Albert & Otto
Xbox Reviews

Albert & Otto

Albert & Otto

Should I talk about how similar Albert & Otto is compared with Limbo? It has the same black and white atmosphere, although this game has a little red too. It has the same gameplay puzzles, although this game has a gun. It has the same controls, although a lot less accurate. I could go on and write down all the small little differences but let’s just get this review out-of-the-way.  So grab your toy bunny and navigate through this review to see if this game is something for you. 

THE GOOD

  • The atmospheric simplistic black and white world from Albert & Otto is what saves this game from doom. The clever use of colour, for example the red bunny gives the game even more personality than Limbo. The art style is simply gorgeous and the real eye candy comes from the hand drawn checkpoint cards.
  • Horrific sheep screams (I won’t spoil why) and great use of folky classical music. It mostly works hand in hand with what is happening on-screen. One specific, I think German song is an instant classic when you hear it. So even though Albert & Otto won’t win much awards, the sound and music really stand out.

MIXED FEELINGS

  • Developer KBros Games tried to add some new stuff in the Limbo gameplay ritual but the entire thing feels too much like previous attempts from Limbo and copycats. I don’t mind that developers use some inspiration from other games but please try to improve the concept and add some fun new mechanics. An annoying double jump and adding a gun isn’t enough for me to forget the competition.

THE BAD

  • I’m glad for the checkpoints in Albert & Otto because the trial & error gameplay combined with multiple deaths from the awkward controls or the game that decides to glitch on you is uncountable. You have more luck counting all the bacteria on your pillow than the annoying stuff in this game. Frustration galore when you die from a falling rocks meters away from you, dropping into a pit because the double jump didn’t register. I regularly had to reload the game too because design mechanics failed to work or glitches making it unuseful.
  • The double jumps issues come from bad animation design, it happens pretty often that the character is stuck in a previous motion preventing him from actually jumping. It’s hilarious to see, that’s for sure but annoying too. Sometimes the dying animation fails to trigger too, resulting in some moments that you continue playing without realising that you died. Ending the game suddenly seconds later.  The animations from the telekinetic ability is another massive annoying and rage-quitting feature, objects get stuck or fail to move. The game might be only three hours long but the amount of frustration is insane.

Albert & Otto [score: 5.3]  Outstanding visuals and sound but everything else is pretty average. Even a cute little red toy bunny doesn’t save the many, many frustrating gameplay moments. Only check it out if you are craving for a new 2D-platformer. 

Dev: KBros Games Played on: Xbox One X | LifeisXbox received a digital Preview code, provided by Digerati.

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