ODIA

[h1]Overview[/h1] [b]ODIA[/b] is an experimental FPS with a retro-themed dark fantasy style. Players impersonate one of the countless soldiers of the ODIA army, a militaristic force with the objective of conquering the nearby state of Gottheim. Moving down from your flying assault platform, you will have to navigate trenches, bunkers and minefields with the objective of destroying the Shield Crystal. 🟩 [b]The Good Side[/b] [list] [*][b]Pawns in the Grand Scheme of Things[/b] If there's one thing ODIA does really well, is conveying the atmosphere of a besieged city, desperately defending itself against an overwhelming force. Alongside your fellow soldiers endlessly coming down your mother-ship, you'll storm beaches, liberate bunkers, avoid minefields and take on the armies of Gottheim, less numerous but with superior technology. Once inside the town, civilians are desperately running, caught in the crossfire - bodies of allies and foes strewn everywhere like a grim blanket. An ominous fog and murky climate complete this grim depiction of war. [/list] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2225475495 🟥 [b]The Bad Side[/b] [list] [*][b]Good Concept Terrible Execution: The Game[/b] ODIA tries really hard to set itself apart from other FPS. To do so, it introduces unique (and bizarre) mechanics in its combat system. It is so apart from the genre, I would not call it an old-school FPS but rather an experimental proof of concept. The way such mechanics are implemented and actually play out is nothing short of a train wreck however. More details are in the Combat section in the In Depth section, however suffice to say this is one of the most badly designed FPS i have ever played in 20 years. [*][b]Dammit, I lost my Keys![/b] In order to progress you will have to find Wraithkeys, that open gates barring further sections of Gottheim. If you are killed while carrying one of them, you can pick it back up at your next respawn, if you're lucky. The problem is, these keys tend to disappear or glitch inside walls, both things happened in my playthrough, and without them it is impossible to progress eventually, as all ways will be locked. The lack of save/reload functions and a permanent world state mean if this happens, you are stuck forever. [*][b]Not enough Bang for your Bucks[/b] Variety and content amount are serious issues in ODIA. While enemy variety is acceptable, you will have the same gun for the whole game - an unsatisfying purple peashooter. While there are some Easter eggs to find for achievements, there are no health pickups, secrets or anything gameplay-changing to find across the various sections - exploration is often underwhelming, boring and useless. The game lasts only a couple of hours, with no replay value, if you manage to finish it without getting bugged as I have. [/list] [h3]Rating: Terrible[/h3] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1989090445]Click here for the complete Rating Chart[/url] [i]It takes just a couple of hours (2-3) to finish the game, there are no difficult levels. No replay value. For the current price of 8,19€, with severely flawed gameplay, I do not recommend purchasing at this time.[/i] [quote]Liked this review, and want to see more of the same quality? Check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39323490]Tamaster's Review Archive[/url] to see all my Reviews in a single, convenient location.[/quote] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2225475800 [h1]In-Depth Breakdown[/h1] 🎮 [b]Gameplay Analysis[/b] Gameplay is divided into Exploration and Combat. [b]Exploration[/b] Is performed on foot, at an abysmally slow pace I have to add. You'll traverse caves, bunkers, buildings and forests, some of them having environmental hazards such as minefields or artillery barrages. While exploring there is nothing to look out for, except for the Wraithkeys, essential to open Gates which allow progressing to more advanced areas. Checkpoints are purple circles on the ground, and will move your Mothership there, setting your Respawn point and calling in endless allies to help you. An awkward dodge-roll can be used to traverse small gaps or avoid threats, the absence of fall damage in most areas will play to your advantage in some cases. If you happen to die, you will respawn at the last checkpoint, and have to backtrack whatever way you were heading - with the walk speed we have here, believe me, it's a real chore. [b]Combat[/b] Is without doubt where ODIA gets completely totaled as far as game design goes. The premise of this system is offering a slower, methodical approach to Retro FPS, by introducing mechanics like Shield Blocking, lack of aiming functions, and purposefully overpowered enemies. Good premise, but terribly executed. In practice, hitting any target on medium-long distances will require many shots from your low-damage weapon, while all enemies have pinpoint accuracy and automatic weapons. The lack of any aiming mechanic is crippling and makes any ranged fight a "toss the coin" game. Your shield in theory is used to block bullets, and sometimes it does work just fine, while sometimes it simply does not. The unreliability of this mechanic is tremendous, and will get you killed more times than it saves you. Enemies are smart enough to stop shooting at you if you raise your shield, to then shoot immediately if you try to turn - with a speed far too high for you to land even a single hit on them. Whatever the thought process behind this system was, it does not work, and makes the shooting / gunplay one of the worst I have ever experienced without fail. The combat is completely revolutionary for the genre, sure, but not in a good way. It's simply not fun, and not what anything remotely called "Retro FPS" should be. Not in a million years. