Oblivion Override PC Review – An Arcade Styled Roguelike with Some Modern Finesse.
It’s not every day a new indie game studio like Humble Mill releases such an excellent first major release. That first major release being Oblivion Override, an interesting and actually quite addictive 2D roguelike hack n’ slash that has you explore a world where mechs and all things mechanical reign supreme.
As we mentioned before, Oblivion Override is Humble Mill’s very first game and very surprisingly, it would also appear to be publisher Paleo’s second release after the pixel open-world RPG Hero’s Adventure. As for Humble Mill themselves, they are a video game developer whose headquarters are located in Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China and was founded back in 2016. Since then, nothing much has really come from the studio except for their debut release, Jiu Li and Oblivion Override.
In Oblivion Override, we play as the robot warrior, Crimson, whose iron feet must venture forth into the Dulce Base on a quest to try to uncover the mystery of the elusive Oblivion Code. However, her journey is not going to be easy, and she must uncover the secret, no matter how many lives or reboots it takes.
When you boot up the game, you are immediately thrown straight into combat and gameplay, which is something that others of the roguelike genre, such as Have A Nice Death, like to do. This also serves as the game’s tutorial, which is honestly a rather brutal tutorial at that. Despite the suddenness, you will soon pick up the basics of controls, enemy types and abilities. Oblivion Override is definitely a lot more beginner friendly and you’ll definitely get the hang of the game’s control. Just make sure your timing is correct, as it plays a vital part not just in combat but also in movement.
However, if you mess up and Crimson’s health bar reaches zero, Crimson then collapses and explodes into a cloud of pink, green and blue particles. Game Over… Or is it? Again, Oblivion Override is a roguelike, meaning that death is just the beginning. When you die, you will return to your main hub. This also serves as a place where you can plan out your next run, which is surprisingly in-depth.
Unlike in other roguelikes, where you can only change your loadout and starting items, Oblivion Override offers you a much larger range of customization. You can completely change your loadout, buffs, bonuses and other perks. You change these by using the different types of in-game currency.
One thing you’ll enjoy about Oblivion Override is its sheer amount of flexibility. Choosing what you start with isn’t the only form of customization you can get. These starting options are only the base that the evolutions or upgrades work off of. What types of evolutions you get are completely random.
So you can’t really plan ahead and should instead choose evolutions that work with what you have in that particular run. An important thing to note is that occasionally you will get free evolutions that don’t cost any nanites to acquire. It’s a bit of a risk vs. reward scenario, but it’s one that will often work in your favor.
As for what Nanites are, they are one of the three different types of energy you acquire through slaying enemies. Nanites are purple and are used to unlock your evolutions, the script is blue and is used to buy upgrades from the shop and finally, the green energy is used to unlock your permanent passive abilities. These passives, as their titles say, are permanent and do not change from run to run, and do make the game noticeably easier once you unlock them.
In Oblivion Override, you will have access to a rather impressive variety of weapons. These weapons all come with their own unique traits and abilities, meaning you are honestly spoiled for choice when it comes to playstyles. Do keep in mind that it is highly recommended that you occasionally switch up your play style, as different enemies require different techniques if you want to beat them. However, don’t simply toss your old weapon and leave it to rust; instead, disintegrate your old weapon and combine it with your new one.
Oblivion Override is filled to the brim with interesting characters that make up its cast. Despite the world being entirely robotic, each character feels unique and full of life. You will even occasionally meet other characters while you explore the world, and they will add their own unique services to your hub world as long as you complete their necessary side quest.
On the game’s Steam page, Humble Mill mentions that they took heavy inspiration from the Castlevania game series, and this is present in the game’s levels and levels layout, but a very obvious inspiration from Dead Cells, another roguelike with a very similar art style to Oblivion Override. It could be said that the game is a Dead Cells spiritual successor, and it definitely shows in terms of its gameplay. That’s not to say that the game can’t stand on its own. It definitely can. It just means that fans of Dead Cells definitely have another game to give a try if they want to scratch that Dead Cells itch.
Probably the most notable Dead Cells Similarity is with the game’s bosses. The bosses themselves are definitely a challenge and really test a player’s build to see how well prepared they are. The bosses also vary greatly from one another and all act extremely differently. One boss is your standard beat it till it’s dead and then the next is a bullet hell monstrosity that would make Sans from Undertale blush. They truly test players’ capabilities and are incredibly satisfying to beat.
Speaking of art style, it is just dripping with style. With the vibrant, almost neon colours of Crimson contrasting with the levels that all have their own signature colour, you never lose sight of her and she never gets mixed up with enemies in combat. The art style is also very reminiscent of comics as the characters have very noticeable outlines and shadows that make it seem as if they have been drawn with ink and pen.
Up until now, we have kind of been avoiding a major fact about the game, and that’s with how impressive Oblivion Override is, even if the game is only still an early access title. That’s right. This is only a fraction of the full game and only a small amount of what’s planned for the game. So far, Oblivion Override definitely has promise and there is definitely a bright future for the game’s developers.
Overall, Oblivion Override, despite still being an early access title, is one phenomenal game. The game provides you with enough difficulty to be somewhat easy in the beginning but also gives you enough of a challenge to keep you hooked. The game gives you a wide variety of options in terms of playstyles and lets you adjust everything to your liking.
