Washed ashore with only a gun in your hand and a mysterious mansion on the horizon, you discover your beloved has been kidnapped. She’s inside that big ole house somewhere and come hell or high water you aren’t leaving without her. Shoot, blast, explode, and kick your way through room after room of gun-toting miscreants in OTXO (pronounced oh-cho) from Lateralis and Super Rare Originals.
Don’t let the monochrome artstyle fool you, what this game lacks in color, it more than makes up for in fast paced action and exhilarating tunes. I really liked the simple pixelated graphical style combined with a classic top down viewpoint. It really brought to mind games like Hotline Maimi or even the original GTA on the PS1 where your main objective is to bust down doors and mow down anyone who stands in your way. The game is a roguelite so when you die you will lose all progress except for any coins you collected after clearing a stage. In turn that money can be spent on various boosts and abilities that come in the form of liquor served by the bartender who appears at the beginning of the stage. There seems to be a ton of different liquors available, though you only get 3-4 random ones to choose from each time. It definitely ups the replayability big time since you never know what to expect from each run, as a proper roguelite should be.
With all that in mind, I can’t say there was anything inherently bad that I experienced within the demo. The controls for instance could use a little tightening up, especially if you are using a controller and sometimes button prompts would be slow or wouldn’t work altogether, but thankfully it didn’t happen too often.
I thoroughly enjoyed the small bit of OXTO I was able to play and fully intend to keep playing. It’s one of those games where you keep saying “just one more try, just one more try” until you realize it’s a few hours later than you intended it to be when you quit. I’m definitely onboard when the full game is released and I look forward to seeing what more it will have to offer.
If you are interested in blasting away a few baddies in OTXO yourself then you can find the demo available on Steam but only during the current Rogue Festival which ends May 9th 2022.
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As a huge Hotline Miami fan, I'm really glad I saw this post. Big thanks!
Our pleasure and thanks for reading!!