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2225475908 [h2]Technical Breakdown[/h2] [u]PC Specs: RTX2080Ti, Ryzen 3900X, 32GB RAM DDR4[/u] [list] [*][b]Critical Problems[/b] Game breaking bugs can occur. [*][b]Optimization[/b] Resource usage is within expected parameters. [*][b]Performance[/b] Runs without issues in 1440p, 85Hz. [*][b]Bugs[/b] Game breaking bugs can occur. [*][b]Other Issues[/b] None. [/list] [i]This game was reviewed using a free key[/i]

[h1]Introduction[/h1] With such a title, I pretty much knew what to expect even before I booted up ODIA. An intentional adaptation of the word “hate” in Spanish and Italian (odio), though the Latin “odium” would have suited this game far better. For which classic civilization was (mis)shaped by hubris & hatred more than the ever-expanding Roman Republic and its subsequent Empire? Greed will only take you so far unless you “wrap it up” in a more presentable manner for the uneducated masses. War declarations need a pretext, a “casus belli” which is invoked before the invasion and occupation of foreign territories. Cultural superiority (perceived or realistic) along with the illusion of embarking on a mission to civilize and enlighten, were main driving forces behind most Roman conquests in Antiquity. Once you’ve bit more than you can chew, the downfall is only a matter of time though. The Steam debut for Captain Bear Games who also self-published ODIA, leaves players to form their own impressions while offering an open-ended approach to both the storyline and the gameplay. [h1]Story [/h1] It’s hard to sympathize with raiding barbarians even as they’re defending their homesteads, yet ODIA has actually reversed roles here as you’re representing the attacking hordes, seemingly endless and without proper leadership. The defenders seem to be a pseudo-medieval society which mixes explosives and firearms with half-plate armor and the occasional sword or halberd. The entire narrative is open to debate as the developer opted for no context at all. Not even a static screen explaining some basic concepts or motivations. We’re roleplaying the “demonic forces” assaulting a heavily defended town, in hopes of capturing its landmark cathedral for some sinister reason. The word “odia” is appearing in-game as graffiti claiming that it’s somehow linked to fascism. Very random if you ask me. The faction you’re apart of, resembles the Tusken Raiders from the Star Wars franchise far more than an organized fascist army (discipline being one of its main ideological tenets). https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2167770839 And just like those nomadic Sand People, your only offensive option is represented by a slow-firing rifle that’s both inaccurate and underpowered when compared to the arsenal of the defending forces. Sniper rifles, machine guns and mortars on top of the barbed wire fences and minefields which make the initial advancement extremely difficult and quite deadly. Don’t despair, since one of the key elements to the story is represented by the infinite number of respawns for players and friendly-AI, while the enemy cannot regenerate troops at all. One unsuccessful wave after another shall be obliterated before the defenses are finally penetrated and your hordes can descend upon the helpless civilians, apparently abandoned by the armed forces which should have sheltered them. It paints a grim picture and it also exemplifies the pragmatic concept of “collateral damage” perceived by the executive branch regardless on which side of the fence it’s situated on. Slaughtering innocents during a siege is a war crime by any other definition. Even if you won’t partake in this directly, your dumber-than-a-brick allies will gladly kill any civilians they find. The irony of it all is that this semi-useless friendly AI can’t properly support you in the struggle against the armed defenders, yet they’ll “efficiently” terminate targets which can’t shoot back. Truly the only utility of your “allies” is to draw enemy attention unto themselves. They’re cannon fodder, just as intended by whoever sent them into battle ill-prepared and without clear instructions or oversight. An army without officers is far too similar to a mob of frenzied apes than anything else. [h1]Graphics[/h1] This game is using the Unity Engine to showcase its hybrid projection of both 2D sprites and 3D environments. I applaud the decision to appeal towards old-school fans of first person shooters while also presenting something fresh for players which haven’t experienced this graphical transition as it occurred naturally in the late ‘90s. Getting some strong Daggerfall vibes from ODIA. As far as its performance is concerned, it will run