OTXO has been released somewhat recently, and with the release came the obvious comparisons to Hotline Miami. And while some of these comparisons definitely make sense, I believe OTXO steps it up in a handful of categories that elevate the experience into something unique and gratifying.
Today I am going to go over the key aspects of what I believe achieve that feeling of intensity.
Mechanics
The first and most integral part is the mechanics. OTXO’s gunplay is fast, and it can quickly become overwhelming without a handful of tools at your disposal. Though, what it is really going to come down to is how efficiently you can wipe out all of the enemies on the level.
The tools consist of the following: a dodge roll, bullet time (called Focus in-game), and door kicking. It is not any one of these tools that will grant you the key to victory, but rather how they all flow together, combining and succeeding off one another. It becomes very intuitive once you’re in the game for a little while.
Besides the tools, there is the shooting. Enemies react quickly to your advance and will shoot at you just as fast as you will shoot at them. So you need to plan your route and not draw the attention of too many enemies at the same time.
Though, don’t spend too much time planning since the faster you defeat enemies, the more money you will get at the end of the level. Money is vital for staying alive as the game goes on, as is typical roguelite fashion.
If you take the tools at your disposal and combine them with the shooting gameplay, you will have the pressure of both keeping yourself alive and making sure that you have enough money for future levels.
And this isn’t even mentioning the weapons that you have to choose from. Each room of the level must be approached differently depending on which weapon you have and how much ammunition you have remaining.
Is it worth discarding a gun that may be stronger overall but has less ammo? The decision depends on the circumstances, and the decision must be made in that split second or be punished with loads of damage and a lower money score.
Sound
Layered on top of the challenging gameplay is an array of chunky, satisfying sounds ranging from unique gun noises for each weapon to a brooding soundtrack. Think of what the music in John Wick sounds like and add in a bit of atypical sound choice, like throat singing.
This is where most of the immersion comes from in my opinion. The music surrounds every action taken, and the gunfire is its brutal choir. It’s all-engrossing. It pulses. It bites. It’s cathartic in the way that great sound design usually is.
If the mechanics are the bones, the sounds are the blood — the essence that flows throughout the whole experience.
Graphics
Finally, the icing on the cake, which brings the whole experience together, is the graphics. This is the smallest slice of the game cake here, the main thing to note is the color. The game is, for the most part, grayscale, but it is accentuated by the blood which is red. This brings a subconscious focus to the violence rather than the environment, really placing you in the role of a man on a mission who doesn’t have time to observe their surroundings.
That isn’t to say that there was less care put into the environments. In fact, the environments enhance the action. Objects will shatter into debris when shot at, like stacks of paper and glass, and the blood from enemies will smear across the floor of the levels. If your character steps in any of this blood, the character will leave behind red footprints.
Much attention was put into the environments being just as active as the more direct aspects of the experience. Rarely does a game suffer from too much detail.
Tying it All Together
So, if we take the core, which is the mechanics, the raw center which everything else branches out from, the sound, the essence, informs the mood of the piece. And the graphics have an outward appearance, which entices the audience to explore the rest. We end up with a game that informs each aspect of itself. Dazzling pieces that effortlessly connect into a gameplay crescendo.
Then, at the end of the level, everything goes silent. The music cuts out. The shooting stops. The only sound left is your footsteps. And the gate opens which allows you to progress to the next level. You will be left with an indescribable yet powerful feeling that everything flowed exactly the way it should have.
That’s the action of OTXO.
