It sounds good, because I’ve jazzed it up somewhat. The people have fled or locked themselves inside while the abominations walk the streets, spreading their corruption and grotesquery. A force of freaky creatures has come through to our world from the Othercide, led by what I think is a young devil child called Suffering. Instead of steampunk though, this is more plaguepunk, riffing on a few aspects of Victoriana and creepy enemy design built around mutations, patchwork sackcloth and tentacles. Othercide is vaguely set in the early 1900s, a world of cobbled streets, trains and the industrial revolution. We start with what might lose you the easiest. Is that enough to make it more than just flash? Don’t believe everything you are told. Now that’s not to say you are Bruce Willis and time is your bitch, but there are some interesting turn manipulation mechanics here. Well, under all the flash, Othercide is a roguelite turn-based strategy game, with a massive emphasis put on manipulating the turn timeline. We know that style will only last so long, before a game must perform and have a tight gameplay loop that consistently brings you back. Style comes and goes, but substance will always mean something.

Othercide has a lot of striking gothic design there’s the noir colour scheme, the greyscale warrior girls who look halfway between nun and schoolgirl cosplayers, their flashy weapon poses, the sack-face boy and his creepy army of hook-masked plague doctors (they are so in right now) and dogs with tentacles coming out of the heads.

Adult me can still be swayed by a smart Black, White and Red colour scheme. Adult me knows better, and though I can still appreciate their visual style, they hold little in the way of good plotting, or emotional depth. Teenage me thought the Sin City movies were the bomb, and that there was real substance to those stories too. Immortalised in the two Sin City movies, noir with a splash of blood catches the eye and makes for something that always looks cool. Black, White and Red has got to be the coolest colour combination of all time.

Othercide ps5