smoothly on almost any system as well as properly scaling to your native resolution. Unity standard fare which couldn’t be criticized anyway. No CTDs or frame rate drops to report. [h1]Audio[/h1] Sounds on the other hand, are few and far between a couple of lousy rifle shots from either side or if you’re standing dangerously close towards an incoming mortar shell. No voice acting while the soundtrack would make even looped elevator music seem a masterpiece by comparison. Mute it and listen to whatever you like instead. I went for a recently-discovered subgenre called “bardcore” which fits ODIA’s portrayed absurdity like a custom-tailored glove. Linked below is my favorite animated metaphor on wartime hatred. Irrationality taken to inhumane extremes… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPELcGcVHfU& [h1]Gameplay[/h1] In the absence of a story, the gameplay is forced to compensate. Poorly might I add, since you can interpret far too many elements at the same time. Is the cause just or am I a villain? You’re given no choice in this conflict. Being literally the only intelligent attacker from a horde of hooded barbarians, your faction’s chance of success depends entirely on your shooting and evasion skills. As if the underpowered rifle you’re equipped with wasn’t bad enough, receiving a flimsy shield as a last line of defense only adds insult to the many injuries you’ll sustain. Evading bullets, mines or shells by side-stepping is the main distinction between players and the brain dead AI. No worries if you’ll perish, the respawn is just a couple of seconds away and it’s literally linked to a “mothership” by a long chain which acts as a checkpoint system. Rinse and repeat until you shoot your way to that massive cathedral. Enemy diversity is well represented and will pose a challenge if you impose upon yourself the discipline otherwise lacking in your fellow combatants. Carefully lining up those shots, remaining constantly on the move and using whatever cover you can reach, all represent tactics which offset the technical advantages of your foes. Too bad that you can never pick better weapons or use any sort of power-ups apart from holding the right-click to increase the damage of your obsolete equipment. I feel like the gameplay suffers from stagnation as a result of never advancing your characters abilities. This was intentional too, even if in real warfare it’s perfectly fine to adapt and counter the enemy’s stategy as well as using captured gear if it proves to be superior. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2167770935 [h1]Verdict[/h1] Still gonna recommend this title to any player looking for a deliberately ambiguous scenario that blurs the thin lines of morality between an attacker and a defender. Without proper context or bare minimum narrative elements, ODIA may not cater to a large enough audience though. Picking it up as a nostalgic trip on “Daggerfall with guns”, may still not suffice. A price cut and some further incentives such as Steam Achievements are critically required. The sooner, the better. [h1]Strong Points[/h1] + Challenging gameplay. + Interesting concept regardless of its execution. [h1]Weak Points[/h1] - No Steam Achievements or Trading Cards yet. - Far too ambiguous, offers no context. - Repetitive sounds. [b]Rating 60/100[/b] [quote]This article was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews]Imperial Reviews[/url] through the generous contribution of the game’s developer. Following my [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/25802515-Imperial-Reviews/]Curator Page[/url], will help me keep publishing new reviews as soon as I can. I appreciate your support![/quote]

Odia's striking aesthetic, intriguing concept, and fantastic atmosphere is unfortunately offset by being utterly miserable to play. Odia is trying to capture the feeling of being an expendable grunt, sent to smash in waves against an entrenched foe, so you can expect to die a lot, but that is not what sucks the fun out of it. Your gun is near useless, being difficult to aim (something compounded by having no mouse sensitivity settings), having no real feedback, and taking so many shots to kill an enemy you'd be better of using it as a club. You have a shield, that apparently blocks bullets, but this seems so inconsistent and awkward to use that it wouldn't be much help even if the enemies didn't pepper you with fully automatic fire. There's no button to raise it, so you have to kind of look off into the sky to hold the shield in the way of the enemy attacks. This of course means you're not looking at them, so can't tell if you're blocking the bullets. You'll probably die to a stray shot anyway. You're also quite slow, both in moving and turning, something that makes you even more of a target, and makes getting back to your latest corpse particularly tedious. You can of course hide behind your AI allies, when they aren't getting stuck on something, and plink away at the enemies at range where they are hard to see and harder to hit. A particularly unsatisfying way to play, that perhaps might not have been if the gun wasn't so awful. I wanted to like Odia, since there's some interesting things there, but it eroded any patience I had for it very quickly.

