Featureless, unnamed, and without memories of how you came here… but you remember why. She’s waiting for you somewhere in this Mansion and you cannot leave until you find her. Cut your way through various unique areas and meet new allies as you delve deeper into the mystery, face your inner demons, and annihilate them.
OTXO (pronounced oh-cho) is a violent top-down shooter with roguelite elements. Play as the protagonist entering an inexplicable mansion in search of his lost love. As you venture deeper into the Mansion, more of its secrets will be unveiled to you.
Underneath its bloody and brutal violence, OTXO acts as an allegory of depression and the struggle of fighting one’s depression. It aims to be an empowering story about overcoming your own demons and not giving up that fight. The featureless and unnamed protagonist is just that on purpose. They act as a blank canvas because there’s no one face for people who face these types of battles. Alongside these themes, there are also references to how depression can affect your loved ones and others around you.
OTXO is Lateralis’ second game, a contrast to Dogworld, which released in 2021.
For the concept of the storyline; I wanted to make a game that was specifically about my thoughts and experience with depression. Obviously it’s different for everyone, it’s a very subjective thing, but for me depression is very much a battle. I wanted to take that… anger [anger’s maybe not the right word], of having to deal with something like this and focusing into the experience, which is why the game is so outwardly violent.
We chatted with Nate Haddock, developer of OTXO, about his experience in creating the game. You can read the interview here.