I’ve said before that I’m a sucker for big open worlds, but I should probably just say that I love all open worlds. Bigger isn’t always better, so something like Chulip’s fragmented small town is fab in my books. Sometimes the setting is a character in itself, and getting intimate with it is gratifying.

Odd Town is an impressive little world. Like Chulip, it’s set in a singular small town, but that’s generally where the comparison ends. And while Odd Town certainly provides more evidence for my stated hypothesis, it also demonstrates what happens when you can’t perform in moments of intimacy.

LAST STOP: THIS TOWN

Odd Town has you, the protagonist, driving over tacks which, predictably, flattens your tire. Because of this impediment, you pull into the nearest service station. It’s going to take awhile to fix your tire, so you might as well impose yourself into local events. I think the mechanics give you some sort of runaround for why it’s going to take so long, but the speech bubbles were bugged in that section and I couldn’t see what they said.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. What you, the player experiences, is that you get a call on a payphone from a guy who is certain that a conspiracy is going on in town, but he doesn’t know what. So, you’re immediately thrown into things, you assemble a team, and then you investigate this mystery.

Largely, this involves kicking down doors and roughing people up, which is the best way to investigate.

SMOKING SECTION

The star of the show is St. Sectaire, the titular odd town. It features maze-like streets, strange geometry, and a palpable seediness in most places. And yet, it’s still very picturesque, affording you a number of fetching vistas to take in.

As I mentioned before, it’s very impressive. While the streets are a tangle of narrow passageways, bridges, tunnels, and stairs, it’s strangely navigable. And that’s not just because there are street names and an abundance of maps, but that is helpful.

More than allowing you to figure out which turns you need to take, the maps are best when it comes to reorienting yourself. You might not remember the best route for where you need to go, but you’ll probably remember if it’s higher in elevation or lower. I have a fantastic sense of direction, even in games, but all the different streets had me getting lost occasionally, yet never for very long. Never beyond tolerance. You can always just wander in the correct general direction and you’ll likely get where you need to go. Fascinating stuff.

There’s also a number of different landmarks, like shops and restaurants along the way, and while it’s sparsely populated, it does feel very lived in. Every scene is loaded with small details. It really feels like the developer just really loved building environments. Many of the game’s windows are set to capture the town’s skyline in spectacular vistas.

It’s unfortunate that the other aspects of Odd Town aren’t quite as well-realized.

SHADOW OVER BINSMOUTH

The basic gameplay loop here is talking to your handler, being directed to a team member, the team member tells you your job, you go and either investigate, punch, or shakedown your objective, where applicable. Repeat until done.

The adventure game aspects work well – and almost remind me of Normality except not at all – but the punching is a little rough. You can punch left, punch right, and kick. I could not work out a strategy beyond just mashing all of them. There is the fact that neither fist reaches dead-centre of the screen, but that is less of a problem when you’re just flailing anyway.

Generally, I’d attempt the fight, and if I lost, I’d go eat something to regain health (or just load a recent save) and try again until I won. If there is hidden depth here, I’m too thick to find it.

However, that’s not so much a hindrance, and truthfully, Odd Town rarely felt onerous. You have money that you use to buy food and shirts, which you gain through odd jobs, shake-downs, or burglary. It’s a nice touch that not only further draws you into the world, but also provides breathing room between all the violent investigations. I especially love cleaning the movie theatre, which has the added atmospheric touch of credits rolling down the movie screen. Maybe I missed my calling as a janitor.

I WISH TO PURCHASE ONE DRUG, PLEASE

No, my major issue is that Odd Town isn’t actually that odd. I mean, the town – that is, the urban design – is certainly odd, but the people in it and the situation you find yourself in is not. Okay, so if it all happened in the real world, it would be unconventional, but as far as storytelling goes, it’s rather routine. Maybe “odd” is the correct word, because it’s something you’d call someone if you didn’t want to hurt their feelings. But it certainly doesn’t get that weird.

I kept expecting a twist to happen, but everything unfolds so predictably that I was a bit stunned. I’d love to talk about the plot in further depth, but I feel I must preserve what mystery there still is.

It’s further let down by the characters. The principal cast is okay. Again, odd, in a polite way, but not weird. Beyond them, nobody is really well defined. You don’t have actual conversations with many people along the way. There are few recurring characters who serve a function beyond just being there so you can do a thing. Even the antagonists only really show up when it’s time for you to confront them.

NORMAL NATION

The result is a plot that is extraordinarily shallow and narrow. It feels almost like an afterthought; that creating an interesting town was the real goal, and everything else was layered on in an attempt to make it into a game. And it all culminates in an excruciating final gauntlet that I only got through because I found a glitch that allowed me to bypass one of the obstacles. I expect it will be patched to be simpler, if it isn’t already addressed on launch day.

The ending isn’t worth it, either. Though, there’s a secret ending that is, at least, amusing.

As I said in the opening, an interesting open world is significantly valuable to me, and the one in Odd Town is formidable as far as environments go. However, it’s let down by everything else. Well, maybe not everything. The basic quest design, while repetitive, maintained my interested, and some of the side jobs are enjoyable. However, without an even halfway decent narrative or an interesting cast to make the world feel really alive, the whole thing is limp. Odd Town is too normal.

5/10

This review was conducted using a pre-release digital Steam version of the game. It was provided by the developer’s PR.