Oblivion Override Review Summary

With a fantastic gameplay loop and engaging boss fights recalling Dead Cells, this roguelike is held back by unfair difficulty, cluttered visuals, and too little content.

Satisfying combat feedback: Combat feel is repeatedly praised as fluid, responsive, and impactful. The hit feedback in particular is called excellent and satisfying.

Solid and enjoyable game: Reviewers consistently describe the game as fun, great, and built on a solid foundation. Overall impressions are strongly positive across the board.

Strong Dead Cells comparison: Many reviewers note clear inspiration from Dead Cells, with similar controls, movement, and action feel. Some even rate this game higher than Dead Cells overall.

Fantastic gameplay loop: The core gameplay is described as stellar, with combat and feel receiving high praise. Reviewers love the moment-to-moment action and overall game feel.

Engaging boss fights: Boss battles are frequently described as fun, challenging, and fair. They provide a spectacle and a satisfying test of skill.

Steep and Unfair Difficulty: Difficulty scaling is widely criticized as a waterfall, with early bosses being disproportionately hard and high-alert levels feeling punishing rather than challenging. Enemies gain super armor and inflated stats while players lack tools to respond effectively.

Confusing and Cluttered Visuals: Excessive light effects, busy backgrounds, and lack of player highlighting make it hard to track the character and dodge attacks. Many deaths are attributed to visual pollution rather than player error.

Too Few Levels and Content: The game only has three main stages plus a final boss, with very little level variety or branching paths. Content volume is considered insufficient for the price and cannot support a long roguelike lifespan.

Repetitive Gameplay and Maps: Levels become boring quickly, with the same three maps repeated and randomized layouts that still feel predictable. Repetition is compounded by a lack of branching paths and new content.

Build Variety Lacking: Build options are limited, with certain affixes and evolutions being clearly superior no-brainer picks. DNA skill slots restrict creativity, and many weapons and skills are not viable at higher difficulties.

Action roguelike core gameplay: The game is primarily an action roguelike with fast, stylish, and highly kinetic combat. It features side-scrolling hack-and-slash mechanics typical of the genre.

Metroidvania elements included: Many players describe the game as a metroidvania or blending metroidvania with roguelike and action elements. This includes exploration and ability gating.

Playable mechs with unique abilities: The game features multiple playable mechs, each with distinct characteristics and playstyles. Unlocking new mechas adds replayability and build variety.

Roguelike structure and progression: The game features roguelike mechanics such as random runs, difficulty levels, and meta-progression. Permanent upgrades outside runs are available.

Multiple bosses per stage: Players encounter multiple boss fights within stages, with the first two stages featuring several bosses. Boss battles often involve dodging and advanced versions.

Long loading screens: Multiple clusters report long loading times, including a freeze. Loading screen performance issues are a recurring complaint.

Runs well on low-end PC: One cluster reports that the game runs really well on a low-end PC, indicating good optimization.

Stuttering on high-end GPU: One cluster reports loading page stuttering on a 7900 XT graphics card, suggesting potential driver or optimization issues.

Slow battle room start: One cluster notes that the battle room start is very slow from stage 3 onward, affecting gameplay pacing.

General high recommendation: A large number of reviews give unreserved praise and recommend the game to friends, calling it amazing and worth playing. The sentiment is broadly positive with no significant caveats in these clusters.

Loved by Dead Cells fans: Many reviewers strongly recommend the game to players who enjoyed Dead Cells, describing it as a worthy alternative or successor. Some even suggest skipping this game and playing Dead Cells instead, but the overwhelming sentiment is positive for that audience.

Appeals to roguelike enthusiasts: The game is frequently recommended for fans of roguelike and roguelite genres, including those who enjoy side-scrolling and 2D action roguelikes. Reviewers highlight its fit for players familiar with the genre's mechanics and loop.

Solid action gameplay praised: Reviewers commend the satisfying combat, stylish action, and skill-based gameplay, often comparing it to Mega Man Zero or Rockman. The game is recommended for those seeking orthodox action and frantic replayability.

Worth full price or sale: Several reviewers state the game is worth buying at full price and offers great value for money. A few others recommend waiting for a sale or only buying on sale, indicating varied price sensitivity.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 18.0h.

Story completion: 10.0h.

Session length: 1.0h.

Endgame: 40.0h.

The game can be immediately addictive for action fans, but the clearest onboarding arc is that it clicks after meta-progression unlocks; early currency overload and low-skill difficulty delay enjoyment for some players.

Friction: Early meta-progression overload from many currencies and unlock paths; Slow or grindy meta progression; Low-skill players find the early game unfriendly; Movement and attacks can feel uncoordinated; Only three zones and no branching make levels repetitive; Poor grammar, spelling, and contradictory tutorial text.

Dead Cells Devotee: Fast-paced side-scrolling combat, leveraging familiar mechanics such as blueprints, teleporters, and weapon upgrades. Motivation: To recapture or continue the Dead Cells experience with a familiar yet fresh roguelite. Stance: buy.

Genre Newcomer: Plays on lower difficulties, uses straightforward builds, and enjoys unlocking upgrades to feel powerful over time. Motivation: To enjoy an accessible action roguelite that provides satisfying power progression without overwhelming difficulty. Stance: buy.

Build & Meta Progression Optimizer: Grinds out-game upgrades, collects resources, tries various weapon and skill combinations, and pushes difficulties with optimized builds. Motivation: To experiment with numerous builds and optimize meta-progression, enjoying the grind and customization. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The filtered review corpus contains only positive Steam Deck impressions. Users report the game runs flawlessly, plays great, and works perfectly 'right out of the box', with no reports of Proton toggling, Proton Experimental overrides, external launcher navigation, anti-cheat errors, small or unreadable text, battery drain, or crashes. The only non-English evidence concerns in-game battle mechanics and is unrelated to handheld performance. Because no technical barrier of any kind appears in the dataset, the experience qualifies as Seamless and the store's green verification checkmark appears accurate for the reported sample.

Linux and Proton: The filtered reviews are uniformly positive about running the game on Steam Deck, with no reported Linux, Proton, SteamOS, launcher, DRM, anti-cheat, or performance blockers. The evidence supports an out-of-the-box working experience, though it is limited to Steam Deck compatibility rather than explicit desktop Linux testing.

Frequent Dead Cells comparisons: Many reviewers compare the game to Dead Cells, noting similarities in action, movement, and overall structure. Some see it as a close substitute, while others find it stands on its own.

Current Early Access status: The game is currently in Early Access, and some reviews mention ongoing optimization and adjustments.

Chinese domestic development: The game is a domestic Chinese title and includes Chinese localization. Some reviews highlight its Chinese development background.

Developed by Humble Mill: The game is developed by Humble Mill and published by XD.

Demo progress carries over: A demo is available, and progress made in the demo carries over to the full game if purchased.