Product Info

Platform

Xbox One, PC

Publisher

Glumberland‬

Developer

Glumberland‬

Genre

Simulation

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

973.77 MB

Release Date (NA)

Jul 15, 2020

Purchase From

Microsoft Store

Epic Games

Ooblets is an indie, life-simulation game that began development in 2016 with artist/programmer Rebecca Cordingley and designer Ben Wasser. The game originally was to be published by Double Fine, but in 2019, the company was acquired by Microsoft. In early August 2019, the developers of Ooblets announced that the game would be released on the Xbox One and exclusively on the Epic Games Store on the PC. While it took some time, an early access of Ooblets was released in mid-July of 2020.

The game itself is like playing a combination of: Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and Harvest Moon, with art influences from Keita Takahashi (Katamari Damacy, Noby Noby Boy). With a large combination of different styles, Ooblets does a pretty good job juggling them. Even if the game isn’t 100 percent finished, there’s a lot to do while the developers continue pushing out updates.

What the Heck Are Ooblets?

Ooblets are small, gentle creatures that love to dance. Like Pokemon, they can live with humans and battle amongst each other. The difference: Ooblets battles are dance-offs and you don’t actually “capture” them. Instead, after a dance-off victory, the Ooblet you challenged will “poop” out a seed for you to grow. Plant and water it, and your Ooblet joins your party.

As to where these little critters came from, that’s a mystery. The game doesn’t exactly tell you the history of the Ooblets. You just go with the flow that they exist.

While playing the early access version, up to eight Ooblets can follow you outside your home. The rest stay back at home. Maintaining the amount of Ooblets is tough at first. While it seems you have a large amount of space, the game limits you until you add Ooblet coops (similar to chicken coops). Otherwise, you’ll have to release them into the wild. Made a mistake? You’ll have to regrow that Ooblet once more.

New to Town

Before you start your adventure in Ooblets, you’ll need to create your avatar. There are not many options to choose from in regards to hair style and clothing, but more options await while playing. Yes, you’ll need to fork over some in-game money to get them. On the bright side, the game does a great job of not forcing players to choose a gender. Instead, you choose the style you want and go.

You’ll then arrive in Badgetown and be greeted by a little girl. She’s Mayor Tinstle, the head of the town. There’s a citizen who talks gibberish who used to be the mayor. Was it mentioned earlier that the game has some quirky, funny moments? If you’ve played games like Katamari Damacy, you’ll fit right in playing Ooblets. Your avatar explains that you are looking for a place to call home and grow. 

Tinstle introduces you to the town and to Ooblets. As for a place to stay, she offers you a run-down farmhouse you can live in. Don’t worry; you can fix it up and decorate it. It’s similar to how you can expand your home and add decor in Animal Crossing.

But you can’t just venture off without an Ooblet. Mayor Tinstle calls out a few citizens to let you choose which Ooblet club you want to join. Joining one gives you a unique Ooblet that isn’t attainable in the beginning of the game. Choosing an Ooblet pays homage to choosing your first Pokemon, just with clubs. It doesn’t really matter which club you choose, as you’ll be helping each one out with tasks.

Drop It Like It’s Hot

To start a battle, find an Ooblet, or seek out any non-playable character (NPC) who is looking for a challenge. The game does not have random battle encounters. Instead, if you have the required item(s) in your inventory, then you can challenge an Ooblet. You’ll have to hand over your item when you do battle, so make sure you have an extra one.

If you’ve played card-based games like SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, then you’ll pick up on the gameplay fast. The goal is to reach a certain amount of points in ten rounds. As long as you have more points by the end of ten rounds, you’ll win.

You’ll be handed a set of cards, some having unique abilities based on which Ooblet you have in your team. For each round, you’ll have a set number of “beats.” Beats are your action points that are required to gain points, add hype (boosts point value), add frustration (lowers point value), or make the opposing Ooblet lose one or more turns. Make use of them strategically. For example, playing a couple hype cards in the first round will add point values to your cards in the second round.

You may have an Ooblet that may be good with one specific skill, but it’s good to have a varied set of Ooblets in your team to maintain balance in battles. If you have no Ooblets that give hypes and your opponent hands over frustrations, you’re in for a long dance battle.

Early in the game, winning battles are easy, but they become more challenging the more you play. More items are required to battle Ooblets as well. Winning against NPCs doesn’t give you much, just progress through the story. As such, you’d better find ways to earn cash other than battling.

Hard at Work

If you think it’ll be easy earning cash, think again. Ooblets will make you work for it. To earn gummies and wishes (the game’s forms of currency), you’ll need to take on tasks. Whether it’s talking to people, collecting, or selling items, you’ll need a large amount to make purchases. Need to expand the size of your house? You’re looking at 2,000 gummies at least and selling your crops is going to take a while.

