Osmos

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Osmos is a single-player arcade game known for its ingenious gameplay, splendid visuals, and sensational music. Your goal is to grow by absorbing other motes while carefully propelling yourself, and you'll encounter various challenges in different levels with attractive electronic music in the background. Dynamic time-warping and procedural content add depth to this IGF-finalist game.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

72%

Audience ScoreBased on 751 reviews

music96 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Simple but addicting gameplay that rewards skill and planning.
Beautiful minimalist style and soothing ambient soundtrack create a relaxing atmosphere.
Challenging levels that require strategic thinking and patience, making for a rewarding experience.

Difficulty ramps up significantly in later levels, leading to frustration and potential rage quits.
Some levels can feel tedious and grindy, especially when aiming for achievements.
Lack of multiplayer options and repetitive level designs may limit long-term engagement.

music
170 mentions
56 % positive mentions
42 % neutral mentions
2 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its soothing and ambient qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. Many players appreciate the calming soundtrack, which features a mix of electronic and ambient tracks that align well with the game's visuals and mechanics. While some suggest that the music can become repetitive, it remains a highlight for those seeking a relaxing gaming experience, with many expressing a desire for even more tracks to enjoy.
- “The game's music is soothing, with a selection of ambient and electronic tracks that match the mood of each level.”
- “Absolutely incredible soundtrack, very chilling game!”
- “Brilliantly blurring the lines between the microscopic and cosmic scales, with haunting music, and play that rewards gentleness and patience - this is meditation made into game form.”
- “The music is either a highlight to feed into that zen ideal, or a nonentity, something to just be ignored throughout the game.”
- “The ambient music and space looks disguise a game that will make you drive your keyboard into a wall.”
- “The music and atmosphere are relaxing but the gameplay requires real focus and quickly becomes frustrating once you leave the tutorial zone.”
gameplay
106 mentions
42 % positive mentions
53 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Osmos is characterized by its simple yet addictive mechanics, revolving around the concept of absorbing smaller entities to grow larger. While initially relaxing and easy to grasp, the game introduces challenging physics-based elements that require focus and finesse, particularly in later levels where difficulty spikes. Overall, players appreciate the blend of soothing music, engaging mechanics, and the potential for replayability across various gameplay modes and procedurally generated levels.
- “The beautiful minimalistic world of Osmos provides a tricky yet relaxing action-puzzle experience, offering difficult physics-based gameplay alongside a wonderfully relaxing ambient soundtrack.”
- “The gameplay is easy to learn, yet surprisingly varied and challenging.”
- “Addictively simple gameplay with gorgeous music.”
- “The music and atmosphere are relaxing, but the gameplay requires real focus and quickly becomes frustrating once you leave the tutorial zone.”
- “I really don't like the mechanics; the game is more or less decided in the first 10 seconds.”
- “Pretty, but lacked interesting gameplay.”
graphics
56 mentions
57 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning, minimalist art style that creates an immersive and relaxing atmosphere, complemented by a soothing soundtrack. While many players find the visuals and music to be beautifully coordinated and enjoyable, some express frustration with the gameplay's difficulty, which can clash with the intended relaxing experience. Overall, the graphics are considered excellent and contribute significantly to the game's charm and appeal.
- “The game's presentation is stunning, with a minimalist and elegant art style that creates a mesmerizing and immersive atmosphere.”
- “The graphics are excellent and the ambient music does a good job complementing the gameplay.”
- “Just a beautifully done game, both in its visuals, atmospheric ambient music, and simple concept and controls.”
- “The serene aesthetic is merely a ploy concealing the true rage-inducing nature of this dreck...”
- “Although getting on in age at this point, the natural graphics and ambient music of Osmos hold up perfectly, despite the fact it came out around seven years ago now.”
- “One world is not just tricky, but frustratingly so, clashing with the overall relaxing aesthetic of the game.”
atmosphere
19 mentions
79 % positive mentions
16 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its stunning minimalist art style and soothing ambient music, creating a relaxing and immersive experience. While the gameplay can become challenging and frustrating outside the tutorial, the overall ambiance and simple puzzles contribute to a captivating and enjoyable environment. Reviewers appreciate the balance between relaxation and engagement, making it a memorable experience.
- “The game's presentation is stunning, with a minimalist and elegant art style that creates a mesmerizing and immersive atmosphere.”
- “Just a beautifully done game, both in its visuals, atmospheric ambient music (my favorite genre!) and simple concept and controls.”
- “Challenging enough to be interesting, but in a relaxing atmosphere that gives it longer legs than many other games.”
- “The music and atmosphere are relaxing, but the gameplay requires real focus and quickly becomes frustrating once you leave the tutorial zone.”
replayability
16 mentions
50 % positive mentions
31 % neutral mentions
19 % negative mentions
Overall, the game offers solid replayability, particularly for those who enjoy mastering its mechanics and exploring different strategies. While some players may need a strong affinity for the game to reset progress and replay levels, features like an endless mode and incremental difficulty contribute to its long-term appeal. Casual gamers will find it fun and engaging, providing ample replay value even after completing all levels.
- “A very simple mechanic that makes for an endlessly replayable experience.”
- “It also has an endless mode which gets (slowly) incrementally harder, allowing for very long replay value.”
- “Should you come to master this, replayability is there but a love of the title will be needed in order to motivate you to reset progress and go through the level set once more.”
- “It also has an endless mode which gets incrementally harder, allowing for very long replay value.”
- “A small, simple game but has replay value for those willing to branch out and explore what the game offers.”
story
10 mentions
10 % positive mentions
60 % neutral mentions
30 % negative mentions
The story revolves around a quest for growth and survival, where players navigate through increasingly challenging puzzle-style levels that require strategic planning. As players progress, they encounter additional complexities, particularly in sentient levels, which enhance the core mission of absorbing galaxies and becoming the largest. Overall, the narrative is engaging, blending simple objectives with intricate challenges.
- “These levels range from simple to downright devious puzzle-style levels, where you're forced to carefully plot exactly what you're eating and when.”
- “The sentient levels, however, are a different story.”
- “As you proceed, other challenges are thrown in on top of the basic mission of 'grow and survive'.”
- “Some missions are really, really hard.”
stability
4 mentions
50 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
Overall, the game demonstrates good stability across multiple platforms, but some users have reported freezing issues when pressing the spacebar, necessitating a forced exit.
- “Runs great on multiple platforms.”
- “When I press space, the game freezes and I can only exit.”
grinding
2 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, leading to a less enjoyable experience as they progress.
- “Then it gets a bit tedious and grindy.”
- “Then it gets a bit tedious and grindy.”
humor
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is largely derived from the developers' enjoyment of players' frustrations, particularly regarding the challenging final force levels, which they find amusing. This self-aware approach adds a layer of comedic relief to the overall experience.
- “The developers are laughing their behinds off reading any frustrated comments on the final force levels.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by a sense of vulnerability and growth, as players navigate the tension between absorbing smaller motes for empowerment while avoiding the danger posed by larger motes that can lead to their demise. This dynamic creates a compelling emotional experience of risk and reward.