Game Review: OneShot
17/12/2016
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By James Lees
There's a growing trend that I'm in favor of. It's small indie gems from places like 'Kongregate' being polished up and released onto steam. In a store that's being increasingly filled with rubbish, it helps people support truly great developers. OneShot was created in RPG maker in just under a month and was originally released over two years ago online but after a quick polish up its now been released to a wider audience on steam.
The game follows the adventures of Niko as he is transported to a new world and is shocked to find that he is supposed to restore the sun to the dying worlds lead by the god -insert your name here-. A fairly generic setup but when I say "your name" I really do mean it. This is a game that's going to directly involve you. I won't go into too much detail to try and maintain the mystery but this is a game that talks to you directly. It's not a game that you can play passively because you really are dragged in and involved in the story.
As previously mentioned the game is made in RPG Maker but unlike so many games made this way it has its own unique and beautiful art style. It's tonally perfect and manages to balance a sense of wonder with a creeping dread over the dying land. The pixel art can be somewhat simplistic but it manages to make a detailed world and the cutscene images show a depth to the design of the world and make the characters you interact with even more lovable.
Kinda but not really spoiler ahead
One disappointment the game has is a feature that didn't translate over from the original. The title of the game was also an instruction. You get one shot. Originally if you quit before completing your adventure you'd load back up again to find that you had failed and the game was unplayable and upon completing it you couldn't play it again. An interesting concept but one that didn't carry over to the steam version. The reason for this is fairly obvious. If you've paid for it, you might not be happy to find that you now can't play it. It doesn't massively impact the overall experience but it does take away from some of the tension and finality that came from the original.
End of kinda but not really spoiler
All in all, OneShot is a short, cute and interesting game that's both relaxing and somewhat challenging. It does things that few others have done and whilst it's very experimental it remains a fantastic experience that I would recommend to any lover of new and interesting things.
Score: 5/5
Disclaimer: The review key for this product was provided free of charge.