Osmos Demo

It's always a pleasant surprise to discover a paid game that also comes with a legitimate demo on the Play Store. It denotes a certain seriousness regarding the subject matter. It also guarantees that the gameplay itself is not dependent on a little "plus" icon that sits next to a picture of gems, cash, or whatever foreign currency you might fancy in your idiotic freemium model. Oh, I got carried away. Osmos is a game that reinvented the wheel or at least put a flashy spoiler on it.

Osmos consists of a series of levels in which you will be controlling a "mote" in trying to become as big as possible in a manner very similar to Agar.io. What's fundamentally different though, is that movement, or relative movement, can only be achieved by sacrificing parts of your mass to be used as a propellant. What it means is that the faster you try to move the quicker you will shrink. Herein lies the central concept of Osmos: Patience.

What sets Osmos apart from your average Agar.io clone, are three things. The levels are hardly repetitive, each offering an almost unique challenge. For example, some levels feature orbit dynamics, which are by far the most tricky to complete, but also very impressive to behold. This brings me to my second point, which is animation and graphics. Although there's not much regarding actual animation, levels in Osmos often feature a lot of moving objects, inviting you to lose yourself in the visual noise. On top of that, the sound is there to complete the immersion. Osmos is best played with headphones, as the soundtrack is a notable highlight.

Although it might not seem like it, the Osmos campaign levels, Odyssey, is more like a collection of puzzles than anything else. A level always begins with the same layout, so you can make repeated attempts and refine your approach without being screwed by randomness. What's also good to know is that you can influence the speed of time, which lets you make delicate movements as well as spares you from waiting for something to happen.

Osmos features 72 single player levels out of which ten are freely available in this demo. The full game also comes with an arcade mode and online multiplayer. What I found surprising while playing the first levels, is how the game stays true to Newtonian physics. It's something of a revelation after floating in an enclosed pen to eventually find yourself orbiting a sun among hundreds of objects all following the same rules as before.

Final Thoughts

Even though you can purchase Osmos for the price of a Latte, it doesn't hurt to try out the demo levels, as they can help you figure out if you would like what Osmos got to offer. Level design is excellent, graphics are just right, and the sounds complete this experience of seldom encountered quality.