The UFO 50 Diaries: Overbold

A huge win for nominative determinism!

Overbold is about as perfect an execution of a concept as one can get:

A one-screen arena shooter where you think you control the level of challenge, but do you really? (spoiler: no)

There's a brilliant dichotomy to be found here that once again drills into the constraint of the whole project. Complexity through context, Overbold’s core loop consists of just two actions: firing a gun, and dropping bombs at your feet. Which makes sense because there are only two buttons (and mercifully there’s no double tap nonsense in this entry!).

Beyond that, despite the generous array of upgrades available between rounds, these two things do not change throughout any iteration of the game, and yet every run feels exciting and new, the context of how and when you use these tools a crucial key to survival.

There are two things about Overbold that immediately won me over. The first is that the enemy design is top notch. Both in terms of art design and behaviour, Mossmouth have created a rogue's gallery of instantly grokkable beasties that, at the drop of a pin, allow you to know what you need to do to avoid instant death and best them in combat.

Clever placement of bombs an bullets in each of these encounters is key to victory, knowing when to risk getting up close and personal, and when to stay the hell away. The more you play, the better you understand where your skills lie and thus what wrath you can eventually bring upon yourself and still come out the other side clean and flush with cash.

The second is that Overbold very cleverly does not let on how essential your own willingness to overreach your skills is to actually winning the game.

Here’s a necessary spoiler to explain what I mean:

Throughout the game, each round you face off against a collection of foes, and by your own hand you can increase that stock to increase your payout, embiggening your purchasing power before the next round and thus increasing your odds of survival.

It’s almost poker-like in its execution. You only know what else gets added to the roster once you’ve committed to opening the gates to it, but sometimes the gamble is worth it to allow an extra projectile-deflection, the ability to walk over lava or an increase to your damage dealing capabilities.

Crucially, this is all at your discretion. The choice of upgrades, the choice of how many foes you feel like you can take in one sitting. Overbold is a game about empowering the player to be a vessel of their own destiny.

For the final round you do not get that choice. You have to fight…everything. It’s a one stop shop of pain that hits you like a sack of bricks the first time you encounter it. Everyone and their sister out for your blood, and a gargantuan, juicy final boss to boot.

Almost immediately I got what the game was demanding of me, a perfectly encapsulated piece of design that forces you to contend with the thing that sets it apart from its peers: The high octane thrills of gambling on your life.

Point one, the iconic enemy design, ended up fundamentally choosing for me whether I raised my own ante each time or not (those projectile spitting blue pellican things have done me in too many times to gamble any further bullshit in any fight they’re already a part of).

Point two, that the final round is at max ante whether you like it or not, creates this kind of incredible vicious cycle for the player, a dilemma at the heart of the storm:

To win big, you need to survive. To survive, you need upgrades. To get upgrades you need money. To get money, you need to win big.

I think this might be the best game in the collection after Mooncat.