OTXO Review (PC)

I stop right at the door, knowing that even if the enemies in the next room know I’m here, only I can open it and start this fight. There are three of them and if I took my time I would be able to tell what weapons they are wielding. But I need to move fast and kill people to get as much money as I can from this room. I’m hoping the next exit leads to the bar and I can invest my winnings into some extra cool imported drinks.

I kick the door and start firing my shotgun at the same time. Two of the opponents drop at the same time, which is a great result, and I switch to bullet time to engage the other. I easily avoid his shots and eliminate him with exactly one blast. I could reload but it’s a better idea to pick up one of their machineguns.

I take some damage and slow down a little before I clear the floor, mainly because a few enemies engage from outside of visual range. The exit swings open and I burst through it, clucking a new shotgun. This is not the bar but a small room filled with weapons. I pick up the heaviest machine gun, which comes with infinite reloads. My next battle is against a boss.

OTXO is developed by Lateralis Heavy Industries and published by Super Rare Originals. I played it on Steam on the PC. The title is a top-down shooter with a focus on quick movement and some rogue-lite mechanics.

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The narrative starts off with an unnamed man traveling alongside a companion. He puts on a mask and then wakes up on a mysterious island, with no way to leave it. The only thing that’s clear and quickly confirmed by the resident gardener and caretaker is that his lover is at the center of a Mansion that he needs to explore.

It’s an efficient setup. There’s a small cast of supporting characters, which also have no explanation for the island or the mask’s power to bring its wolf wearer back to life. Players will discover more about the mansion and about their inner demons as they push through the levels. But this is not a game that relies on its narrative to keep the level of immersion up.

OTXO’s gameplay is all about speed, hyper-violence, and deadly firefights. Our unnamed hero will first stop at the bar, where he needs to drop his weapon to get a free drink that acts as a modifier. He then enters the mansion and starts clearing floors. Each is built from more than 150 hand-crafted rooms, including some surprises.

Using a top-down view, gamers will then have to kill all enemies, using a wide array of firearms, grenades, kunai, or simply a strong hit from one of their feet. Opponents carry significant firepower and tend to move straight toward the player, determined to end him as quickly as possible.

It’s a good thing that all doors in this place can only be opened by the player. This also offers our hero a solid tactical opportunity to plan and execute a quick set of moves to dispatch opponents that are close before others enter the fray and he starts taking hits to health. To avoid that, he can dodge roll and slow down time.

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He can also pick up and use any weapon dropped by an opponent. Eliminating enemies quickly leads to greater monetary rewards. Combat in OTXO is always tense, with players caught between the need to move fast and take opponents out quickly and the desire to get as much money from them as possible.

Not all floors are filled with enemies. Some rooms deliver a little extra narrative and ways to spend accumulated currency. From time to time, the bar makes an appearance, allowing players to gain another drink-based perk or to invest in more exotic options.

There are also boss battles. The game features some nice designs and players need to use their entire arsenal of moves to deal with the increased difficulty.

OTXO features a carefully constructed core combat loop, which is easy to understand but hard to master. Keep bullet time in reserve for decisive moments and make sure to scout a little before entering a room. Move fast but slow down if health is dropping. Switch weapons rather than relying on reloads.

The title's biggest issue is the limited rogue-lite structure. I wanted more permanent things than drinks to tilt battles in my favor. A little more innovation in the narrative department would also have enhanced immersion.

OTXO uses a black-and-white look, with splashes of bright red that signal where firefights took place and marks the spots of fallen opponents. The top-down view and the retro approach mean that there’s not too much detail for any character or location. The bigger problem is that the degrees of gray and flatness can make it sometimes hard to know what you can shoot through and what will block a dodge roll.

The sound design is the most interesting part of the title’s presentation. All weapons sound weighty and the chorus of multiple types firing at once makes every encounter feel deadly. The soundtrack is also very good, keeping the tension up and pushing players to move fast and kill efficiently.

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