Someone puts on a strange mask while hunting down their lost lover; they wake up on a beach. With no memories, no weapons, and no idea where they are, they discover a mansion. Some people have been here for an incalculable amount of time. But there’s only one important detail you can get out of them. The answers you seek lie somewhere in the mansion. There’s a nun outside who offers you guns.
Welcome to the Stylish Apocalypse: An Introduction to Otxo’s World
Welcome to Otxo, a stylistic top-down roguelike developed by Lateralis Heavy Industries (a team comprised entirely of Nathan Haddock) and published by Super Rare Originals, which was initially released on Steam in 2023. And now it’s come to consoles.
Otxo delivers a monochromatic masterpiece that elevates the roguelike genre with its impeccable gunplay and striking visual palette.
The game’s goal is simple: charge through the mansion, killing everything to uncover its secrets. The secret part isn’t even that important; it’s just a necessary excuse to justify the gunplay, which is the apparent meat of the game and is highly remarkable.
A Ballet of Bullets: Breaking Down Otxo’s Core Gameplay Mechanics
As you’ll likely notice with the screenshots or video, depending on how you’re experiencing these words, the game’s color palette is exclusively black and white, with splashes of red, like the rose at the bar or the vial that represents your health. This means the red always stands out well, and enemy placement can be quickly figured out by the flecks of color, which become much more than when you’ve filled them with lead.
You can start with a variety of guns, but don’t think that you’ll be locked into any particular gunplay style. They have a single extra mag, not a lot of ammo, so before long, that thing is dead weight. But this isn’t a title in which you’ll have to be bullet-conservative because every corpse drops some weapon for you to use. So throw it away. It’s a mechanic that creates constant swapping and variety. Oh, and you can kill enemies by doing that too. Skip reloading entirely by just lobbing your gun at someone and grabbing a new one off their seconds-fresh corpse.
With its challenging gameplay and rewarding skill curve, Otxo proves that independent games can stand shoulder to shoulder with industry giants.
Mastering the Mayhem: Tips for Conquering Otxo
You also have a primary dodge roll, which lets you pass through bullets, and the immaculate focus mechanic. This allows you slow time; it gives you space to dodge, roll, and weave between enemy attacks, and it lowers controller sensitivity for you to line up perfect shots in retaliation. Focus is represented by a circle around your crosshair, slowly refilling as you aren’t using it. Finally, you’ve got liquors to add perks to change your gameplay. The first one on each run is free before you head in, with additional perks being obtainable further in exchange for coins. They add a lot of variety, but none are the kind that will entirely overhaul your entire kit.
The distinction in gameplay experience between keyboard and mouse versus controller highlights Otxo’s adaptability across platforms, catering to a wide range of players.
Combine these things with some fantastic music, giving a player a fast and furious gameplay system that I was…. really bad at. It took me a long time to get good, but I got what I felt was reasonably good. I brought this up with a friend early into my playing, who was very skilled at similar games like Hotline Miami, who raised a question that explained everything to me.
‘Are you using a keyboard and mouse or a controller?’
The comparison in precision between using a keyboard and mouse versus a controller cannot be overstated. On a console, Otxo is perfectly playable and enjoyable, albeit very challenging. But then I went and got it on Steam. It’s not like the game magically becomes easy, but the difference in making precise targeting on a keyboard and mouse compared to a controller is enormous. This intense game will give you some twitch aiming by the time you can reliably get to the boss fights.
For this reason, if you want to play it on a console, the Nintendo Switch has to be your best bet. If you want to get out of the house, you could play the game at a library or something. This isn’t a game with any multiplayer features or the like, and the specs needed to run the thing are so low that you’ll be fine running Otxo on a crummy laptop and a 15-year-old mouse over a PlayStation 4 controller.
A Roguelike Like No Other: The Enduring Appeal of Otxo
Despite the difficulty, focus being a resource that regenerates with time means playing slow and steady is an entirely valid option if you feel this isn’t a game you’d be especially good at but want to try out. And as a roguelike, you will feel yourself improve and get better over time. The game is limited in ways to expand upon your playstyle as you run, so once you’re done, there’s nothing more to do than play through again and hope you get new perks.
So if you’re looking for a game that you can have a literal blast in, Otxo is the way to go. Fast, satisfying, and visually distinct, this title will definitely offer you a unique and worthwhile action experience. And it’s always good to support independent developers who have really nailed some fantastic game design.
