Odd Town

Have you ever been stuck somewhere you didn’t like? Did you feel like an outsider, with glaring eyes and mutterings about you being a stranger? No? Well, you’re in luck, as I have the game just for you. Presenting Odd Town, a game about being stuck in a weird place, with weirdo people, and there’s a mystery to solve. And you can punch whoever you want! Nice.

Welcome to Odd Town stranger

There's something rather appealing about a game that lets you loose in a strange little town and encourages you to get up to all sorts of hijinks. Whether you're investigating a mysterious conspiracy, taking on odd jobs or simply seeing what trouble you can get yourself into, Odd Town offers an awesomely unusual premise that immediately grabbed my attention and made me think “Wow, I can be a complete bellend now!” Its distinctive visuals and the sheer variety of things to do make for an appealing hook, but unfortunately, a few frustrating design decisions and an increasingly repetitive gameplay loop prevent it from being the experience it could have been.

The first thing that struck me about Odd Town was its visual style. Its wonderfully strange charm comes from a pixelated, low-poly aesthetic that gives the town a distinctive personality. Saint Sectaire is an interesting place to explore, and its unusual inhabitants help sell the feeling that something isn't quite right beneath the surface. I loved the quirky countryside aesthetic, the winding paths, and the weird elevation that took me up, down, and back up through narrow walkways and cobblestone streets, and felt like some esoteric, modern-day wherever.

It's the sort of setting that immediately arouses curiosity, encouraging you to poke around and discover secrets. And with a crude, yet lovable low-poly charm, I was quite smitten with Odd Town right away. What kept me going was discovering shortcuts, breaking into restricted areas, and unravelling the town as a character in its own right. It's almost like it's the main character. Thankfully, there's plenty to do, and I enjoyed the freedom to explore the town and get involved in its various activities.


Something odd is happening in this town

The mystery is another appealing aspect of Odd Town, as it kinda sucker punches you from the get-go. The setup is intriguing, starting with a classic trope: a mysterious phone call and instructions to go to the mysterious caller's apartment. Next, you get a scene from Always Sunny: Charlie has the big connection boards, and you’re told you need to recruit four people. Why? It’s all tied to missing persons, shady folks in town, and some much darker elements at play. It’s quite riveting, to be fair.

With this, and the town being so investment-worthy, you’re given plenty of reason to investigate your surroundings and engage with the town, even in the most bizarre ways. Unfortunately, while I was invested in finding out what was going on, the eventual payoff felt somewhat underwhelming, which was a shame given how promising the initial setup was. I wanted to spend more time piecing things together, getting to know the characters, and letting the mystery unfold naturally, rather than feeling like I'd concluded just as things were getting interesting.


Breaking the law …

While I do love figuring things out for myself, Odd Town is a game where you can just run around and do just that. It’s also a game where the mechanics are frustratingly unclear at times. There's a difference between letting players discover things for themselves and leaving them scratching their heads over basic mechanics. Unfortunately, Odd Town occasionally falls into the latter category, making certain activities more confusing than they need to be. I get it, I hate handholding, yellow paint, and massive markers on markers (looking at you, Wolverine…), but even obscure games like Elden Ring give you more than “Hey, here are the controls”. They give you logical reasons, themes in the environment, and small pushes for you to experiment and usually gain results. Odd Town tries this, but it never fully embraces experimentation without kicking you in the teeth and telling you you were wrong for no real reason.

When you're trying to get to grips with a game's systems, a little guidance can go a long way, and I often wish games did a better job of explaining what they expected from me. It's particularly frustrating when you're enjoying the freedom to experiment, only to find yourself held back by mechanics that aren't immediately clear. Deus Ex does this well by telling you what you can do and what should happen. The true enjoyment of the puzzle comes from piecing those small moments together through your actions.

And the big limit on the experimentation comes down to the fuzz … the old bill …. the police.

Wow, were these guys just plain annoying. The police are a big nuisance. While getting into trouble is part of the appeal of a game like this, their aggression can feel excessive at times, making what should be harmless mischief into an unnecessarily frustrating ordeal. There's a fine line between consequences that make your actions feel meaningful and systems that get in the way of having fun. Unfortunately, Odd Town doesn't always strike the right balance, and I occasionally found myself more annoyed by the police than entertained by the trouble I'd caused. It reminded me too much of Atomic Heart’s authority system, which went overboard chasing you down relentlessly.


Odd jobs and bits n’ bobs

Now I would describe Odd Town as an adventure game with immersive sim elements, rather than an outright immersive sim. And this can work, provided there’s enough meat on the bones for experimenting and getting the chores done.

Odd Town has plenty of fun activities, from odd jobs and criminal activities to luxuries like smoking, drinking, and feeling right at home. You can do a couple of legit jobs for extra cash, such as cleaning a local cinema of popcorn and other filth. Or become a professional drug dealer and criminal! And if you get caught, just punch the bars on your window and escape! It’s quite enthralling … to start with.

However, for all the promise of its setting and the freedom it offers, the gameplay loop eventually wears thin. The initial novelty of exploring the town, taking on jobs, and investigating the town's mysteries is enjoyable. Still, the game only gets so much mileage out of these activities before they start to feel familiar. It's a shame, because the concept is genuinely appealing, and I wanted more reasons to keep investigating and engaging with the world. With greater variety in its activities and a little more refinement to its core systems, Odd Town could have kept that early excitement going for much longer.

Despite these frustrations, I came away appreciating what Odd Town was trying to achieve. Its visual style is fantastic, the concept is wonderfully unusual, and there's enough freedom to make those early hours genuinely enjoyable. I just wish the execution were a little stronger. Unclear mechanics, overzealous police, a repetitive gameplay loop and a mystery that doesn't quite deliver on its original promise all chip away at an experience that starts with so much potential.


Overall?

Ultimately, Odd Town is a game I wanted to love more than I did. It has a great idea, wrapped in a distinctive world that deserves exploration, and its unusual premise had me interested from the outset. However, too many frustrating moments prevent it from reaching its full potential. It's enjoyable in places, but it left me wishing its developer had given their ideas a little more room to grow. Still, from a solo dev making an ambitious game, I have to give them props for making Odd Town.

It’s a fun game, with the right heart and concept, which could lead to a bigger and better next project from the dev.