Albert and Otto

About

Albert and Otto is a single player puzzle game with fantasy and thriller themes. It was developed by K Bros Games and was released on October 28, 2015. It received neutral reviews from players.

"Albert and Otto" is a haunting 2D puzzle-platformer set in 1939 Germany. The player controls Albert, who's in search of a mysterious girl with bunny ears, accompanied by her magical bunny, Otto. Together, they unlock new abilities to traverse the world, with Otto able to fit through tight gaps and Albert capable of shooting and jumping. The game features unique mechanics, where Otto can be carried or remotely controlled to solve puzzles. The story is inspired by dark events of the 20th century, with clues to the girl's identity scattered throughout the game.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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58%

Audience ScoreBased on 246 reviews

story11 positive mentions

stability15 negative mentions

The game features an interesting art style and atmospheric soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
Puzzles are engaging and require creative thinking, providing a satisfying challenge for players.
The game has a unique mechanic involving a magical bunny that adds depth to the gameplay.

The checkpoint system is poorly designed, often forcing players to replay long sections after dying.
Controls can feel clunky and unresponsive, leading to frustrating gameplay, especially during timed sequences.
The game ends abruptly, leaving players with unresolved storylines and a sense of incompleteness.

story
84 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
83%
4%
The story in the game is often described as minimalistic and unclear, with many players expressing frustration over its lack of engagement and resolution. While some appreciate the intriguing elements and dark themes, the narrative is frequently criticized for being vague, poorly conveyed, and incomplete, leaving players wanting more context and clarity. Overall, the storytelling relies heavily on environmental cues and collectibles, which may not satisfy those seeking a well-defined plot.
- “The story is really mysterious and fun, revolving around how a boy with a magical bunny solves puzzles and almost dies just to find this girl.”
- “The visual design is great, the characters are good, and the almost out-of-touch-with-reality storytelling is something I've always liked, with the music providing a superb underpinning to the atmosphere.”
- “There's a whole backstory about early-era Nazi Germany, a missing sister, and a mystical bunny rabbit, with most of the storytelling coming from the environment and music.”
- “The story isn’t very engaging, and it lacks variety.”
- “The few bits and pieces do not add up to anything; if you are here for a story, you are wrong.”
- “Yet, after the completion of episode 1 (a 2.5 hour adventure), we know very little, if anything at all, about the story or the world it is set in.”
gameplay
81 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
62%
7%
The gameplay of "Albert and Otto" is a mixed bag, with players noting its reliance on precise timing and challenging mechanics that can lead to frustration, particularly due to sparse checkpoints and clumsy controls. While some appreciate the puzzle-solving elements and unique mechanics, many find the overall experience marred by inconsistent physics and punishing gameplay, making it less enjoyable. Despite its artistic appeal and potential, the game struggles to balance difficulty with fun, leaving players divided on their overall experience.
- “The gameplay is solid and the puzzles are challenging at times, but not so difficult that you get stuck.”
- “It's the gameplay that really shines here, slowly building up little tricks that you can do, and then ramping them up into more hefty challenges - both intellectually, and also giving you more reflex-based activities.”
- “This game is short but it was very effectively atmospheric and the gameplay fun and engaging.”
- “The absence of a climb mechanic makes missing jump timings unforgivable, and you die whenever you lose your focus.”
- “1-3 hours to complete, Albert and Otto is a fairly basic and simple 2D platforming game that unfortunately becomes difficult as nearly everything requires precise and perfect timing; otherwise, you need to start the section over again, and with sparse checkpoints, strange physics that make objects jump around, and frustrating mechanics, this game becomes significantly less fun.”
- “For the puzzle platformer segments, they are fine and are fun to solve, but the more twitch-style parts of the game, such as killing crows, boss battles, and those river segments, feel like punishing gameplay rather than difficult gameplay.”
graphics
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
50%
4%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising its unique art style reminiscent of "Limbo," which effectively conveys a dark atmosphere. However, some users criticize the simplistic and low-polygon visuals, describing them as unrefined and reminiscent of early 90s games, leading to confusion between gameplay elements and backgrounds. Overall, while the aesthetic is appreciated by some, the lack of graphical options and texture quality detracts from the experience for others.
- “The graphics and general feel are pretty good, but the gameplay isn't to my taste.”
- “With a beautiful soundtrack and graphics to boot, the game complements itself well.”
- “The art style and graphic details are really impressive, and I love the music.”
- “There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- “The lack of textures is a method that lazy developers often use to disguise their lack of talent or interest in doing the graphics properly, trying to disguise it under the name of 'art' or 'we made it look bad on purpose', which really isn't something gamers should have to put up with.”
- “Everything from the blocky graphics to the sloppy controls makes this feel like a project that is still under development.”
music
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
45%
7%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its beautiful and atmospheric qualities that enhance the overall experience. While some players found the soundtrack fitting and evocative, others criticized it for being repetitive or mismatched with certain gameplay elements. Overall, the music is often highlighted as a strong point, contributing significantly to the game's aesthetic and emotional depth, despite some minor issues with sound normalization and variety.
