Good morning, Dear Reader. It’s a bit grim outside here so instead of taking my dog out for a walk, I’ve been playing video games! That worked out well for you as I have an interesting new title to share with you. The developer nudged me about it earlier this week and I got around to playing it over my morning cup of Joe, and I’m glad I did because Ammo and Oxygen is exactly the kind of game that I’m into.
In true sci-fi survival horror style, A&O is a top-down roguelite shooter where you wake up from cryosleep to find that something has gone terribly wrong while you were sleeping. Armed with a melee weapon and, shortly thereafter, a pistol, you must explore the area and unravel the mysteries around you on Voidregula 6, all while staying alive for as long as possible.
The aforementioned “mysteries” form an important part of the meta-progression and you’ll be working out what has happened, pushing ahead further each time (hopefully) and killing aliens in order to improve the facilities in the main hub. Upon death your final action is to remember a new skill or skills that can used next time around. It’s a neat little system, I think.
The sci-fi angle reminded me a little of Returnal, Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol, or even Alien, in the sense that you’re exploring futuristic facilities and a strange planet. You do so with a flashlight on hand to illuminate dark corners and help you line up your shots, and you’ll need a steady hand because A&O is filled with strange monsters who are eager to eat your entrails. As alluded to in the title, ammunition and oxygen are going to be two things that require careful management as you try to progress.
I’ve not yet mentioned the co-op side of things, which I haven’t tried due to my tragic lack of friends, but the game supports up to four players. I’m also interested in seeing to what extent the day-night cycle changes things. There’s a lot going on but A&O is hitting a lot of the right notes for me.
I’ll not shirk my journalistic responsibilities; Ammo and Oxygen is a little bit rough around the edges still. I was playing on a controller and there seemed to be a couple of navigation issues in the menus, and the combat needs a bit more refinement before launch. However, despite one or two wrinkles, I think the atmosphere that Juvty Games has already managed to bring to this demo points to a game with tons of potential. Download it from Steam before May 20 if you want to try it yourself, or wishlist it if you prefer to wait. There’ll also be more chances to play in the future, I’m told. Either way, you sci-fi survival horror fans out there need to make sure that this one’s on your radar.
