OTXO Review
While not the first, The Matrix made bullet-time a household term. Max Payne took the concept and ran with it, allowing players control over time as they freely created their own John Woo scenes. Honestly, it never gets old and plenty of games have used some variations including Horizon Zero Dawn (using focus to slow down to get a better shot), Katana Zero (giving the player time to deflect bullets), Read Dead Redemption 2 (Dead Eye mode), and Stranglehold (a personal favorite - making every slide, jump, and dive turn into something out of the movies). Can another game make use of bullet time enough to be memorable? Let us find out.
Developed by Lateralis Heavy Industries and published by Super Rare Originals, OTXO (pronounced oh-cho and meaning wolf) is a top-down, roguelite, twin-stick shooter. The love of your life was kidnapped and you end up stuck on an island with a mysterious mansion to explore. This is a mission of revenge and luckily, you cannot die until you find her. Prepare yourself for the carnage as this will get violent. If John Wick is a murder ballet, OTXO is a mosh pit gone horribly wrong. A bloody and visceral Jackson Pollack if you will.
Every run in OTXO begins in The Infinite Foyer. A lady sits quietly on a couch as you approach the bartender. Drop your weapon as he will not serve you until you do so. It is best to listen as you need his help or at least the liquid courage he can provide. This drink is free as is the first drink of every run.
Each type of liquor provides a passive buff and there are over 100 in-game including a chance to splatter enemies when kicking them, a chance at firing two bullets instead of one every time you pull the trigger or having explosive barrels spawn in rooms. You get to choose from 3 and you will be hard-pressed to see a repeat combination as you start anew.
There are no more friendly faces in the rooms to follow. Your goal is to clear the floor and make it to the next room by any means necessary. The obvious way would be just to shoot them all. You begin with a rifle but enemy weapons are fair game once they die. Weapons range from pistols and rifles to automatic shotguns and assault rifles. You may also find grenades and kunai amidst the blood and bodies.
Inevitably, you will favor a weapon or two (shotgun for me) but your best bet is to just use what is available. New guns are always fully loaded and every second counts. Shoot first then scavenge. Reloading is possible but enemies do not care for a fair fight. When all else fails, kick them. Better yet, kick closed doors into them.
Oh right, bullet time. In addition to all the weaponry at your disposal, you have an ability called Focus. Focus allows you to slow down time. This can be used to get a jump on enemies or get to safety quickly to reload or formulate a new plan of attack. Focus is not unlimited but recharges relatively quickly so do not wait for the right opportunity to use it. Nothing beats kicking in a door and taking out three enemies before they even turn around, maybe even doing so as you slide across a table.
Sliding and diving/rolling out of the way provides some invulnerability but it can only be done for so long. Do it, reposition, and get back to work.
If you do manage to survive a few rooms, you can catch your breath back in The Infinite Foyer. This time, drinks are not free but you will have picked up coins from all the enemies you left dead and/or splattered. How much coin is entirely up to your playstyle. As you go on your murderous rampage, a combo meter builds up. The higher the multiplier, the more coins drop. Your combo will drop off with inactivity so it would be best to keep moving, with or without focus. Obviously, the downside is that if you are not super accurate, you can easily die while focus recharges. On the flip side, you can carefully clear each room waiting for the focus meter to refill. Your combo multiplier will be lower meaning fewer coins drop BUT you have a higher chance of survival. If the barkeep has nothing of interest, chat up the lady on the couch. She can restock the bar with newer items, but you will have to invest more coins to unlock these spirits. This can be done over multiple runs. Feel free to save coins for your next visit if there was a more expensive drink to purchase but remember when you die, you lose all of your hard-earned blood money.
If you are looking to make things interesting, talk to the nun before you start a run. The who?
The nun allows you to customize your loadout. Only pistols? Done. Everything but assault rifles? Why not? Just remember, this affects both you and the enemy. If you choose to only use shotguns, the enemies will only be equipped with shotguns. I rarely used pistols but I found taking out enemies with them easier so it was a tough call to have them or leave them out of a run.
OTXO is a fast-paced shooter with tons of replayability. There was a slight learning curve but you will enjoy mastering your craft. Warning: one more run may turn into a marathon gaming session if you are not careful. Do not miss out on this highly stylized shooter.
