Reading through the multitude of reviews that have been written on Osmos since it was originally released for PC just over a year ago — then ported to Mac, and then iPad, and lastly iPhone — it’s hard to get a grasp on what exactly Osmos is. If there’s any consistency in this regard, it’s that no two people arrive at the same conclusion.
Reviews paint drastically different pictures of it, and often contain contradictions within themselves. Osmos takes place at the molecular level, but it’s set in outer space. It’s trancelike, yet infuriating. It’s casual and hardcore.
People say it’s relaxing, but sometimes I find it terrifying. The organisms are very hostile there. And depending on who you ask, it’s either a puzzler, a strategy game, a Katamari-like ball rolling game, or a game that hearkens back to the golden age of arcades.
Some reviewers have written about the moment they “get it,” almost as if they found catharsis, or had a religious experience. Terms like “zen,” “moving,” and “an experience” are often used to describe it. At the same time, Osmos seems to be nothing more than the manifestation of scientific theories — constructed out of Newtonian physics, Darwinism, and economic principles.
During my conversation with a talkative Eddy Boxerman, idealist, entrepreneur, and the creator of Osmos, I asked him what his game was about. “Sustainability,” he said, resolvedly. “It seems so obvious that everything we do should strive for sustainability. A giant dinosaur chasing down a person to eat is spending a hell of a lot of energy to eat it. We need to make sure we are spending less than we are able to gather.”
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Tags: Action, hemisphere games, osmos, reviews
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