Developer: Team Oneshot
Publisher: Degica
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
OneShot – Review
If you had one shot, one opportunity, will you capture it or let it slip? You are the chosen one, brought here by an unknown force, to bring back the light that has been long gone. A world that is in rapid decayand struggles to keep existing with the sun missing and mysterious squares that eat everything. You have found a solution for the problem, but will this be enough?
Story
Your name is Niko, you are a cat like humanoid that wakes up in a dark room. Without much information you step towards a computer, which identifies itself as ‘the entity’. It informs you that you are the prophet and you will be guided by a god. This is quite an unbelievable story and Niko wonders how this being will reach out to him. To help you on your quest, the entity tells our feline friend the name of the God, how to get in contact and his name is you (the game uses your windows username as name).This makes the game feel more personal, as you and Niko grow a personal bond throughout the story.During your search for the exit you find a simple light bulb, that from the moment you touch it begins to shine. At first you are amazed but you don’t realize that the simple light bulb is part of something bigger.
As you work your way out there will be a robot waiting specifically for you in the center of the town. He foresaw the revelation and tells you the story of what happened to this world, however he is not clear about every fact. He is very clear about one thing: the light bulb is very special and is the start to restore the light in the world. Further interaction with other characters gives you a better insight about this realm and what happened in the past. This does give you both sides of the coin: you can rescue this world, but bringing the sun back alone won’t make everything better right away. What choice lies ahead in this story and will you discover the truth? Although there was great potential to implement more background information into the game, this has been limited for the moment, meaning that the story will leave you with some question marks.
Graphics
When describing the art style of OneShot: two things come in mind. First of all the graphics are pixel artwhere the pixels are clearly visible and the game exploits this with various block puns. This comes alive in the nicely made world that knows how to bring atmosphere to the player: while the Barrows is a godforsaken place with not much to see, the Glen gives a lively vibe with people and cattle that roam the lands, while the Refuge has the initial feel of a worry free environment but looks may deceive.
Secondly all the cut scenes are beautiful slideshows made out of artwork that knows how to tell a story without using words. No speech or text is present in these, but you perfectly know what’s going on and what the game is telling you.
In the beginning it is mentioned that the game is best played in windowed mode, this is because the fourth wall breakings mostly happen outside the game. This will be explained later in the gameplay section. If you however prefer to play in full screen you will notice that both quality in windowed mode as full-screen is similar.
Sound
The first thing noticeable about this game is its perfect melodic soundtrack. It gives you a soothing feeling of security while in the back of your mind you know it isn’t safe. Every region has its own background music to set the mood straight. To add into the immersion we can count on the many sound effects embedded into the game: while walking on various grounds the sound will change accordingly to the material of the surface.
A craftsmanship long gone is that of confirmation music, luckily this makes a return in OneShot. What it does is exactly as its name implies: a returning melody is played when you complete a goal of your main quest, giving you a feeling that your objective is nearing completion.
Gameplay
OneShot is a 2D puzzle game that incorporates fourth wall breaking techniques in order to bring the player closer to the character and help solving puzzles. The first notice is that of the character communicating right at you since you are the “God” and he is the prophet. You guide Niko through the landscapes and through the ruins of the civilization, searching for items to use and to combine. While most puzzles are straightforward thinking, there are a few that either need to be solved by using notes found lying around, or by talking to the terminal and thinking “outside the box” utilizing the fourth wallin order to find the required info or changes on your own computer.
Controlling the game is done by either keyboard or gamepad, while the gamepad may be preferred for the easier layout of keys, you will get pretty used to the two button menu layout the game has. Interacting with the people lets you learn more about the world and what happened to it, for as far as you know the sun was gone and then everything started to decay. This is true but there are other problems that the inhabitants face in the region, from flooding and the absence of the sun to mysterious squares eating up everything and being lethal for the remaining humans.
After a few hours you probably have burned throughthe story and while it isn’t mentioned directly in the game,it does have a new game + scenario. This is accessible by opening the mysterious program and following instructions on screen. The new game + offers various new dialogs and some extra interactions, following up from the first session. This makes playing the game over and over again more interesting and uncovers more of the deeply mysterious buried background.
Conclusion
OneShot might be one of the better indie titles released in 2016.With fourth wall breaking being used in a good but sometimes creepy way, gives you a stronger bond with Niko. The story is one that sucks you into the world and makes you care about the inhabitants and what happened to them as you start to get interested about its past and what the future holds. Well you are holding it in your hands and it’s your decision what will happen to it, for that it’s not your home.
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