Okhlos

Angry mobs seem all the rage these days - no pun intended, of course! As populists and reactionaries of the real world manifest themselves on all corners of the planet, it only seems appropriate to make a game about an angry mob. Here is Okhlos - a roguelike action game set in Ancient Greece to take your indomitable rage out on the Gods.

Coffee Powered Machine released this epic in 2016 at the height of Western populist movements - it is coincidental, but it is all too fitting. Something is satisfying about roaming around in a mob of like-minded digital characters destroying every minute thing that makes you angry. Even if you have no political agenda against Mount Olympus - smash and grab!

You can't control me, Zeus!

Okhlos is just about as indie game as you get. Minimalist in story and mechanics, the gameplay aims to embrace its players with a high level of activity that takes place within. The setting is Ancient Greece, where you control a renowned philosopher angry with the world. Each one has had it up to here with the repressive control that the Titans force upon the land. It's up to you to control folks like Aristotle and Plato to fight for the common man's liberty.

The game is fast-paced, where you will rummage around with your 2.5D pixelated characters to click and smash every building and enemy that crosses your path. Nearby people will find your policies and patterns of said smashing intriguing - and will join up until you are an unstoppable force against Gods like Zeus and Athena.

Okhlos has a market system where you can purchase new philosophers - or trade-off garnered units for new heroes. It's a chaotic fight to the death, which only involves a lot of clicking to combat...pretty much everything. Your goal is to gather a mob big enough to sweep through all your obstacles, including the bosses and sub-bosses.

It's ransacking, god-bashing tons of fun!

While there's not much in the way of diversity in the game's mechanics, Okhlos manages to keep you engaged throughout the hours of fun that it provides. You won't do much more than clicking and smashing - but the light-hearted graphics and the humor involved in amassing your mob never gets tiresome.

There are a few frustrating things to note about the game, however. Okhlos is pretty relentless at times, with bosses becoming increasingly difficult - and should you die, you have to go right back to the beginning and start over. More so, the mob you build up really clutters the screen - where it becomes impossible to find your cursor and effectively guide your followers.

Pros

• Light-hearted and fun graphics set the tone for the game
• Limited in design, but the fun doesn't stop
• Mob rule is satisfying

Cons

• Once you die, you start over
• Cluttered UI if your mob gets too big
• Can get repetitive