[h1] Game Key provided by the Dev for review! [/h1] ODIA got my attention simply from it's graphics. Invoking the old school aesthetic, I knew this was a game I had to get a hold of and give it a go, and boy was I not disappointed! I don't think I've quite played anything like it. ODIA focuses more on a slower combat and movement to force you to plan out your attacks and pay attention to enemy projectiles. Using your shield to try and block some shots, or using a short dash to get out of the way or behind cover. Inching your way forward through enemy lines to reach the next checkpoint. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2176848608 Armed with only one weapon, the Bone Rifle, that is a charged rife, you must take out the enemies to progress. Now one thing you will notice, is that there is NO crosshair. This is where most of the challenge to the game is, trying to guess where your shot is going to go. Don't think you can just spam shoot to line up your attacks. Each shot has recoil, and the charged shots have lots of recoil, so it will cause your camera to move, and make you re-aim every time. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2176848550 I do like how the shield is not guaranteed to protect you from projectiles. You actually still have to move your shield to block shots, like if it's heading to hit your face, you have to look up and to the right a bit, to simulate bringing your shield up to your face to block the shot. This makes combat more hectic and stressful at the same time when you try so hard to not takes hits or die, and you will die lots. You can only take a few hits, or one hit from a sniper. Thankfully you don't have to worry too much as you will come back. You can die as many times as you want, there is no penalty. You can litter the ground with your corpses across the battlefields. It's awesome! The problem is that means there is no fail state. You can't really "lose" at ODIA. Your army can't be defeated or run out of units, so there is no real urgency in being careful. The only way you lose is to quit the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2176848632 The level is also quite open as well. There is multiple paths you can take. There was a few places that I did have such a hard time, as you were stuck having to go through a small doorway, and multiple enemies were sitting there and would kill you every time. It was that reason that I could not go through the sewer area as I would just get killed every time I even tried to poke my head in. The other issue I had was since the movement is so slow, when you die you can spawn back pretty far, then takes you a few min to walk all the way back to where you just were. Thankfully the Dev is talking about improving that in a future patch. There also seems to be mouse acceleration, so the mouse feels "floaty" when you are looking around/aiming, and you can't disable it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2176848738 In the end, after a few hours to complete it was still a ton of fun to play through! That leads me to the final complaint. I think the asking price might be a tad too high. The asking price of CDN$ 14.49 is really steep for such a short experience, especially for something that maybe not everyone would enjoy. Do I still recommend it? You bet your ars I do! If the price point feels too high, I easily recommend checking it out when it goes on a sale! I do look forward to see what the Dev does with this. Will they expand on it more, or go on to make an even bigger game? [h1] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32912601-Aythadis/] My Currator Page for My Other Reviews! [/url] [/h1]

