INTRO:
Firstly, it has to be said here that Amanita Design has a lot of great ideas for games; these have gone into splendid titles like Samorost, Machinarium and Botanicula. However, it also has some less-than-great ideas which were not as excellently executed.
Osada is one such game. Still, if presenting something bizarre is the goal of this game (the same which can be said of all other Amanita Design titles), then it achieved it.
GIST OF THE GAME:
On paper, it is purportedly an “interactive music video”. This in itself would have already raised an eyebrow, if not for the fact that most of Amanita Design’s games have great music which comes with their simple point-&-click gameplay.
In Osada’s case, the player has to click on things in order to evoke sounds. What things are clickable can be discovered simply by hovering the mouse cursor around. Things, when clicked, either introduce new elements into the music which is already playing, or change the tunes and tempo. In some scenes, they just result in gibberish.
The player must click on things in certain sequences in order to progress. However, the player must also periodically hover the mouse cursor around, looking for new things which can be clicked on. Like Amanita Design’s other games, these things often undergo subtle changes which can be spotted by the observant.
Eventually, the scenes loop. This is fine if the player realizes if he/she has skipped clicking on some things, but otherwise, there is no other reason to continue (assuming that he/she does not want to see the silly scenes again, of course).
PRESENTATION:
Like other Amanita Design games, Osada has a bizarre presentation. However, where those other better games by Amanita Design have whimsical stories which tie their bizarre presentation together, Osada does not.
The game is just one bizarre scene after another. If there is anything linking them together, it is that the scenes appear to be set in a caricaturized version of the rocky outback of the Central Americas.
There are also hints that creatures or characters from the previous scene have gone into the next, though how and why this happens is something which is typically left out.
VISUAL DESIGNS:
Much of the scenes appear to be composed of cut-and-pasted crop-outs from actual pictures, which are then mashed together in unlikely ways; the sources of the original pictures are not entirely clear.
The results are then animated in a manner which one would expect from a Flash-based game, which Osada is. Sometimes, the animations can look even more bizarre than the mash-up, mainly due to the stark changes in colour quality when the object transitions from its initial mashed-up looks to clearly hand-drawn sprites.
An observant player may notice that the game becomes more increasingly bizarre from one scene to the next. He/she may also notice that cowboys and native Americans are featured a lot, often doing things which go far against their stereotypes.
SOUND DESIGNS:
Most of the game’s sounds are presented through music. Even most of the on-screen occurrences have sound effects which occur according to the music’s tempo.
Much of the music in the game has hints of USA country music, which fits the setting of the game to a (nonetheless bizarre) degree. The music is playful yet slightly out of place, as to be expected of an Amanita Design game.
That this is so can still be a bit of a surprise, because the music is designed by Czech composer Šimon Ornest, who is not exactly someone who frequently works with Amanita Design. Yet, his works sound not too far off from those of Tomáš Dvořák (who worked with Amanita Design many times already).
SUMMARY:
Unless one is looking forward to seeing bizarre scenes which act out according to playful music, one is probably better off looking for the official soundtracks for Osada instead of playing it. Still, it has to be said here that Osada is completely free and is worthwhile as a short distraction.
