Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel

Still entertains children so many years later. I remember fondly watching my late younger brother playing this game, and it does my heart good to watch my daughter do the same. Hearing her run to me begging me come to see what she found found (an ant tunnel full of ant babiesl) is priceless. It's a non-story point and click adventure by Cyan Studios, who also made Manhole, Spelunx and later the Myst games. The art is simple, but effective, the gameplay is amusing, and it's very good for teaching young children (~3) mouse control. The absurdist comedy really hits home for the young folk, and the focus on cause and effect makes a lasting impression.

Have this game on hand to entertain young relatives. Kids still love it in 2014. The creators went on after this to create MYST and Riven, and it's a sedate and calming wacky little exploration gem. I could be wrong about this but I believe this is one of the first games to ever ship on a CD-ROM, weighing in at something like 80mb of 1-bit content, plus the soundtrack. Side note, it's baffling that it's been removed from the OSX offerings. It is clearly a port and not a bundled emulator pack. This should have the upside of eliminating legal issues with distributing apple macintosh ROM images, with the unpleasant side effect of creating an inauthentic experience to the original game. (Source for this is based on some of the crossfades having grayscale, which obv didn't exist on 68k macs from 1990 or whenever this came out.) No idea why it isn't available aside from windows.

To thoroughly enjoy this game you either need to be a child or maintain a sense of childlike discovery. There is no objective, no score, no gameover, no win conditions, no time limits. This isn't even really a game. Cosmic Osmo is a discovery experience that appeals to the humorous light hearted surreal nature of kids and those of us lucky enough to still be kids at heart. It plays much like a point and click adventure game, but without inventory or really plotline, your only driving motivation is to see what you can find next. You are essentially an alien visitor to a very strange and exotic solar system, the home of the titular Cosmic Osmo. You can use a spacecraft to navigate between multiple planets or use a very complex series of tunnels, teleporters, and other surreal means of navigation to traverse around this highly entertaining landscape. While the game certainly looks dated,

Weird and peculiar adventure where you click on things. Some unusual art style filled with only black and white. You will encounter some really strange stuff which is hard to describe... You probably will run the game in a super small window. There is no music but only sounds. After playing for some time my cursor disappeared somehow. Hard to recommend but might be interesting if you're looking into some obscure exploration games.

It's Cosmic Osmo son. if you didn't grow up with this AWESOME GAME then I think your parents don't love you. Pros + You can click on nearly everything and some sort of LSD inspired animation WILL happen + It's got some groovy tunes + Just two colors, Black & White, which provide an extra level of creepiness + Tons-o-Secrets + Plays perfectly on Steam Deck Cons - There are none, ♥♥♥♥ you!

Avant-garde gaming ca. 1989 and a timeless classic.