OneShot (video game)

OneShot
Cover art for OneShot
Developer(s)	Little Cat Feet
Publisher(s)	Degica
Composer(s)	Casey Gu
Engine	RPG Maker
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows macOS
Release	December 9, 2016
Genre(s)	Adventure, Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player

OneShot is a puzzle and adventure indie game developed by Little Cat Feet and published by Degica. Based on a 2014 free version, it was released for Steam on December 8, 2016. The game is centered around metafictional concepts, which have been described by the developers as "the world knows you exist". This affects its story, which depicts the player as a separate character from Niko, the protagonist. Both characters arrive in an unfamiliar world, and aim to replace its sun at the top of a tower. OneShot received positive reviews, most of which focused on its narrative aspects.

Gameplay

In OneShot, the player controls the child Niko, who is placed into an unfamiliar sunless world.^[1] Although the game exclusively shows Niko's viewpoint, employing a top-down perspective,^[2] the player is a separate character. As is typical for role-playing video games, gameplay is primarily composed of solving puzzles (including fetch quests) involving items.^[3] Items can either be used to interact with a specific location, or combined to form a new item.^[4] Throughout the game, the player encounters in-game computers, which signal that the player has to find content outside the game, including in the filesystem.^[5] This can also involve interacting with the computer in other ways – for instance, moving the game window off-screen and back to mimic developing film.^[6] Due to these concepts, the in-game instructions recommend playing in windowed mode.^[4]

Plot

The game's protagonist is a juvenile cat-like person,^{[lower-alpha 1]} Niko, who awakes in an dark and unfamiliar house.^[3][7][1] They interact with a computer, which addresses the player by their actual name (derived from the computer's login name) via an external dialog box. This leads to Niko discovering the world's sun, which takes the form of a lightbulb. Niko is soon made aware of the player's presence, and discovers that the player is a god, while they are the "Messiah". The player's in-game responsibility as god is to help guide Niko – to this end, Niko contacts the player through dialog options. Niko can also rest, which causes the program to close; upon reopening, a short dream sequence is played. Both the player and Niko's intended eventual goal is to carry the sun through the world's three areas and reach a central tower.^[8] Once there, they aim to place the lightbulb on the top of the tower, therefore restoring light to the world.^[1] After the completion of the game, a note appears in the user's Documents folder, allowing players to continue via the alternate "Solstice" ending path.^[9]

Development

The game started as freeware; this version was made in a month, and released online on June 30, 2014 by creators Eliza Velasquez and Casey Gu.^[10] It was developed as an entry for RPGMakerWeb's 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest, but did not receive any accolades.^[11]

According to Gu, OneShot was designed with an all-encompassing "dark but vibrant" theme to reflect the lack of sunlight in the setting.^[12] The areas of its world were inspired by the RGB colour model, and music for each area was only composed after its respective visual design was completed. Both Gu and Velasquez cite several thematic inspirations for the original game, including Hyper Light Drifter, The Legend of Zelda, Yume Nikki, and The Little Prince.^[10] In a later interview with PC Gamer, Velasquez also attributed the fourth-wall-breaking aspect of the game to the character Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid.^[6]

After being featured at GDC,^[5] the previous version's "rerelease" was made available on Steam two years later, on December 8, 2016.^[13] On March 28, 2017, the Steam version was updated, with a new "Solstice" ending path that solved some mysteries that players had about the game's content.^[9] A Mac release of this version was made available on May 31, 2018, with gameplay intended to be "as close to the Windows version as possible".^[14]

Reception

OneShot received largely positive reviews according to the review aggregator Metacritic.^[15] Reviewers largely praised the game's story and metafictional content, choosing not to focus on its gameplay aspects. New Game Network compared it to Undertale and Pony Island, but pointed out that it would not be seen as "revolutionary". Additionally, they called the game's cast of characters "lacking", stating they were too distant from Niko.^[3] A more positive review was given by Rock, Paper, Shotgun, who referred to it as "completely charming, delightfully written, and extremely clever".^[1] Hardcore Gamer similarly praised it, calling it "an unforgettable adventure".^[8]

In 2017, OneShot was nominated for the "PC Game of the Year" category of the Golden Joystick Awards.^[16]

Notes

References

External links

• Official website

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