Stepping into Oblivion Override can initially be a bit daunting. Your first run is presented without backstory, access to your home base, or an explanation for why you’re here. This sort of gaming cold open is fairly common for the roguelike genre, which likes to throw you into the action and let you see how far you can get before giving you some guidance.
Despite this, Oblivion Override can feel overwhelming. There are a lot of concepts thrown at you, with a variety of weapon and mech skills, a handful of currencies, and a lot of mechanics to figure out. You probably won’t fully begin to understand until you’re a few runs deep. Some things went unexplained, like weapon XP and some of the interactive areas in the home base, that I didn’t figure out until 10+ deaths into the game.
It isn’t the most helpful when the game tries to explain something to you. Unfortunately, Oblivion Override suffers from some shoddy localization that can make it hard to understand the presented information. This isn’t so bad in dialogue, which can be awkward to read, but it still more or less conveys a story and each character’s personality. However, in tooltips for unlockable buffs and weapon skills, things can, at times, be a bit confusing. Trial and error is your best bet to figure things out.
I touched on this before, but be sure you’ve explored 100% of your home base before you head out. It took me way too long to find the rooms where you access different mechs and persistent stat upgrades, which are both super important to a run.
Though these issues in the presentation make trial and error a necessary part of learning the ins and outs of Oblivion Override, you certainly won’t be having a bad time learning things firsthand. In my humble opinion, Oblivion Override is nothing but solid when it comes to gameplay, making for a truly spectacular entry in the roguelike genre you won’t soon forget.
Combat in Oblivion Override is smooth and satisfying. Each of the 20+ weapons you discover has its own attack patterns, unique attacks when jumping, statistics, and upgrades that synergize with your builds to make for exciting and very non-repetitive gameplay, encouraging you to switch things up occasionally. Each weapon also comes with its own unique special move that can greatly change how you approach combat, being much more than just extra damage attacks.
Weapons will level up when you find grindstones or discover a higher rarity version of another weapon. This increases each weapon’s damage output and the passive skills assigned to them. Buffs like extra damage to bosses or synergy with certain special moves can be the incentive to swap out your starter or hang on to it in the face of higher rarity weapons, playing the long game to find an upgrade for your solid piece of gear.
The entire mech can be changed out to add depth to your build if you want to take customization even further. A staggering number of playable characters are available, presented as mech bodies you can download your brain into, and each one comes with two unique abilities and a wealth of custom upgrades to be discovered each run. Each one plays differently and is unlocked through meaningful interaction with the characters you discover on your quest to decipher the Oblivion Code.
This addicting gameplay is paired with great presentation, with the whole game having a super unique look that I never get tired of goggling at. From flashy combos to interesting backdrops and fun character designs, Oblivion Override knocks it out of the park with its looks. Pair this with its solid soundtrack, and you’ve got a game that really flexes on you in its presentation. I was particularly fond of the song that plays in the home base, which has a mellow vibe that sort of resets your brain after a long run gone bad.
I’m not sure if this will track with readers, but the game’s style and looks remind me of something you might see in an original Jetix cartoon back in the 2010s. Some underrated mech cartoon that swapped between 2D and 3D on a whim and was never forgotten by die-hard fans. At least, that’s the nostalgic vibe I was getting from it.
If there’s one thing I could change about Oblivion Override, it would probably be some of the enemy’s attack patterns.
This may be a skill issue, but I ran into plenty of foes in my time with Oblivion Override that had attacks I simply could not avoid. This is with the game’s generous dodge feature, which allows you to bypass damage with invincibility frames during your dodge. It was not a matter of this ability not working properly, but rather, some animations simply didn’t read properly as attacks to me or seemed to have hitboxes outside of their sprites.
This wasn’t a big deal with your usual enemies, whom I could brush off a few heavy hits from and keep slugging. However, certain boss fights, namely the one in the underground arena, had attacks that I simply could not process in time to dodge. This especially became a problem when the enemy used these abilities multiple times in a row, nuking my health bar as I stood there dumbfounded by the attack.
At times, I felt the screen zoomed out too much to accommodate giant bosses, making it hard to track where I was in a mess of attacks and often taking damage I feel I wouldn’t have if I knew where I was. Alas, this may, again, just be a skill issue, and the only solution might just be for me to ‘get good.’
The Final Word
Oblivion Override is my newest roguelike obsession. Though not without its troubles and with a seemingly unintentional learning curve, the game stands out with its exciting combat, huge depth of customization, and fantastic presentation.
8
Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Oblivion Override is available on Steam.