Stephanie Watel is a Contributing Writer at DualShockers who has been covering games professionally since 2022. She specializes in guides and reviews, with additional experience writing lists and features across RPGs, horror games, cozy sims, action games, open-world RPGs, JRPGs, and indie titles.
Before joining DualShockers, Stephanie contributed to GameRant, IGN, MovieWeb, Pro Game Guides, Twinfinite, and Prima Games. Her work has covered major releases, underground sleeper hits, and indie games across a wide range of genres. Stephanie holds a B.A. in English, including studies in journalism.
As modern life continues to shape how many players enjoy their games now versus a couple of decades ago, more often than not, there tends to be a visible divide in how games approach time-friendly, accessible experiences. While some rightfully stick to their guns with slow-burn experiences and lengthier, lore-rich narratives, other genres prefer to keep their experiences short and sweet, match by match or otherwise.
However, one particular upcoming indie title is taking the initiative to blur that divide while its core elements draw upon the perfect blend of horror, nostalgia, and adventures with your friends. Straight from the three-person development team at ALTER-BOY comes OZARK, a 2.5D side-scrolling horror shooter that draws upon some of the most beloved franchises in the genre just enough to feel familiar yet different. Above all, it seeks to provide this experience in a manner that's fit for one good afternoon session of gaming, to fit into the modern era where time is more precious than ever.
In the time I spent with this preview of the game, I found plenty to love about what it strives to be, while still finding plenty more than it can and absolutely still needs to improve in order to be an indie staple.
A Dark and Mysterious Mission That Feels Nostalgic
One of the key development anecdotes of this game that immediately drew me in was its commitment to giving an experience that feels akin to some of the best action-horror classics, such as Resident Evil, Dead Space, and even Shadow Complex. A chance to relive those same spine-chilling thrills with grounded, satisfying combat was just too good to pass up, and I eagerly dove into OZARK with that lens equipped.
From the moment the game starts in the dark skies above a treacherous region of Northern Canada, you can feel the looming tension already start to seep in as you get a grasp on what's happening and why your team's there. An all-too-familiar rescue and recovery mission at an off-the-books facility, and of course, if OZARK's direct inspirations are any indication, such missions never go according to plan. That's apparent from the get-go as your aircraft crash-lands near ground zero, leaving your team scattered and you fatefully on your own.
Stumbling through dark woods towards my dangerous destination echoed distant memories of Resident Evil's prologue in the Arklay Mountains, and each initial checkpoint filled me with increasing trepidation at what I'd find not just in the facility itself but the surrounding woods that were bound to hold just as many secrets.
Sooner than I expected, however, that tension ends up plateauing, at least until you get deep enough into the facility. I did find myself wishing in hindsight that there was a bit more unsettling ambience at the start of the game. Strange, unnatural sounds in the woods, as if to imply that whatever threat lurks within has "infected" the surrounding region already. That's something that helps set up the grim reality that you and your comrades are in way more danger than you initially predicted. Of course, it doesn't have to be vicious, zombified dogs or something too on the nose, but to maintain that sense of curated nostalgia, little details like that go a very, a very long way to the attentive player.
Thankfully, these moments of truly horrific tension-building become more apparent the further in you get, but the very beginning is arguably the most important section to get it right.
Unbalanced Combat Feels Like Shooting Blind in the Dark
While chilling horror is what the game dresses itself in, the core of OZARK evidently lies in its combat system. Each of the game's eight stages requires your proficiency with a gun and other tools of the trade to get from start to finish and progress the overarching story. The game also introduces additional tricks such as ground slides, which itself feels delightfully satisfying, though I was surprised to find other traditional abilities such as vaulting and climbing nonexistent. Instead, it was an awkward, almost Mario-style jump ability that I had to use to scale over crates or other waist-level obstacles. After a time, I found myself trying to avoid it as much as possible.
Unfortunately, there are a number of other hiccups with the game's combat that left the game feeling less like a satisfying run-and-gun afternoon adventure and more like a brick wall that slammed me back at random, inexplicable intervals. To start with, the intentional raise-and-shoot aiming mechanic is, at this stage, a mess. You're encouraged to aim at targets by constantly raising and lowering your weapon as an "aim reset" element, which fundamentally can work if done properly, but it feels utterly lost here. Finding my target in a room full of enemies was a crapshoot (pun intended) half the time, as the other half, my reticle decided to aim for an explosive barrel that would blow up and kill me instead.
However, after a good chunk of time with this game and its various features, I did come to notice a rather heavy-handed bias towards co-op gameplay rather than those who want to go the mission alone.
Then, even when the reticle would find an enemy, actually shooting them was another challenge altogether. Shotgun blasts from one foot away would repeatedly miss for some reason, as if being off by an inch (which you can't easily tell from a side-scrolling camera angle) cost me the opportunity entirely. Other times, my gun would strangely "lock up" and not want to shoot at all, which often led to me getting blasted in turn.
Perhaps the most aggravating of all was just the constant frantic indecisiveness of the enemy AI as they ran around aimlessly before taking perfectly aimed potshots at me at random, ending the run before I could even blink. Or their tendency to run straight up to me until we're nose-to-nose, and then it's an awkward half-hug shuffle of neither party being able to do anything until we create enough distance again. Ultimately, it led to so many fumbled attempts at the same encounters that even getting through one stage near the start was bizarrely strenuous.
