Otherskin

About

Otherskin is a single player shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Game Atelier and was released on September 2, 2025. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Join Alex on her deadly solo-mission to expose the mysteries of planet Vandermire. Experience a truly transformative third-person shooter and absorb organic abilities to expand your combat and movement capabilities beyond anything you’ve seen before.

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70%

Audience ScoreBased on 43 reviews

atmosphere3 positive mentions

story4 negative mentions

Unique morph ability system that enriches exploration and combat with creative and varied powers.
Interesting and diverse level design with distinct biomes and memorable set pieces, offering a fresh experience in each stage.
Enjoyable old-school 360/PS3 era vibe with fast and fluid movement, fun platforming, and a blend of ranged and melee combat.

Frequent crashes, bugs, and technical issues including stuttering, poor optimization, and occasional game-breaking glitches.
Combat can feel basic, clunky, or unpolished with stiff animations and sometimes annoying enemy AI or behavior.
The game’s structure resets powers after each level and is linear with limited replayability, plus some players find the story and voice acting underdeveloped.

gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
The gameplay offers a blend of creative mechanics like morph abilities and environmental interactions, providing enjoyable variety and exploration through distinct, self-contained levels. While praised for its ambition, thematic depth, and strategic elements, some find it lacks polish and innovation, with certain design choices—such as resetting abilities in separate dungeons—diminishing the metroidvania feel. Overall, it appeals to players who appreciate atmospheric sci-fi shooters with unique mobility and combat systems, though it may require refinement to fully satisfy all audiences.
- “These range from fairly standard things like high jump & glide (via insect wings) and grapple (using a toad-like tongue), to more exotic things like time manipulation to restore destroyed structures and platforms, or manipulating environment with things like electricity, acid, sonic pulses, etc. Each level is designed around a specific theme, and there's quite a bit of variety and unique mechanics in each, being used in both traversal and puzzle-solving.”
- “The main mechanics that this is built around is the ability to absorb the powers from various monsters and then use it to travel or interact with the environment.”
- “As well as integrating melee combat, the game does other things to shake up the gameplay and keep things fresh (without spoiling too much, it's to do with the way that you gain, lose, and re-gain powers between levels).”
- “So, suffice to say that going into this game I had some high expectations on the gameplay side of things at least, and unfortunately the game utterly failed to live up to them.”
- “Yes, there is some use-this-unlockable-skill-to-overcome-that-obstacle mechanic present in this game, but this alone does not make a Metroidvania, especially since this game does not offer a single connected world that you'll be running through forth and back. Instead, it allows you to visit several separated areas—let's just call them 'dungeons'—which are connected via a central hub, and your unlockable skills get reset in each dungeon.”
- “Almost every game mechanic or level design is borrowed from another game and the gameplay doesn't really feel creative or innovative.”
story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
70%
17%
The story centers on Alex, a solo space explorer on a mission to stop a universe-threatening corruption, offering a straightforward sci-fi premise with some intriguing elements and collectibles that add backstory. However, it lacks depth in lore and character development, features minimal dialogue and world-building, and suffers from technical issues that affect immersion. While the narrative and voice acting are generally professional, many players find the storytelling simplistic and less engaging compared to similar games.
- “The story places you directly in the role of a volunteer who knowingly accepts a mission that will almost certainly claim her life.”
- “Humanity’s survival depends on learning how to fight it, and your mission is to secure that knowledge, even if it costs you everything.”
- “Players control Alex, a space explorer on a solo mission to investigate the mysterious corruption spreading on the alien planet Vandermire.”
- “Plus, outside of her and her AI companion, there are literally no other characters, so there is basically no story despite the premise.”
- “You need to stop the space goo from destroying the universe and then you do; end of story.”
- “Dialogue is bad and I'm not sure what's actually going on story-wise.”
optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
61%
22%
Optimization is a significant concern, with many users reporting stuttering, clipping issues, and inconsistent performance, especially in later levels. While some experienced improvements over time, the game often demands high-end hardware for a smooth experience, and many suggest waiting for patches to address these performance problems. Overall, the game needs better testing and optimization to reduce technical glitches and ensure stable performance.
- “However, the performance improved over the next few levels, with the game running mostly smooth at my 60 fps cap during the later stages I played.”
- “At least for now, I can only recommend this game to players with beefy gaming hardware. If you have lower-end hardware, it's best to wait and see if the developers improve performance in the coming weeks or months.”
- “I've had no real noteworthy performance issues during my playthrough.”
- “The downside is: this game badly needs better testing and optimization.”
- “The further into the game you get, the worse it gets (performance and bugs), meaning your first two hours will be stuttery and maybe the odd bug, but the remaining 3-4 hours will be rough as hell.”
- “So, yes to get it out of the way, this game does have a fair bit of the AA jank, and some pretty serious performance problems in a few select spots where the game literally hung for a couple seconds frequently until I could maneuver out of the zone.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The game is praised for its immersive and atmospheric alien worlds, combining compelling storytelling with strategic mechanics. While it may lack AAA-level polish, its visual design and innovative combat create a captivating sci-fi experience that appeals to players valuing atmosphere and narrative depth.
- “If you’re a gamer who values atmosphere, storytelling, and mechanics that reward strategy over mindless grinding, then this game deserves a spot on your list.”
- “Visually, otherskin offers atmospheric alien biomes and diverse enemy designs with a mid-budget polish that surpasses many indie titles.”
- “Immersive atmospheric alien worlds and narrative drive.”
graphics
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, with some users finding them outdated and slightly glitchy, while others praise the visuals, lighting, and world design as beautiful and immersive. Overall, the visuals are adequate but could benefit from upgrades and enhancements.
- “The visuals and the lighting are gorgeous, the combat is somewhat fun and the world design is genuinely sublime.”
- “Slightly glitchy, but still enjoyable game that desperately needs New Game+ or DLC in the future along with some graphics upgrades.”
- “Boring game and the graphics is from 15 years ago!”
- “Slightly glitchy, but still enjoyable game that desperately needs NG+ or DLC in the future along with some graphics upgrades.”
- “The visuals are decent — not impressive, but they get the job done.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from numerous stability issues, including glitches like clipping, enemies attacking after death, and frequent performance drops such as stutters and freezes, even on high-end hardware. While it rarely crashes, the unoptimized and buggy nature significantly impacts the overall experience.
- “The main issue I have is really with some of the jank and glitches I encountered such as clipping into objects, enemies still attacking after death, and poor performance at times for seemingly no reason (thankfully no crashes).”
- “I know UE5 has a reputation for poor optimization but there's no excuse for 3-4 second stutter and freezes while parkouring in combat with an RTX 4090 and i9 13900k.”
- “Tl;dr: very fun, but unoptimized beyond all heck and buggy to boot.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is minimal and not a primary focus, with gameplay emphasizing unique stage designs and strategic mechanics rather than repetitive tasks. Players seeking atmosphere and thoughtful challenge will find the experience rewarding without reliance on mindless grinding.
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the music and voices to be very quiet, leading to a diminished experience where the soundtrack and dialogue are easily missed without subtitles.
- “The voices are very low, and the music is very low.”
- “I sort of feel like I missed out on the soundtrack and some of the voice dialogue, which I only became aware of because of subtitles.”