OneShot – Sparks and Memories
It’s difficult sometimes. You have great a experience with a movie, a game or a book. A really great experience. Everything just fits perfect together for you and you want to keep this magical time in your memory for the rest of your life, like a treasure you can carry with you, even through the darkest times. But then months pass and you read new stories, go on new adventures… and that precious glimmer fades more and more away.
Maybe there is just too much today. Year after year more and more games, books, comics or movies are being made. It seems so overwhelming sometimes that you have not enough time to process all of it… to lock the truly special ones into your heart.
I remember a time, just a few years back, where RPG-Maker-Games were a big trend and some of them are still truly great if you discover them today.
Ib, with its creepy tone, the dark art style and the interesting setting of a cursed art-gallery.
The Witch’s House, were death is quick and with an uncompromising brutal true ending.
Mad Father with it’s almost hilariously over the top horror-story.
OFF, that had a unique, surreal style and a cryptic story.
Those are the ones, that sticked to me the most. Back then they were great experiences that hooked me over weeks, even after I finished then… now they are distant memories and they were overshadowed by the things that came after them. But still, they are in my heart.
Sometimes it is a shame, that I can never replay them for the first time again. All the wonder and fascination, all the deep immersion and empathy for the characters… the awe of all of this fades away with each new play through.
The original OneShot came out in 2014 and was a free game that had the premise that you cannot play it twice. Of course if you know your stuff with computers you can circumvent that, but still, the idea was interesting and gave the game play and the story much more meaning. At the end of 2016 was then a Steam-Release.
Some mechanics, like the insta-death when you close the game without going to a savepoint first, are gone and it is easier to replay it now, but to get the true ending twice or more you need a Hard-restart the game. All files must be removed and OneShot reinstalled. But honestly, I simply do not want to do it.
At its core it is a puzzle-game that sometimes breaks the fourth-wall. The protagonist Niko is its own adorable being, who often talks to you – the player – directly. I will not go further than that, because it is something that is best enjoyed blind. Just know that it is sometimes required to go through the files on your computer to solve some puzzles.
It has some resemblance to Undertale (where the save-feature was a part of the story) and Doki Doki Literature Club (were the player is addressed and not the avatar you play). For me OneShot is the best of these three. Not only has it the most creative ideas with its fourth-wall-breaks, but it also has just so much more impact for me.
Lets start saying that OneShot is good at immersion. I have trouble to find words that can describe the word, you wander through with Niko. It is surreal, warm, comforting, depressing, deep, almost like a fairly-tale, despite the sometimes very industrial settings. It has no detailed wordbuilding like Hollow Knight or Dark Souls, but just the atmosphere, the light, the surroundings and the music tell you everything you need to know. You feel the sadness and the desolation, with sparks of hope in-between. Most of the characters you meet do not have great backstories or longer arcs, but they still come off more unique and alive than in a lot of other games I played, because the world feels alive and their sprites and dialogue tell us so much about their personality. An while colorful personalities, they are not to over the top (like the ones in Undertale).
The player cares for this fictional place and Niko. Niko, the protagonist who misses his mother greatly. Niko who you guide through a dying world, that is not his own. Niko, who wants to save everyone, but also wants to go home.
Now then, I will say that in its presentation OneShot is nearly flawless for what it is. Nothing is perfect, but in my humble opinion I want to talk a little about personal worth. Some things will string more on ones heartstrings than others. Some will be able to dive into OneShot, while others not. The atmosphere leaks almost out of the computer and this game gives the best ramifications for that, what is wants to do. Some will simple not be pulled in by the gorgeous art style or the characters. That’s fine. But for me it simply worked and I am feeling grateful to have played. And back to Undertale: While I personally could not care about most of the cast in it, for a lot of people (mostly on tumblr) they are very important and they sympathize deeply with them.
And for the reason I do not want to replay OneSHot: the end is just so final. It is a goodbye for both me and Niko and I simply do not want it go to waste. I want to keep the memories this game gave me. But will it hold in ten or twenty years? I hope…
In the end, Niko is not real. He is code. But I can tell there was put a lot of soul into him and his journey, so I will remove my suspension of believe and open my heart for him
I do not know the political opinions of the maker of OneShot and do not really care. I do not know what the future holds, but I do think that there are not many nice things ahead. It is my hope that even in bleak moments the memories of OneShot will lighten me up a bit.
Sparks on a dark and unclear path. For me that is one aspect of art and especially fictional stories. Not primary something to lose yourself in, but instead something that gives you additional strength.
And I am grateful, because OneShot has renewed my interest in RPG-Maker-Games. Maybe I replay The Witch's House, Ib or Misao. I could also look up what Deep-Sea Prisoner, the maker of Megeko Castle, is up to. I can remember that she was making a sequel.
With that, I finish this little text.
Thank you for reading. If you are interested, please play OneShot. It is worth the asking price.
Goodbye,
Sel