It's not a shooter. If you're in for some run&gun action then please skip and move along. Odia has been a short, unique and enjoyable experience for me. It's essentially a lo-fi walking simulator with elements of shooting. Many of the negative reviews are somewhat correct in the description of the Odia's core mechanics but assume that the very slow and deliberate combat, movement and instant death are an accident. Instead it's a design decision where the combat really resembles a game of chess. You and your enemies move very slowly and the shooting part requires you to quickly pick up skill of aiming without a crosshair (you know, like in real life?) and using your shield correctly. Most of the commentators indicating shooting/shield is janky/broken actually failed to take time to practice and develop those skills - necessary to progress - apparently jumping in hoping for a classic shooter. I've got a strong feeling the both difficult movement and tedious combat are specifically meant to discourage you. You really need to put the effort in to progress and this has been part of the experience for me. The game make the protagonist body uncomfortable and inefficient, cheap and expendable. Yet, with the slow movement comes the penalty of being reckless and dying, having to traverse the map from the last checkpoint. Once you command your weapon and shield well you pretty much traverse the environment, a fantasy world/planet being invaded by a dark force. You're one of the infinite grunts storming the human stronghold wave after wave. You're expendable and so are the defenders. What matters is your mission. But is it? All this makes you pay attention to your surrounding, scouting for enemies. Soldiers with automatic weaponry, snipers, mobile mortar units, all can kill you with just a couple of rounds. As you walk around you're naturally taking in the surroundings. Sounds of distant shelling and people dying set against birds and waves of the nearby shores. Wind and bushes and tree moving. As you're walking your new shell to where you died last you start to wonder as to where exactly are you, why are you storming this place, who are the people you're killing. Who you are yourself. You're passing fields where these people have been growing their food, beaches where they had been sunbathing, temples where they prayed in peace. There is a family hut at the cliffs, not empty and devastated. The peasant you just killed was probably the head of the family defending his means of leaving. Now the lifeless bodies are laying beneath your feet killed by friendly fire of thei soldiers' own mortars trying the defend the city. Why? The environment is very simple, most objects except for characters are 2d sprites along with most of the walls and vegetation. The low-res filter you see on the screenshots can be disabled if that' not something you like. Once disabled however seams across the scenery are visible. Separately, there are some scripting bugs if you traverse the environment in ways the devs didn't foresee. I think the QA suffered greatly from low interest originally and too few people reporting bugs. It's very clear it's a low-budget effort, end credits mention a number of sources for free assets and non-commercial tools used for producing the game. For me it was completely adequate to the themes and atmosphere built and did not detract from the experience in any way. All in all, an interesting and unique 1-2h short story about freedom, diversity and senselessness of war. I hope the devs will decide to open-source the game or some of it so volunteers can fix some of the texture mismatches in the environment (for those who disable the low-res filter) or the occasional scripting issue. Well done and thank you.

ODIA is a grim game where you play as an endless invading army. Who you're invading or why is not made clear. You control one soldier at a time. When you inevitably perish, you spawn as a new soldier freshly arrived at the drop zone. Your enemy is stronger than you in every way, but you have the numbers. Although advancing is like going through a meat grinder, you will succeed as long as you endure. When an enemy soldier falls, they are gone for good. When you fall, there's always another body to take your place. There's a dark satisfaction to whittling down the enemy bit by bit, and seeing the carnage you've created as you make your way back to the front lines.

