Gameplay Features

Gameplay

Like the enemy monsters in Odium, game play is hybridized, taking the best parts out of several genres, combining them into one enthralling adventure. The most interesting part is that Odium is fairly non linear. As you journey through the city you'll be introduced to side quests that will lengthen game time but reward you with new items or new sidekicks. Your party is limited to three at any one time, with the main character, Sullivan, required to be in the group. As you run across friendly characters, you'll need to make some strategic decisions on which characters to keep and which to leave behind, unless one or both of your team members has already died along the way. The role playing elements are not limited to character interaction though, as you'll need to rummage through desks, search for clues, and interact with the environment in other ways to solve puzzles and lead you off in the right direction.

High Platform action

Of course, what's a game without combat? As far as we can tell, exploration and combat in Odium are seamlessly mixed in the game play, just as it is in Baldur's Gate or Diablo. You'll not be whisked away into a different interface in order to fight monsters as you would in say, Final Fantasy 7. Those kinds of interruptions can give a game that "choppy" feeling, which the developers do well to avoid in Odium. With the seamless transitions from exploration to combat and back, players can focus more on plot development. This kind of commitment to the story is also evident in how Odium handles important transitions in the game. When you run into a "boss" monster, or trigger some other key part of the game, the camera angle will change or zoom in to give you a different view of the environment. It also helps inform you that you have in fact reached an important part and you should pay closer attention.