It's not Pac Man, but to tell the truth, it's not far off.
Games take the player to many different places: distant planets, historic battles, post-apocalyptic futures and through inter-dimensional portals. Games also have you fill some pretty strange shoes, from aliens, to spacemarines, to oppressed freedom-fighting theoretical physicists. So why not letting you become a droplet of water?
What possible motivations could a droplet of water have? What plot? What twists of fate or hardship could fall upon this collection of molecules as it floats lazily in a primordial soup?
Well, life is hard for everyone, even chains of proteins suspended in water droplets. In fact, it’s downright brutal. You are just one lone drop in the jungle of the petri dish and if you aren’t careful you’ll become even less than that.
You are one of the rare drops that have harnessed the power of locomotion by squirting out tiny versions of yourself to scoot around this dangerous soup, and, let me tell you, it is dangerous.
Osmos sets you down in a drop-eat-drop world. Anything larger than you will absorb you on impact, while most of the other ‘masses’ in each level are mindless and drift casually–or lay dormant until you are large enough to cannibalize them. Others do the opposite, and upon contact they cause you to shrink, making you easy prey.
Large attractors form solar system-like orbits.
Movement becomes a resource management issue, as you asses the amount of mass it would take to travel to another area to absorb additional mass. Along the way, however, you may run into trouble
There are a myriad of other beings out there: repulsors which cause chaos by scattering any mass that wanders close, and attractors which cause serene solar system orbits around themselves and absorb anything that gets too close or is moving too slowly. Additionally, you are not the only mobile droplet out there. There are others with the power to move; hunting anything smaller than themselves, each other, and of course–you.
The lexicon is small but varied and split up into several different types of challenges: Large free-form levels where you are required to grow as large as possible, levels where you must grow large enough to absorb the powerful attractor at the center while not falling into its grasp, hunting missions where you chase down smarter and smarter AI opponents, and (my personal favorite) levels where everything is in stasis and only your subtle movements on the map will allow you to squeeze around and finally absorb the giant masses surrounding you.
Stasis puzzles are solved by making other masses absorb each other.
It is part puzzle, part strategy, and part point-and-click Flash-style game. It made me remember those terrible Flash games of my youth where you are a tiny fish and you have to grow by eating things smaller than you while dodging bigger fish, but without the regretful stupor that comes from playing something like a PopCap game.
That is because Osmos does an amazing job at setting a scene and providing a chilled out, minimalistic atmosphere. The music, the display, and the spacey colors do an amazing job at making you feel a part of this tiny universe. Watch a video or play a demo–it is very difficult to describe the immersion Osmos provides. It’s like a good laser show with the perfect ambient techno soundtrack.
Besides the ambiance, the levels themselves are randomly generated. Pressing Alt+Z at any time will allow you to play a different version of the same style of map. Therefore, if you get stuck or you want to play a favorite map over again with a brand new solution, this helps to liven up and prolong the experience.
It is an interesting game for sure–no plot, no protagonist, no antagonist, or overall goal–just that age old video game challenge that is so fun to strive against. Minimalism at its best and damned good fun.
Desperately trying to grow in size while avoiding larger beings.
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