New indie game Ooo could be the next Animal Well, and you can play it now

You'd be forgiven for having missed Öoo, a puzzle-platforming metroidvania that released on Steam yesterday. It arrived with little fanfare, few official reviews, and one of the strangest names I've come across in a decade of writing about games and over twice that playing them. In fact, I only noticed it because I'm a big fan of developer NamaTakahashi's debut title, ElecHead. Check that out, too, if you're in the mood for quirky indie games with innovative mechanics.

Both ElecHead and Öoo employ clever gameplay loops that hinge on one core mechanic, the sort of mechanic that you can't believe hasn't been explored this deeply in any of the best indie games before. In Öoo, that is your protagonist caterpillar's bomb tail.

This little pixel art caterpillar grows bombs on its bum. Presumably this is a normal thing for this species of caterpillar to do, because none of the creatures in this sprawling dungeon comment on it. Then again, they don't comment on anything. There's no text at all in the game, no dialogue. The only story is the emergent narrative of your attempts to explore, and to learn the creative ways with which you can utilize your bombs.

Bombs are primarily used for blowing stuff up. Opening pathways, getting past obstacles, that sort of thing. Normal bomb stuff. But in Öoo, you can also use the momentum of the explosion to jump horizontally or vertically in order to further explore new areas. It's kind of like rocket jumping in Team Fortress 2, if you think about it.

I won't spoil all the uses of bombs for you (I couldn't even if I wanted to, as I highly doubt I've figured out them all!), but it's safe to say Öoo gets very creative with this core mechanic. That's what reminds me so much of Animal Well, that 'a-ha!' moment when you figure out that you can actually ride the frisbee instead of just yeeting it to sneak past the dog.

Öoo should only take you a few hours to complete, so if you're on the hunt for your next best metroidvania game, check out our list. We've got a great rundown of the best puzzle games, too, if you fancy another head-scratcher.

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