Recent reviews by RCL

Best video game. Ever.

I played Toren only once, but over the years since then I listened to the OST numerous times. I always enjoy it, when one of its tracks shuffles itself into my ears.

43 tracks, total duration of 01:28:34.
FLAC: 506 MB, 44100 Hz, 32 bit/sample, Stereo.
MP3: 202 MB, 44100 Hz, 32 bit/sample, Stereo, 320 kB/s.

TLDR: Awesome.

In the same league as Journey, Flower, Abzû, and RiME.
Beautiful graphics, astonishing music, fluid controls and a cute companion.
And that all was made by only one developer (+1 composer for the soundtrack).

I finished Omno about 18 20 times by now and ain't bored yet.
Depending on your personal gamestyle your first playthrough exploring everything should take about 3-6 hours.
By speedrunning it I finished the game scoring 54 minutes (any%) and 85 minutes (100%).

The description says "From the art director of Journey", which in itself is a masterpiece - if you own a PlayStation 3 or 4 and haven't already, then buy and play it.

The beautiful art of Abzû isn't the only thing that's similar to Journey, the music, the gameplay, the cutcenes, the color variety, the camera, the derelict ruins of civilization, the art pieces left in the world, the second level (like the fourth level in Journey - the slide), the ending level, the achievment system with hidden things to find, and the reward for collecting everything, it all calls Journey.

Not all is similar though, Abzû is underwater which makes it more difficult to control three dimensions (a controler helps a lot), it doesn't have the loose Coop-Mode of Journey, and it doesn't have enemies that make you loose something when hit (which helps to eliminate the fear you might have in this alien environment, sharks and other predators don't bite you).

But it has other things, most of all: animals, a lot of underwater creatures, including bigger ones that you can ride, like sharks, whales, tortoise and dolphins, some birds, a polar bear and even penguins. By finding hidden objects you are unlocking additional marine animals in the current area, that you can ride or watch how they live by using meditation shrines. You aren't always underwater, there are some (rare) passages where you leave the cold water and walk on your feet.

Finishing the game took me 3.5 hours, but I'm a slow player and I took my time to investigate everything, enjoy the athmosphere, or to have some fun with the engine beside progress. Rushing through should take between 1.5 and 2 hours, but I'd strongly advise against doing so.

I'm a bit ashamed for having it bought in a sale for € 6. It's worth more, and the developers deserve every cent of the regular price of € 20. I hope they will release a boxed collector's edition with soundtrack sooner or later to spend my money on.

The game is capable of surround gaming, but needs some manual tinkering:
- custom resolutions can be set via launch options: -width 5760 -height 1080
- it's Vert- by default, but can be changed to Hor+ (see WSGF report[www.wsgf.org])

Lovely short game that achieves to build up an emotional bound to the cubs.
After completing it a real-time mode is unlocked where you have to feed your cubs every day for about a month.