On the contrary, the story is mostly insignificant. For that matter, it can be great especially if you’re a Laurel and Hardy fan, and part of that greatness is owed to its on-purpose awful controls which, for better or worse, will consume a majority of your time.
But that’s not to say that Octodad isn’t good. As a platformer, it also fails due to its lack of an intuitive infrastructure, and exploration is usually rewarded with dissatisfaction. It’s not quite challenging enough to be a puzzle game, with most stages demanding a task as simple as plugging a leak with a stuffed animal, or escorting your son through a jungle-gym of kelp and kelp related obstacles. Nevertheless, that’s not what makes Octodad the weird game that it is. Its inexplicable nature does, and the lack of an obvious genre helps, too.
Octopussy-footing around a level can feel a lot like dragging a wet plastic bag full of marbles through a puddle of jelly, but it’s always hilarious to witness and incredibly fun - until you’re tentacle is trapped in a crevice as you waddle helplessly. It’s a seemingly simple control-scheme that’s gloriously difficult to master, and occasionally an exercise in frustration.
Another button switches to your free arm, which can then be used to grab and move different objects in the environment. One input controls one leg, while another controllers the next.
It’s not surprising, then, that controlling that squishy sack of innards is tricky especially when those wandering suction cups attach themselves to any inanimate object that crosses your path. There are no groundbreaking gameplay mechanics at work, either. Octodad isn’t about meeting expectations, though. And that’s not something an octopus can easily do on land, it seems. Nothing particularly daunting, right? In reality, however, as a gummy-creature of the ocean, these “puzzles” you’re required to complete involve moving your limbs. Things like shopping for frozen pizza, mowing the lawn, flipping some burgers, exploring an aquarium with the family and walking litter the list. In theory, they’re the simplest tasks imaginable. The minute-to-minute duties aren’t as easy, however. Thankfully, the inhabitants of the town you live in are a chromosome away from wearing floaties in the shower, which makes being stealthy about as necessary as stilettos on ice. After all, t hat’s the fundamental goal in Octodad remain undetected while you perform your fatherly duties. You see, despite your nervous burbles, destructive tottering through the assorted environments, and whatever eventual assault you accidentally launch on some innocent bystanders, you mustn’t break character. Although that in itself is a medical mystery best left to the Japanese and their research of tentacle erotica. You’re a family man - I mean, mollusk - with a loving wife, and two semi-beautiful children. Octodad: Dadliest Catch is the strangest slice of gaming pie since Mister Mosquito. Which of the two is better, and why is it Octodad? Read on to find out. Instead, since this port is for Playstation, I’d like to compare it to Sony’s own awkward dad simulator, Heavy Rain.
The PS4 version is more or less the same game with slightly different controls, and while using a controller does make a bit of a difference, (easier to walk, harder to use your “hand”) it’s not enough to merit writing the same review twice. Our own Lee Cooper hand plenty to say about that version of the game, and I more or less agree with his assessment (though I’d have scored it a little higher).
With more levels, a more involved story, and one more terrible reality TV pun in its title, Octodad: Dadliest Catch made waves when it hit Steam late last year. Following the game’s success at GDC, some of its student developers teamed up to form Young Horses Inc., and the newly-minted studio got to work on a bigger, better sequel. You wouldn’t expect much of a freeware title built around a single terrible reality show pun, but the original Octodad proved itself to be a funny and slightly heartwarming little number.
Note: Portions of this review appear in our PC review of the game.