Games worth discovering

Oblivion Override blends Dead Cells and anime mechs into an action roguelite that’s worth your time

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Oblivion Override

ActionRoguelikeHack And SlashCyberpunk

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SHOULD I PLAY OBLIVION OVERRIDE?

Yeah, this game rocks. Definitely play Oblivion Override if you’re a fan of action roguelikes, especially Dead Cells. This is a game that understands what made Dead Cells so engaging, with a combination of snappy platforming and loads of customization options between runs. After playing the demo, I immediately rushed back to the Steam Store to buy the full version—that hasn’t happened in a while!

TIME PLAYED

I’ve played about two hours of Oblivion Override, split between the demo and the full version. The demo includes the first area and boss, and it took me about three attempts to take him down, which was as far as I could go in the demo. I’ve now reached the second boss in the full version and nearly defeated him, and I’ve unlocked a dozen or so new skills back at my robot’s home base, where a strange mad scientists spends his days watching television while the companions I’ve rescued on various runs keep themselves busy selling weapon upgrades and new level features for me to purchase.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT OBLIVION OVERRIDE?

• Combat is great. My mech’s moves were deceptively simple: I had a standard light attack, a heavy “weapon skill,” plus a charge attack mapped to my controller’s B button. Once I started combining those with my dash and jump abilities, I found that each weapon I used had a whole bunch of additional moves to pull out in special circumstances—an airborne drill attack with my spear, for instance. After starting out with a fairly standard spear, I found some neat new weapons like a pair of rocket-propelled fists, quick-striking daggers, and a combat wok that sent a flaming ball of grease bouncing between enemies.

• Movement is slick too. The air-dash (mapped to my controller’s right trigger) and wall-run are remarkably versatile and easy to use in Oblivion Override, and they chain together with other moves to create a robust set of actions that feel great to pull off. I used the dash constantly, whether I was avoiding charging enemies, phasing through energized obstacles, or chaining it with jumps to move up to a higher platform. Platformers can sometimes be frustrating when jumps and dashes don’t quite match with what you’re expecting, but Oblivion Override has them nailed.

• The bosses are cool. Both bosses I encountered in Oblivion Override were big set-piece battles. The first was a giant construction robot that tried to stomp on me before grabbing a piece of girder off the ground and swinging it around and smashing it into the ground. The second fight took place in an underground robot fight club, and the boss attacked with the electrified power plugs he has for arms. Both bosses looked extremely cool and transitioned to a second phase when I’d whittled away half their health. They weren’t overly punishing, and I just had a great time every time I started one of their fights.

• The art style is great. I’d describe Oblivion Override’s visual style as a hyper-detailed cyberpunk spin on Steamworld Dig. Things are still somewhat cartoony, but there’s an anime-inspired flourish to the character designs and animation that I liked a lot.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN OBLIVION OVERRIDE?

• The story. It’s really not a major complaint at all, but I had a hard time understanding what was supposed to be going on in Oblivion Override. Characters are pretty cryptic and assume you already know where you are and what’s happening in the world. I have to admit that I didn’t pay close attention, and I don’t think it matters all that much, but it would be nice to see a good edit pass done on all the dialogue and flavor text.

• Upgrades can be a little dull. I thought the weapon selection was decent, but the individual upgrades I got throughout each run could be boring: marginal improvements to things like critical rates and skill cooldowns, stuff like that. There are interesting synergies that emerged when I picked the correct types of upgrades, but I didn’t think this was explained well enough.