- “The music is excellent and the art style works really well (some observant might notice the color choices along with where the game takes place...).”
- “When I first launched the game, I thought I knew what to expect, but I was immediately blown away by how well the soundtrack fits within the game world.”
- “Fantastic music and really pleasing, limbo-esque art design.”
- “Badly normalized sound - sometimes you can barely hear the music, especially during the boss fights.”
- “The soundtrack doesn't really match the gameplay or motif.”
- “The music is repetitive, and the puzzle is simple and boring.”
atmosphere
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
44%
12%
The atmosphere of the game is a mixed bag among reviewers, with some praising its unique art style and eerie sound design that evoke a dark, mysterious ambiance reminiscent of titles like Limbo. However, others criticize the lack of a compelling backstory and coherent world-building, suggesting that while the visuals and music contribute to a haunting atmosphere, the overall execution falls short in creating an engaging narrative experience. Despite these criticisms, many agree that the game successfully delivers a visually striking and atmospheric puzzle-platforming experience.
- “Not bad game, unique art style, dark atmosphere, decent puzzles.”
- “This game is short but it was very effectively atmospheric and the gameplay fun and engaging.”
- “The visual design is great, the characters are good, the almost-out-of-touch-with-reality storytelling is something I've always liked, and the music provides a superb underpinning to the atmosphere.”
- “Another disappointment for some might be that they expected another Limbo, but Albert & Otto only shares the color scheme and not the dark atmosphere – it basically has no true backstory worthy of the name.”
- “The time it takes to complete challenges within the game lengthens overall gameplay but largely takes away from creating atmosphere or drawing me into the story.”
- “While properly nightmarish, with dire wolves and clockwork monsters, the setting didn't click for me: it felt more like a bunch of scary elements thrown together than a believable world with a coherent atmosphere.”
stability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is frequently criticized, with users reporting numerous glitches and bugs that disrupt gameplay, such as falling through the floor and unresponsive controls. While some players find the issues manageable with quick restarts, others feel that the game's lack of polish and frustrating mechanics significantly detract from the overall experience, making it hard to recommend in its current state.
- “It's not only the difficulty; the game is just not polished and it glitches quite a lot.”
- “If the broken puzzles are fixed, then I would recommend the game; however, in its current buggy/broken state, I cannot recommend this game to anyone.”
- “I have no problem dying to learn how I'm meant to solve a puzzle, but when you decide to make a level insanely precisely timed and then give the player buggy, temperamental controls, which sometimes choose to just not work at all, and then punish the player by making them die repeatedly and reload in a far-off checkpoint, then you are not designing games well.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews highlight that the grinding aspect of the game is often tedious and frustrating, with many players finding the mechanics cumbersome and the trial-and-error sections overly drawn-out. While some puzzles are engaging, the reliance on repetitive tasks and awkward controls detracts from the overall experience, particularly in the game's final moments.
- “Also, the mouse controls are stiff and inconvenient; it feels like controlling Mario in ice levels, doubly so when you need to use the mouse to move an item with your super abilities, which takes a good chunk of game time. No wonder this game wasn't released on PS or Xbox; controlling the cursor with the twin sticks would've been an almost impossible and tedious chore.”
- “Fantastic game if you like extremely long and tedious trial-and-error sections.”
- “Given the game’s short length, most of the sections and puzzles manage to feel fresh, but there were some areas that seemed designed for trial and error rather than pure skill; some longer sections became tedious when there was maybe one part that kills the player while everything surrounding it was too drawn-out and easy.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized as a mix of dark and twisted elements, often eliciting laughter through its absurdity and creepy yet cute visuals, particularly involving sheep. While some players found the humor engaging and funny, others felt it was overshadowed by distressing gameplay, leading to a mixed reception overall.
- “It is fun, kinda twisted humor (it is still humor, or...?), creepy (and yet cute) pictures and a lot of dead sheep... but... why?”
- “And as long as you don't mind being slightly cruel to sheep, it's also quite darkly funny....”
- “It made me laugh more than once.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
200%
The monetization of "Albert and Otto" has been criticized as a cash grab, with users feeling it is a poorly ported mobile app rather than a legitimate PC game. Many view it as a ripoff of "Limbo," highlighting concerns over its value and originality.
- “Albert and Otto is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it were a real PC game (it's not). It's a cash grab from greedy mobile developers.”
- “This mobile app is a ripoff of Microsoft's Limbo, but it's really a totally different game because the foreground is white, not black.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game's optimization is notably poor, with frequent FPS drops that hinder gameplay, making it unplayable for some users.
- “The game has really bad optimization; there are frequent FPS drops, making it unplayable.”
- “The optimization is terrible, leading to constant lag and stuttering during gameplay.”
- “I experienced significant performance issues due to poor optimization, which ruined my gaming experience.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by the impactful and heart-wrenching sound of dying sheep, which stands out as a well-crafted element. However, this is contrasted by the presence of generic and unmemorable music, detracting from the overall emotional experience.