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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Osmos
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:Time needed per session:Later levels can take a long time to clear, so plan on spending at least ten minutes playing with this game.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians This is a simple game where bigger cells slurp up smaller cells until one of them is the biggest of them all. Calling this violent feels like a stretch. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/osmos_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/osmos_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/osmos_2.jpg)
Game Overview
At first glance, this looks like yet another game where you eat everything smaller than yourself until you've become the largest thing in the world. This isn't a new idea, and just about everyone has played a game similar to this at some point.
But there are a few ways that Osmos differs from other games in this overcrowded genre, and most of these differences are due to the game being themed after cellular lifeforms. In this title, every cell is floating in a transparent substrate. Since everything in the is also a cell, everything is capable of consuming everything else. The main thing that makes your cell unique is your ability to control it: the majority of the cells are passively wandering around, never changing direction until something else acts on them. Even then, your ability to guide your cell isn't that special, as AI controlled cells sometimes compete with you for survival.
Fortunately, this predator/prey dynamic comes with a visual shorthand. Cells that are too big for you to consume are red, AI controlled predators are bright green, and everything you can safely snack on is a nice blue. Some levels also contain blobs of antimatter; these are dark green and should be avoided as they'll dissolve anything that touches them.
Moving around is also handled differently than you might expect. Instead of simply wandering about or swimming through the substrate, you create thrust by ejecting some of your own intercellular material. There is no friction in this world, so a few quick squirts are enough to push you towards your destination. Of course, if you're not willing to wait for things to drift into place, you can toggle the game's speed using the your right mouse button.
This also plays into how you deal with the other cells around you. Ejecting material slowly makes you smaller, so you don't want to push out too much material or you won't be able to eat anything. But, you know how I just said most of the cells just sit there in this fictionless environment? You can push them around using this ejected material. They'll get a little bigger as they absorb it, but once things start moving, it's almost impossible for them to completely stop. It's a handy trick to keep in mind, as many of the levels plop your cell in a huge cluster of much larger cells.
Sadly, Osmos ends up being hobbled by its level design. There's a good game here, but there's not enough of it to give players a chance to adapt to new situations. Once you've played the first few levels, you'll hit a huge spike in the game's difficulty, and for many players, this results in the game becoming virtually unplayable.
But, if you're willing to take a chance and try this game for yourself, there will be plenty of opportunities to do so. It goes on sale for a high discount frequently; usually during one of Steam's annual sales events, so pick it up then if you're ready for a real challenge.
But there are a few ways that Osmos differs from other games in this overcrowded genre, and most of these differences are due to the game being themed after cellular lifeforms. In this title, every cell is floating in a transparent substrate. Since everything in the is also a cell, everything is capable of consuming everything else. The main thing that makes your cell unique is your ability to control it: the majority of the cells are passively wandering around, never changing direction until something else acts on them. Even then, your ability to guide your cell isn't that special, as AI controlled cells sometimes compete with you for survival.
Fortunately, this predator/prey dynamic comes with a visual shorthand. Cells that are too big for you to consume are red, AI controlled predators are bright green, and everything you can safely snack on is a nice blue. Some levels also contain blobs of antimatter; these are dark green and should be avoided as they'll dissolve anything that touches them.
Moving around is also handled differently than you might expect. Instead of simply wandering about or swimming through the substrate, you create thrust by ejecting some of your own intercellular material. There is no friction in this world, so a few quick squirts are enough to push you towards your destination. Of course, if you're not willing to wait for things to drift into place, you can toggle the game's speed using the your right mouse button.
This also plays into how you deal with the other cells around you. Ejecting material slowly makes you smaller, so you don't want to push out too much material or you won't be able to eat anything. But, you know how I just said most of the cells just sit there in this fictionless environment? You can push them around using this ejected material. They'll get a little bigger as they absorb it, but once things start moving, it's almost impossible for them to completely stop. It's a handy trick to keep in mind, as many of the levels plop your cell in a huge cluster of much larger cells.
Sadly, Osmos ends up being hobbled by its level design. There's a good game here, but there's not enough of it to give players a chance to adapt to new situations. Once you've played the first few levels, you'll hit a huge spike in the game's difficulty, and for many players, this results in the game becoming virtually unplayable.
But, if you're willing to take a chance and try this game for yourself, there will be plenty of opportunities to do so. It goes on sale for a high discount frequently; usually during one of Steam's annual sales events, so pick it up then if you're ready for a real challenge.
Points of Interest
Branching level design
Once you've completed the first few levels, you'll be able to view the level map. This separates the game's levels into three branches: one for each style of gameplay. There's the "life" branch, where AI controlled cells compete with you for resources, the "gravity" branch that uses special objects that can push or pull objects, and the antimatter branch, which features a lot of the deadly antimatter cells.
Fixed and Randomized Levels
By default, every level starts with its own, fixed layout. But, if you want to play a randomized version of a given level, just press pause the game and select Randomize from the pause menu. This ability to restart a level with a random layout is probably why there aren't more levels on the map: the developers might have felt it was redundant.
Steam community features
There are eleven achievements to earn as you wander about this tiny world. Most of them have to do with completing sets of levels, which unfortunately highlights the Osmos' biggest problem. Despite there only being a few branches to play through, less than 20% of the playerbase has completed more than the opening tutorial.
No time to warm up to a new mechanic
Easily the biggest issue with this game is the limited number of levels. This doesn't give the player time to warm up to new mechanics. Instead, once you're through the opening levels, you're basically thrown to the wolves and left on your own. This creates a huge difficulty curve that has ruined the fun for a lot of players.
Concerns and Issues
Extremely mild violence
Every cell in this game is capable of eating any smaller cell that touches them. Yet, "eating" isn't really the right way to phrase it, as it's just shown as one bubble getting smaller until it disappears. When your own cell is eating or being eaten, a somewhat comical "slurp" sound effect is played.