I’ll see you on the beach
Developed by Lateralis Heavy Industries (A studio consisting of just one developer) OXTO, pronounced Oh-Cho is a top down shooter roguelike that hits consoles with a bang. Set in an eerie supernatural mansion, OXTO (Which means wolf) follows an unnamed protagonist on his journey to find his long lost lover. It’s a simple plot, but one that works well within this genre. Your goal is simple: traverse each randomly generated floor within the mansion, battling your way to the top of the mansion to save your lover from the horrors within. The game begins with a brief but enthralling cutscene in which the player sits on a train finding a strange mask. Upon picking up the mask, the character is transported to the unknown. I loved the simplicity of this cutscene, coupled with the sheer mystery; it really engages and invites the player in. The sleek pixel art visuals told through a black and white colour pallet really suit this game. It’s a simple yet stunningly beautiful style.
Washing up on a beach with no knowledge of how we got there, the game really begins. Walking up to the mysterious gothic-looking mansion really sets the tone for the player that we’re in for a weird and wonderful ride. You are greeted at the mansion by a unnamed man who sets the scene for the player through text dialogue. With this type of rogue like they could have easily just focused entirely on gameplay, but I love that Lateralis Heavy Industries have taken the time and care to include these text dialogue options for the player to use if they so choose. If you choose to talk to the man you are taken into a tutorial displaying the game’s mechanics. If not’ you go cold turkey and arrive at the games main hub: The infinite Foyer.
Kick the Damn Doors In.
It’s here in the foyer where you’re introduced to the game loop of OXTO. Speaking to the bartender, he offers you three drinks to purchase which act as your abilities for that specific run. There are up to 100 abilities in the game, offering a variety of gameplay styles from fast-paced to focusing on your main ability: Focus. Focus acts like ‘Bullet Time’ from Max Payne, slowing down time enabling you to pick and choose your targets with precision. The core gameplay loop is simple to understand, yet hard to master. Taking clear inspiration from games such as ‘Hotline Miami’ and ‘The Hong Kong Massacre’, OXTO follows those types of games with its top down focus and twin stick gameplay. Movement is sleek and easy to understand, while aiming I feel is the best I’ve come across in this genre for quite some time. Precise movements from your analogue stick are responsive and not as chaotic as other shooters in this genre. Rolling and traversing over objects is simple and rewarding, allowing the player to really try to become inventive and tactical with their movement, considering the amount of enemies that can be on screen. The health bar is also a welcome addition to this game, not having to worry about the prospect of getting one shot from a shotgun off screen as in ‘Hotline Miami’.
Guns feel unique, satisfying and downright unstoppable at times. The variety of guns in the game is excellent with more guns to be unlocked permanently by finding vending machines throughout your runs, making each attempt at clearing the game unique and fresh. The real gem in the gameplay loop is the kicking mechanic; bashing through doors, exploding enemies behind that door really makes you feel like an absolute badass. Lateralis Heavy Industries have done an incredible job at making this simple melee button feel like your main choice of violence at times. Bosses are varied and unique on each floor of the mansion, raising tension levels to the max as you encounter various supernatural beings. Whether it be a inbred basilisk or the devil itself, the game tries to make each fight feel different and varied, albeit with mixed results. Quite a lot of the time I felt as though the way for me to beat the boss each time was simply run in a circle and abuse the focus mechanic to blast my way through. The gameplay also accentuates the pixel art style, blood splattering everywhere in crimson red on the black and white background makes for an incredible visceral sight.
When The Rhythm Starts To Play
With a game like this, the music is key. The music in this game is absolutely incredible. Astonishingly, along with developing the game, Lateralis Heavy Industries also fully created the soundtrack for the game. (which can be found here: OTXO Original Soundtrack – Album by Lateralis | Spotify) The booming synths of a track or the intoxicating beat found within each song really allow the player to feel like the ultimate weapon. The soundtrack adds a multitude of layers to the gameplay, whether it is tension for clearing each room or hype for the upcoming boss battle. Composer Nathan Haddock has created something quite remarkable considering this is a complete solo effort. The music really helps carry the game throughout its gameplay loops.
Sound design in OXTO is also top notch. The sounds of kicking the doors in really help create this feeling that you can be unstoppable. The guns sound design is some of the best I’ve come across in the last few years. Crisp reload sounds, including a beautiful reload audio design for the M1 Garand. The gunshots echo throughout the rooms you enter, which was both haunting and exhilarating as I battled my way to the end of the game.
It’s not a spiral, it’s a loop
With this being a roguelike, permadeath appears in OXTO. I go back and forth on my opinions on the permadeath mechanic. In games such as ‘Hades’ I think it works wonders, but only due to the permanent upgrades obtained from the vendors in the game. I think that’s where OXTO can lose its momentum, there are not enough permanent upgrades within the game to keep the game feeling fresh. With up to 100 abilities, it would have been interesting to see if making a mode where some of these abilities stay permanent could have allowed the game to innovate and create unique gameplay strategies for the player. The AI in the game can also create varying results.
In my time playing the game, the AI baffled me at times. Sometimes it was incredibly sophisticated and attempted to flank my movement, whereas at other times, it would mindlessly funnel its way into a room where I was waiting to eliminate it in one swift sweep. The most annoying enemy in the game tends to be the turrets as they bizarrely have been given no colour indicator, often resulting in them unfortunately blending in with the environment.
Verdict
Sleek visuals, simple yet intriguing narrative and an absolutely incredible soundtrack; OXTO really is a force to behold in this genre. Superb sound design and variety of weapons and abilities, coupled with the focus mechanic help create varying gameplay styles to test and innovate. It’s only the erratic AI and some choices relating to the game’s upgrades that can make OXTO lose its momentum in the long term replay ability aspect. But OXTO is a game I would highly recommend, a real fun blast.