A slow, trudging, sometimes irritating experience, but definitely an interesting game. Odia appeared before me after looking into the developer of Anopek (A superior GBA style FPS game), and after a moment of hesitation I bought it not sure what to expect. This game has zero youtube presence, and I've never heard of it from anyone ever, and after installing it I was met with the worst beach sequence in any game ever. You drop out of a starfish, walk forward, realize the only buttons you have are move, dash, and shoot, and die. This repeats until you inevitably give up. Probably a year later I came back, and in two sittings managed to beat the entire thing. Story: You are a soldier of ODIA, a facist nation(?) with unknown reasons to be doing this conquest. The Odia are powerful allegedly but in game your main resource is the amount of corpses you can sling. There is zero penalty for dying but your time. Your enemy is a nation of regular humans using hybrid Knight-WW1 equipment and some brutal accuracy. Every unit of theirs is elite. Gameplay: This is the main draw of Odia and also somehow its biggest negative, some parts of this page and the developer page describe this like its a retro FPS game with lots of powerful weapons. This is entirely wrong, you are slow as dirt and your weapon is weak unless charged. You have no crosshair, a dash, and a shield in your left hand. This shield is bolted in place and has to be held facing the bullets to SOMETIMES block them. The whole game is basically a challenge of patience and accuracy with the weapon you have. There are some AI exploits to make the game easier but its best discovered on your own. Hiding behind corners is your best friend if you get past the beach. What started off as an annoying game became what I can only describe as a self imposed challenge. Like Getting Over it but in FPS format. It's not-not worth playing but its not worth playing. Numericals: 3/10 shooting, its at least got a level of strategy to it and you get good at aiming eventually. 4/10 Game, has some good ideas but probably needed to be refined or iterated on to be truly good. A slow, tedious if not short experience worth looking into for its environment and if you want a game with mechanics not seen anywhere else. Sadly can't recommend for the average person, if steam had a middle hand it would get that.

First of all I wanna say this is not an old school fps despite in the store page it reads: "... hardcore retro FPS inspired by early first-person shooter games." In fact the only real similarity it has is the look of a 90s shooter. That's it. There is just a single weapon (which you can charge up) (and a shield), unlimited ammo, no quicksaves, basically open world. Despite that the game is still quite bad imo. Let me tell you why: -incredibly low walking speed, thank god you can dash every few seconds, without that it would be even worse -no visible crosshair even though you really need it, so I used a programm to get one -you die from like 3 bullets or one missile, while the regular enemies fire in full auto and can kill you in a blink of an eye -your weapon does so little damage and has so little range -the shield often feels useless: you can't use the shield in front of you, like you know you could in every RPG, instead it's just at your left arm which means you have to turn around your character to be protected from the front, which makes it very impractible and often it doesn't block bullets it should -this all means you die over and over, tho luckily, if you die, you respawn at your latest spawnpoint (there are a few areas in the game, each has a spawnpoint which you have to reach to "unlock it") and the progress you made till this point is not lost, so basically you kill one or two enemies, die, then go back to that area, kill some more, die again, live, die, repeat. I wouldn't mind this system that much if I wouldn't die that much and that the walking speed is super slow -bugs, I found two game breaking bugs, both tho "fixed" by restarting the game and restarting at the latest spawnpoint: first one which I only encountered once was that some part of the map I went through previously all went like invisible and when I went through it, I feel through the map; the second bug was way worse: basically you have to find three blood runes to get to the end of the game, but there were first simply not there for me. I also read that another person also had that problem and said restarting the game fixed it for him. So yeah, it also worked for me. And I got that bug twice, really annoying stuff, especially if you don't know where the blood runes are so supposed to be. I knew it bc I used a guide, so I immediatly knew and restarted the game. But if you don't know you will just walk aimlessly walk around the whole map and wondering where they are. Is it all bad? No, of course not. What I liked: -the overall setting that you are a solider in some sort of facism regime and invade some poor guys, so basically you play as the vilain -also the mix of like a fantasy, medival and like ww1 world -the astethics of the game, especially enemy design -I also don't mind the overall structure of the game, which is like I said basically a little open world, where there are some locked gates and you have to find keys to open them which you get by killing a certain (random !?) enemy in each of the ereas of the map and then have to find the cathedral and the three blood runes to open it which is the last part of the game. Only play it, if you don't mind a more experimental game (which isn't a bad thing at all), a combat system which doesn't work how it should, dying very often and super slow movement speed.

Folks might be turned off by the lack of crosshairs and slow movement speed out of combat, but for those willing to put up with these flaws, you might enjoy this brief, unique shooter.

I enjoyed the retro-looking aesthetic and the novelty of playing as one of the grunts in an endless legion of invaders. I'd love to see the idea expanded on and whole-heartedly support the developer. Looking forward to more!