Grow Home studio get musical in new game Ode
Surprise!
The Ubisoft studio behind Grow Home and Atomega have unexpectedly launched another more-experimental little game. Ode is a musical wander-o-platformer inviting us to roll, leap, swing, collect, and bounce around a colourful world, making music as we go. Perhaps imagine a gamier Proteus and you're half-way there. Ubisoft announced Ode today and -- oh! -- have released it this very same day. That is a surprise. Have a look-see:
Ode gives us a little blobperson to explore alien places where plants, creatures, and the very world all make music. Each plays their own little part, combining to make the whole place alive with the sound of music. So far, so Proteus. But Ode is within far more of a conventional game structure. Ubifolks cite games like Journey and Rez as inspirations.
Reflections is Ubisoft's current source of unconventional little games and they've made some good stuff, so I'm interested. While Ubi's smaller games are often in conventional genres, like the World War 1 adventure game Valiant hearts and fairytale RPG Child of Light, Reflections seem to be making whatever tickles their fancy.
Ode is out now for £4.49. Curiously, it's only available through Ubisoft's own store and the Uplay client. Launching a game without notice and choosing to sell it only on a minor store seems a sure-fire way to sink it. Weird. I do hope this won't impact Reflections' chances to make more fun little games. That Jann Ubisoft is a loose cannon.