This is where the notion of adjusting the difficulty would and did come in, and instead of giving me an edge, things just got even weirder. The game features six different difficulties, which was a peculiar choice in itself. Normally, that can work just fine when there are plenty of gameplay elements to justify so many different shifts. However, OZARK doesn't really have that to go on, and the game instead notes when choosing your difficulty that it's "based on the accuracy of the enemies while using weapons directly affecting recoil and accuracy". I was initially confused about what the latter half meant, then took it to mean that my accuracy with weapons dipped at harder tiers while enemies exhibited sharper aim, and vice versa at easier tiers. That was the extent of the justification for these six tiers of difficulty, which doesn't really seem very balanced.
On that note of balance, I initially tipped the scales from the standard experience to a much easier one to see just how much it would swing in that direction. When I retried a checkpoint, I found the outcome surprisingly and strangely similar. The enemies found me and gunned me down just as easily and quickly. My curiosity then drove me to put it at the highest possible difficulty, and again, it felt nearly the same. So, based on that stark revelation, this ladder of six difficulties could honestly be consolidated into one with little difference to set them apart, and not enough to give some players an easier go at the game. After all, if your intention is to provide an experience that folks can enjoy in the span of a single session, then the combat at the core of it needs to technically allow for that.
Couch Co-Op is Coveted While Solo Play is Punished
While its honorable inspirations like Dead Space aren't necessarily a quick adventure, OZARK prides itself on being an entirely approachable and accessible action-horror side-scroller that can be enjoyed either solo or with friends via its online remote play or "couch co-op" options.
The principle of that approach is an absolute positive that OZARK has and should stick to its guns (so to speak) on. However, after a good chunk of time with this game and its various features, I did come to notice a rather heavy-handed bias towards co-op gameplay rather than those who want to go the mission alone.
To start with, the combat in the game's main campaign is currently very punishing for solo players, even from the starting stages. As mentioned earlier with the difficulty setting issues, overcoming sections of enemy combat was obnoxiously challenging as a lone soldier, regardless of the difficulty I set it to. Enemies would swarm from all angles, and I often felt like a fish in a barrel rather than a seasoned tactician, to the point that it really seemed like these encounters were inherently meant to be handled by more than one player, not one.
An all-too-familiar rescue and recovery mission at an off-the-books facility, and of course, if OZARK's direct inspirations are any indication, such missions never go according to plan.
On top of that, you have other mechanics to contend with, such as hacking terminals or disabling alarms, often at the same time while bullets are flying. This is where the game's stealth mechanics should factor in as an advantage, and stealth is even encouraged in lieu of combat in some instances. However, this was unfortunately another fumble I found while trying out different approaches to overcome challenges. Instead of running and gunning, I tried the quieter option, crouching behind obstacles and trying to stay out of sight while going for as many stealth kills as possible. This also helps keep the pesky alarms from getting tripped (at least as fast).
Despite my efforts, stealth so far feels very unpolished. Enemy AI line-of-sight is spotty as all get out, with me going unnoticed sometimes despite being out in clear view, and then getting gunned down the moment I sidestep to the wrong spot. Sometimes stealth kills felt unwarranted as the alarm would blare a second later, leaving me wondering why I even bothered.
Right now, it's evident that OZARK not only rewards group efforts more than solo adventurers, but the game seems to be constructed from the very foundation with co-op in mind for success. Moreover, the game interestingly features a one-on-one Versus Mode that's meant for two players, yet I found myself still able to participate alone. However, instead of an adapted PvE scenario against a suitable AI opponent, it was just me hitting and KO'ing a lifeless shell in one hit.
Perhaps it's something that will be adjusted at launch, but for now, it felt like nothing short of a patronizing victory in a mode that conceptually feels like filler rather than meaningful. Given that you're fighting your way through a facility full of monstrosities, wouldn't it make more sense to fight hordes of those rather than your own squadmates? Resident Evil traditionally provides that experience with its Mercenaries mode, so there would be yet another great nostalgic connection to make.
The Soul is There, But Still Plenty to Fix
All in all, OZARK is a cozy indie action-horror adventure that feels like it's on the right track so far, at least from structural and soulful standpoints. Aesthetically and conceptually, it presses all the right buttons for a player like myself who's enjoyed plenty of its direct inspirations, namely Dead Space and Resident Evil. I feel the nostalgia it seeks to evoke, but unfortunately, that's where the best part of the experience drops off. The other core component of its formula, the combat, still leaves much to be desired and desperately needs more balance and alignment, particularly with regard to its choice of several different combat-focused difficulty options.
Also, if the game wants to provide a fair playing field for both solo and co-op players, then it needs to exhibit such fairness and not punish one while coveting the other through its gameplay. Don't make it borderline impossible to get past enemy obstacles from one stage to the next, regardless of difficulty, just because I want to go it alone for a run one afternoon. That's part of being accessible.
I would definitely be open to returning to this game after more work is done under the hood for its release, as I absolutely want to see how this experience feels from start to finish with proper balance.
Source: DualShockers