Boti: Byteland Overclocked Review

Boti: Byteland Overclocked is a homage to the platformers of old, with tons of collectibles across the world. You embark on a journey as the titular protagonist, a data bot who sets off with Zero and One to complete various quests, including ridding the world of bugs, viruses, and even finding a lost ally!

As usual retro platformers, Boti: Byteland Overclocked doesn't really have much of a story to speak of, as the crew of characters set out on various adventures across a sci-fi world inspired by technology. I did love the banter that Zero and One shared among each other (Boti is a silent protagonist, so there's not much to say about them), and I was surprised it didn’t feel nearly as indie as I expected it to.

There is an opening cutscene with a fully voice-acted cast of characters (aside from random bots you'll find around that have dialogue but don't speak), and I was thoroughly pleased with the effort put into these areas. The voice acting isn't subpar, either, with character performances being one of the highlights, as Zero and One managed to get a chuckle out of me.

Cutscenes set the theme for the rest of the game, however, as you start off with an unskippable cutscene and get introduced to the crew, with subtitles that completely break from the beginning. This isn't a major complaint; the voice acting is very clear, but whenever a character was saying something, the subtitles would jump between their current line and the next in a haphazard bug that didn't occur every time.

Once you're past your first cutscene, you embark on a tutorial as you set off to learn most of your significant abilities (with other skills and recurring mini-games making appearances over the eight-level story). You have your quintessential abilities in the form of a jump, double jump, glide, and dash, with a magnetism ability (which One presents as "Telekinesis" before very quickly being corrected by the much-grumpier bot, Zero, that it's actually called "Hooking"). With this kit of abilities, you mix and match them to pass through the levels as you set on different quests that essentially boil down to go from point A to point B, which is pretty standard for platformers regardless.

Level design is quite plain, both in a good and bad way. The worlds you explore are interesting visually, and Boti: Byteland Overclocked is definitely a pretty platformer title, especially for the development scope, but its design is not really groundbreaking. You have the usual blocks that push you off your path and disappearing floors, with few hazards aside from falling off (which equates to a one-hit kill rather than losing one heart and being taken back to your latest "standing" point). The platforming was fun enough, though it did feel like Boti moved far too slow for my comfort, and so I resorted to jumping and dashing, which would reset as soon as I hit the floor.

This highlights a bit of an issue with the gameplay design, where it felt like Boti wasn't as mobile or capable. I like having a lot of movement options that give me the capability to zoom, speed, and soar through the worlds at velocities that would put The Flash to shame. The limited skillset does mean that you are mostly walking from point to point without feeling that rush of momentum present in the greatest of the genre, but Boti: Byteland Overclocked isn't really built that way.

Despite these complaints, however, I did really enjoy the difficulty of each level. Now, this isn't your traditional difficulty à la Celeste with thousands of deaths and precision platforming, nor Hollow Knight with its bosses that make you want to scream and break a controller. Instead, Boti: Byteland Overclocked has a simplistic world design that doesn't present hazards that can endanger your life, instead opting to focus on giving you stars and points for your "completion" of the level, and this is where it really shines.

Scattered throughout the worlds are Bytes that you can get; these point-like objects work as your currency and progression blockers, with several thousand hidden in zips and folders that you can break (I loved this game's humour and creativity). You start at zero with every new level, and you must gather them to fill in some data that unlocks doors that allow you to progress, forcing you to explore at least a minimal amount so you can have enough Bytes to advance. Any excess ones you have are transferred to your home, where you can change your furniture style, buy new pieces of land with preset decorations (like the first one you get for free: a boxing arena), and even change Boti's look. 

The game scatters collectibles everywhere, and it's definitely its strongest suit. To pass a level with three stars, you need to have a minimum amount of Bytes, which consistently proved to be a challenge. The collectibles and the need to earn three stars made exploring Boti: Byteland Overclocked's worlds even more exhilarating than others because it made me work for the three stars — it didn't hold my hand and grant it upon me for merely finishing a level without dying. Speed and death count are nothing compared to the way it counts your score by demanding that you find all of the hidden objects, and it was a great motivator to explore every level thoroughly.

This is also where Boti: Byteland Overclocked's greatest problems are at the forefront, too: its bugs. In an ironic twist of fate, as you are out there killing bugs and viruses (with the ever-hilarious first boss, which I daren't spoil for those interested in playing it, but let me just say it was a great and unique addition), the game is consistently plagued by these, and it made the world traversal pesky at best. The first two levels are smooth sailing and in line with standard platformers; I have no complaints, and I loved the game up to this point. But once the third level came around, everything started going downhill.

In Level 3, Boti: Byteland Overclocked and its bugs make the game feel far less enjoyable. Though not omnipresent like in the case of some experiences (looking at you, Bethesda), the bugs that did show themselves abruptly made it unenjoyable to continue the experience. There were missing floors (the texture was there, just not the collision), crashes, and even FPS drops. Despite sporting a 40-series card, I was thoroughly disappointed to see that — sometimes — Boti: Byteland Overclocked failed to impress.

 And no, that wasn't part of the game.

I also tried playing the game on my ROG Ally, where it ran at a consistent 20 fps and low 30s whenever it was "good", and even so, the controller layout and mapping felt uncomfortable in a way that wouldn't have been fixable if not for the back buttons in the device. Who in their right mind dashes by pressing down the joystick button?

The bugs also didn't let me play with my wife, as Boti Byteland Overclocked's multiplayer seemed intriguing and enjoyable, but whenever we tried to play on the ROG Ally, it refused to ignore the embedded controllers even when disabled, and when played on our desktop PC, it refused to allow the controllers to interact with the menu or even change key bindings.

My breaking point came in the form of a crash and a bug I experienced with the second boss in the game (ironically, a glitch), where I started the fight, and everything was messed up. Once the boss does a specific ability, you have to climb to hit a block that didn't seem to have collision detection in my first encounter with it. Then, when I did hit it in my second death, I fell to the glitch-infested floor and took inevitable damage, and before I could beat it, it crashed. In my third fight, I died (from the same bug where the floor wasn't clean by the time I touched it), and when I returned, the boss refused to acknowledge my existence. Oh, and none of the achievements wanted to pop, ever. So despite the fact that 100%ing titles (and most notably, platformers) is one of my favourite things to do, Boti: Byteland Overclocked didn't want me to do that, either.

It got frustrating because I love what there is about Boti: Byteland Overclocked. Collectibles aplenty meant that I wanted to explore everything and have fun — I liked the level design, even if it was easy, and the platforming was enjoyable, even if a bit simple. Boti: Byteland Overclocked lets you boot it up and just beat zips and folders to collect egregious amounts of Bytes, find costumes, and it’s a completionist's dream... but only when it works. And whenever it didn't, it really made me wonder if I wanted to continue playing or wait for updates — and I might suggest a similar approach to those interested, too.