A simple yet elegant puzzler, OQO sees you playing a small bubble, bouncing along sound waves.
You are a small bubble and want to make it to the other side of the screen. This is a fairly simple task as long as you ride the sound waves that come from various totems around you. To begin with, only you can activate these totems, releasing a bubble of sound for you to move onto.
Moving onto the sound wave is as easy as crossing your bubble with the right bubble of sound as some bubbles won’t have you moving in the correct direction. Sometimes, the sound wave only goes so far before it fades away. If you are on the ring as it fades, you get thrown into the atmosphere — hopefully hitting another sound ring or restarting. Triggering sound waves at the correct time and bouncing between them is an easy skill to pick up, especially when you control the sound.
Soon, however, you find timed totems, which produce sound at their own will. Purple totems produce rings that stay in place once you interact with them, forcing you to think ahead to where you need to go and how big the circle must be. Black totems are not to be touched, as their circles pop you, forcing you to restart. Other dangers like walls appear, forcing you to move quickly if riding on a moving ring to avoid them.
OQO is a wonderfully minimalistic platformer with a fantastic, unique twist. Puzzles become tricky to solve but always lovely to discover. When playing the updated demo at Casual Connect, I even got to a place where my bubble rode a light-based stingray, gliding through an area. The music behind OQO is just as beautiful — complementing the game greatly.
OQO is definitely a game to watch, but you can also try out an older demo of the game on their website. While you’re there, follow the developers on Facebook and Twitter @oQogame!
