THE STORY

Many apps claim to offer a dark gaming experience, but none quite so literally as this little gem. Things get a bit shady when the lighthouse that illuminates your world explodes and scatters its shards of light across the land, releasing the beastly bad things that had previously been kept to the shadows, and only you can evade the evil doers to collect the shards and restore the light. Well, that remains to be seen…

THE EXPERIENCE

Tim Burton doesn’t make apps, but if he did I imagine he’d come up with something like this. Incredibly stylised with stark, gothic landscapes, sharp silhouettes and jagged, jarring character shapes, Oscura is eminently playable and hugely playful from the very beginning.

Operating the odd little Oscura using simple, intuitive hold, tap and swipe gestures, the action is wonderfully fluid as you leap and claw your rapid way through the torn and twisted levels, gathering light shards wherever you can find them and garnering goodies on the go.

Naturally, the further you get, the trickier things become, but the developers have worked a perfect balance between challenge and playing pleasure, thus ensuring you remain hooked without getting worked up into a frenzy of phone throwing frustration.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Oscura is inventive, entertaining and utterly enjoyable. Few apps get the balance between graphics, gameplay, soundtrack and experience so well-balanced – worth £1.29 of anyone’s money. If there was one complaint, it could be longer, but otherwise we see this rocketing up the app charts faster than the speed of light…

Additional information

Current version: 2.0
Requires Android 2.3.3 and up

Download the Oscura app from Google Play

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