You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/oco.1876/

If you’ve wanted a fair dose of puzzle platforming on the go, you may recognise OCO. Originally released in 2019 on mobile storefronts, it’s a relatively simple one button title where you make a square jump as it endlessly cycles around a circular map. Your aim? To collect all the bits. It’s remarkably simple and, at its core, I think this is a large part of why it was so successful on phones. Coming to PC last week, does it still stand up?

Now it’s probably worth saying this is the first time I’ve seen OCO. While it’s been available since 2019, my interest in mobile gaming only really took off towards the end of last year as I picked up my first gaming phone. Even with it though, I’ve focussed more on high-end emulation. It’d almost feel like a waste of hardware to play something so simple! I fear this was a mistake. Being provided a code for the PC version by the PR for the game, I took it upon myself to try and ultimately buy the mobile version to see how the experience differs and how each version stands to compliment each other.

On my phone the game runs great. It’s something I expect will run great no matter what you’re playing it on, whether it’s a phone or low-end laptop. Starting out, the gameplay is as simple as mentioned earlier; you jump to avoid obstacles and collect bits. Naturally, there are a few other objectives that keep the game interesting. These are the bonus objectives of beating a given level within a “perfect” time, or within a specified number of inputs. These objectives are where the bulk of the puzzling comes in, forcing you to plan your route strategically in oppose to endlessly circling until you eventually hit everything. It’s addictive, as many mobile titles are. Though in the first world you only have basic ground and blocks that propel you in the air on contact, the game steadily builds in more elements as you work your way through it. This keeps the gameplay fresh and allows unique challenges to form around familiar concepts. I confess I’m yet to beat every level, but having sampled a bit of each world, I can safely say the levels are well designed. It’d seem like a waste to rush through them all when I have much more fun playing in small bursts. It’s not to say I haven’t been captivated for a few hours at a time though!

What really makes the PC version of OCO worthwhile for me is the brilliantly simple cloud saving solution. You log in on Steam, and you log in on your phone. And that’s it. When I finish up at my PC and pick up my phone in another room, my progress is ready for me. I really love playing a level or two on my train to work in the morning. Of course, while the game is free on mobile platforms, you will need to buy the Pro version to have access to the cloud saving functionality. This costs the same as the Steam version, at £3.99, but does bring it to the same level in terms of content and removal of adverts. Your achievements also sync across platforms too, which is always nice.

Though I’m having a great time with the standard set of levels, where the game has found and will continue to find its longevity is in user generated content. It’s remarkably easy to make and share your own levels, and it’s equally simple to play the levels of others. I personally found the making process simpler on PC thanks to the more precise nature of a mouse for clicking where you want blocks to go in the circular grid, but it’s perfectly passable on mobile too thanks to being able to zoom and pan with multiple inputs. It was in playing around with the level editor I realised that the music is entirely procedural also, adapting to what you interact with. It’s genuinely fantastic, and matches the gameplay well enough that I thought I was jumping to the music, in oppose to the music changing to my jumps. 

OCO is a game I really do recommend, regardless of which platform you think suits you better. It’s criminal it only has 14 reviews on Steam at the time of writing, and I hope I’ve given people enough insight to give it a shot. It’s a cheap punt on Steam, and completely free to try on mobile. If you enjoy addictive platforming, this is one for you.