What does it mean to be a man? To be a protector? Warrior? Provider? Father? Leader? Hunter? Poet? Sage? Playboy? Or something else altogether?

Whoever you ask - both those who embrace classically understood masculinity and those who reject it - will probably agree that a man should be strong. And even then, what does it even mean to be strong? It really is a pointless conversation; everybody is "supposed" to find their own answer, but let's be honest, people aren't good at this kind of stuff. So we fall back on what's unspoken, and return back to square one.

To talk about OTXO is to talk about masculinity. You are with your girl. You pick up the mask. You put on the mask. Now, she's gone, the mask is stuck to you, and it's up to you to save her... by laying waste to an army of enemies, their blood being the only colour in this accursed mansion.

It's Hotline Miami, but it flows better - because you don't die in one hit. And can't get sniped from off screen (ok, you can, but it won't kill you). You know that state of playing Miami when you just mow down enemies, dancing with death on a split-second knife's edge? This is what the entirety of OTXO's gameplay is.

At least once you learn the ropes.

I'd say the game is pretty hard, partially because it's a roguelike. While there is some meta progression, generally you're going to win using your skills; you won't suddenly unlock an upgrade that will grant you more max health or anything like this. All you'll get is more weapon options, and more drink options.

The difficulty comes from the fact that the enemies -will- get stronger, and their variety will increase as you go. You need to keep up. You can increase your own power by buying drinks - each drink is a helpful perk, such as higher fire rate on SMGs, higher throw power on grenades... but also game-changers such as the ability to dual wield one-handed weapons. Double Uzi fire? Not much will be left of whatever you shoot at...

Now, to earn money to get these drinks, you need to do well in fights. Kill fast, in varied and interesting ways, and avoid getting hit. But mostly it's about the speed. So you must learn to enter this flow state and stay in it; otherwise you'll find yourself outmatched.

Yeah, there's more to this game than just shooting. Believe or not, there's even some lore, and of different kinds, to boot. I won't bore you with the details, let me just give you the, shall we say, vibe of it.

A man wants to protect. A man wants to love. But he ends up being a wolf. Not a proud beast, but a starved survivor, fighting at the end of his rope. Your face doesn't matter. You don the mask. You're interchangeable. And once you're drained of everything that you once were, another will come.

The game oozes the aesthetic of wounded masculinity. It -knows- it's senseless and hurtful, but it's the only thing you know. Nobody told you how to be anything but a wolf, so that's what you are. Now go; grab a firearm, down a drink, and get back into that meat grinder.

Or maybe it's just me.

Not that it's a bad thing. It fits, it know what it is and what it isn't, and that's a good thing. The music is banger - in fact, I use it for workouts sometimes - but I wish there was more variety. There are quite a few tracks, but latter areas have the same music as the earlier ones. The only moments where you'll hear something new is when you fight a boss that you haven't seen. Luckily, in order to beat the game you have to literally go through every single boss, so no worries, you'll hear it all.

There's also this interesting mechanic. As you play, you'll unlock new weapons. How do you get these weapons, once unlocked? Well, the enemies will be carrying them; so every new weapon can make both you and your opponents more dangerous. Sounds risky? It is - but you are given fine control over which exact weapons will appear during a run. So if you see that some weapons just don't feel right in your hands, or give the enemies too much of an advantage, turn 'em off and you're golden. Finding the right set of weapons to play with is also part of learning the game.

Took me 52 hours to beat. Not many people beat the game, though - 85% of players have the achievement for dying for the first time, but only roughly 10% have the achievement for winning. I'm not surprised, there were times when I felt like there's no way I can ever get any further; but eventually I managed to get just the right combination of drinks, weapons and not-being-an-idiot-s and it just happened.

I recommend it, of course - I really liked it. It's a little rough here and there, but it's a fantastic evolution of Hotline Miami's formula. And even if HM wasn't your thing, I'd say this is worth checking out. Even if you don't identify with the aesthetic!

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I have severe alcohol addiction.

No seriously, this game kicks ASS. The top notch soundtrack pairing with fun gameplay elements makes this game fun!

legit ost to feel yourself like a god to then get denied of your moments

although a bit of a shame that there's no "drink selection" menu like "armory selection" one