Öoo

My ideal video game. A perfectly flowing sequence of ingenuous puzzles with the sort of charming presentation that cushions your head as you bang it against the wall trying to figure out a puzzle solution. Basically perfect.

Calling Ooo a Metroidvania undersells just how clever its design really is. There are no power-ups to hoard, no exhausting backtracking to endure - and instead there's the steady thrill of learning new ways to use your limited arsenal of bombs. The game teaches you wordlessly, layering clever scenarios until you’ve mastered a particular quirk of Ooo’s ruleset. Like finding the right key in Zelda, that knowledge then turns former dead-ends into brand-new routes, and each discovery left me eager for what that next “aha” moment could be. It helps the game has an incredibly thoughtful warp system (that later becomes part of the puzzle solving). At only a few hours long, Ooo ranks alongside Portal in knowing exactly when to bow out - mining all the great opportunities of its main gimmick, but still leaving you with curiosity about what else its toolkit could do. On the Steam Deck OLED, it ran flawlessly, and its dark backdrops with neon-lit platforms absolutely popped on the screen...

Short and sweet puzzle game that consistently surprises with how many creative ways there are to utilize such seemingly simple mechanics. Using the map design as a teaching tool is genius. Even the name of the game is clever. Worth a play.

Damn, what a game. The trailer is fantastic since it gives you exactly what you need to know to understand the game, despite being only 15 seconds long. The rest of the game is just as impressively concise... I cleared it in an hour and ten minutes, smiling all the way. Very very very charming, smart with its puzzles, and really brought me back to the era of short shareware doujin games. You will also have the song stuck in your head by the end of the game

I love to make a bomb explode and think "I am a genius" and that happened for me many times in this game. The best.

Öoo is a brilliantly designed puzzle game and even better than the developer's previous project ElecHead (which was already great and you should definitely check it out if you haven't yet). The way Öoo teaches the player mechanics purely through its level design which can then be used in previous areas and endgame sections is genius. It also finds a great balance between genuine challenge and a-ha moments that give a sense of elation synonymous with clever puzzle solutions. It took me roughly 2.5 hours to beat but there was not a wasted moment and the brevity works in its favor.

The puzzles by Nama Takahashi make you feel really smart, when he is the one actually really smart! Very good game <3

10/10 for me, no filler, great puzzles, visually gorgeous and the sound design is top notch

It's a perfect metroidbrainia. You gain knowledge of mechanics instead of new abilities and it all just comes together so well. Its a short and sweet game that accomplishes everything it sets out to do.

A fantastic puzzle platformer that is clear about what it is, and what it asks of you. I've never seen a more effective game design where the 'power ups' are more about game knowledge than anything else, and it's all structured in a way it does an excellent job teaching you what needs to be done within the limited scope of actions and interactions available. Most importantly, it understands when the design has put forth all it is going to. I clocked in at about 3 hours on a blind playthrough.