Gummies are used to purchase seeds, clothing, decor, house size, haircuts, and food/snacks. You can get away with not getting a haircut for now but purchasing a backpack is needed to increase your inventory slots. There’s such a substantial amount of items to get that you’ll be challenged to give up or eat.

Wishes are used to increase the size of your Ooblet coop, or they can be exchanged for gummies, clothplants (more on those later), tools to help harvest, and more. The higher the level your avatar is, the more items become available to buy.

There’s an additional type of currency as well: medals for fan clubs. Here’s the catch: you can’t spend all medals at one club. Each club has their own type. Most of the items you can buy with them are accessories for your Ooblet. To obtain medals, you can either complete tasks for the club or find them hidden in town.

Farm Your Way

Early on, you’ll need certain plants in order to progress through the game. Harvesting your plants and Ooblets takes days, but luckily, the game’s clock is quite fast. That doesn’t mean you can just plant and call it a day, though. If you played farming simulations such as Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley, you know what you are getting yourself into—taking care of your crops. Your crops will need water, and the game will indicate if the soil is dry or not. After watering, weeds can grow around or in the crops. Simply leaving it alone will cause issues. Rocks will even pop up if you leave the soil open. Removing and cleaning up can be a chore, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it. Breaking rocks will give you resources to help build items (Ooblet coops) or to donate for completing tasks.

A word of advice: Start planting as many clothplant seeds as possible at the beginning of the game. Many tasks and exchanges to build require these plants. Purchasing seeds can cost quite a bit of gummies. Once you have a solid bundle of clothplants, you can start looking into growing other plants. Some of them can be ground into other items that will be necessary to progress further into the game. These will be needed to complete more tasks. More tasks done equals more money.

When it comes to tending the farm, you do have the option to stay up through the night to keep working or sleep till morning. Just make sure to eat to help bring your energy back up. When your energy does go out, you won’t be able to do anything except walking. A nap can help bring it back, but a good night’s sleep is needed. Also, if you don’t take a good night’s rest till morning, you can’t gain experience points to level up.

Leveling up your avatar is based on what you do during the day. Harvesting, selling, talking to townsfolk, completing tasks, and competing in dance-offs are all put into your experience. When gaining levels, you’ll have access to more items in the wishlist to purchase.

Vibrant, Creative World

Ooblets’s unique style helps the game stand out from many other simulation games. Explaining the simplistic illustrations and vibrant colors doesn’t do it justice. You’ll want to play the game to get a taste of the vibrant world. When the sun sets, the colors adjust to the orange sunset, and when nightfall hits, blues and blacks look bold as fireflies flit about in the air. If the game ever has season changes, it’ll be interesting how fall and winter would look through the day.

The Ooblets soundtrack composed by Pedro Silva helps bring the quirkiness of Ooblets to life. If you’ve played any of the Animal Crossing games, the music works in a similar way, with the tracks changing from morning to night. It makes a stroll through downtown Badgetown lively no matter what time of day it is. 

That vibe extends to the dance-offs. Since battling is important, Ooblets has over half a dozen battle tracks. Specific events or encounters have dedicated tunes, and most of the songs are upbeat and lively. As the world of Ooblets continues to grow, expect more to be added.

Come Back Soon!

The game’s story isn’t much after your first exposure with the game. Having to help Mayor Tinstle with getting the town’s Wi-Fi running again is about what you can expect for an adventure. You’ll visit a new area which is vastly different from Badgetown, but it feels about half the size of your hometown. Additional areas are currently being developed and the developers ask for your patience till they’re ready.

In general, many parts of Ooblets are still being worked on while writing this review, as evidenced by the noticeable glitches that occur. For example, when you leave your farmhouse area for the city, it may not transition properly. In another instance, your watering can can disappear, but it can still be used. With over 100 items listed in the log that need attention since launch, the developers are working hard to keep the game growing. It’s not enough to make you steer away from it, though, since the simulation aspect and dance-offs are entertaining. Hopefully, more storyline and Ooblets will arrive soon. Be sure to check the log updates when you boot up the game or take a look on their website.

The Final Harvest

Goshzookie! With a combination of varying gameplay styles alongside beautiful designs and upbeat music, Ooblets is an adorable and entertaining game that, even with its glitches, is still worth putting your time into playing. So come make your home in Badgetown. You’ll be glad you did.

Ooblets is available now on the Xbox One and the Epic Game Store for PC. An early access code provided by the publishers/developers for this review.