ActionAdventureIndie

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Mar 28, 2019 (Mac), Mar 28, 2019 (Nintendo Switch), Mar 28, 2019 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

An addictive mix of lightning-fast puzzle battles, powerful storytelling and immersive visual novel elements, The World Next Door follows Jun, a rebellious teen girl trapped in a parallel realm inhabited by magical creatures, who must find her way home before time runs out.

81%
positive of 346 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
0–20,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
64/100
critic score (5 outlets, IGDB)
60/100
IGDB user rating (11 ratings)
5.7h
time to beat (IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$4.99
steam price (US)
The World Next Door is an indie visual novel and puzzle game developed by American studio Rose City Games and published by Viz Media. It was released for Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows on March 27, 2019 and March 28, 2019 respectively. It revolves around a human teenager who becomes trapped in a parallel universe, Emrys, and must escape before she perishes. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its story, combat and art, but criticized its short length as limiting the potential for plot development, and called its puzzles too brief and easy.

Health check

Quiet
  • · 11 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~1/week).
  • · Review velocity up 22% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 42% of 14,079 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 8.7k–21k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 346 total reviews — how this is computed.

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
181820192026Week of 2019-03-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 1 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Attention

902026-06-14 — 3 pageviews2026-06-17 — 1 pageviews2026-06-20 — 6 pageviews2026-06-23 — 4 pageviews2026-06-26 — 6 pageviews2026-06-29 — 6 pageviews2026-07-02 — 2 pageviews2026-07-06 — 1 pageviews2026-07-10 — 2 pageviews2026-07-13 — 2 pageviews2026-07-16 — 2 pageviews2026-07-19 — 4 pageviews2026-07-22 — 6 pageviews2026-07-25 — 2 pageviews2026-07-28 — 1 pageviews2026-07-31 — 2 pageviews2026-08-03 — 5 pageviews2026-08-06 — 0 pageviews2026-08-09 — 0 pageviews2026-08-12 — 3 pageviews2026-08-15 — 9 pageviews2026-08-18 — 1 pageviews2026-08-21 — 2 pageviews2026-08-24 — 1 pageviews2026-08-27 — 1 pageviews2026-08-30 — 4 pageviews2026-09-02 — 3 pageviews2026-09-05 — 3 pageviews2026-09-08 — 1 pageviews2026-09-11 — 5 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

24
achievements tracked
46.6%
earned "Welcome to Emrys"
23.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSFull controller supportSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPShared/Split Screen PvPSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam Trading CardsCustom Volume ControlsAdjustable DifficultyKeyboard Only Option2 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Post-launch support: 2 DLC released, first 2019-03-29 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)44125%24
Switch (Nintendo)60%0

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2DAnimeIndieActionLGBTQ+PuzzleMatch 3AdventureReal-TimeStory Rich

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

PLANET ALPHAWILL: A Wonderful World / WILL：美好世界Degrees of SeparationCoffee TalkThe Last CampfireAmnesia: RebirthGreak: Memories of AzurBye Sweet Carole

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Discord ↗