WHAT IS ONESHOT?

Oneshot is a metafictional RPGmaker game developed by indie studio Future Cat, comprised of Nightmargin (Casey Gu), Eliza Velasquez, and Michael Shirt.

In the game, you, the player, are separate from the main character, Niko, a child who arrives in an unfamiliar world without sunlight and is tasked with the duty of being the world's Messiah, going on a quest to return the world's sun.

You act as the world's God in the game, guiding Niko along in their journey and talking with them throughout the game, forming a bond with them. In the end, you're tasked with a difficult decision: To return Niko to their home, the sun must be destroyed, destroying the world and it's people in it, but to return the sun, Niko must stay trapped in the world forever.

And most of all... you only have one shot at all this. You cannot undo your decision and how it affects Niko and this world.

(... Or can you?)

WHAT'S MY CONNECTION TO ONESHOT?

I've always loved metafictional games, but there's something special about OneShot to me. Something that puts it a step further than the rest, and that is how much you're purely involved in the game. You really feel like you're there with Niko, talking to them and bonding with them. You wanna protect Niko from harm and give them the best ending possible.

At least, that's how I feel.

As an autistic person who feels hyperempathetic to fictional characters and inanimate objects, it was very easy for me to be sucked into this game, and for me to get attached to Niko as well. I really felt like they were my friend, and when I (spoiler?) completed the Solstice ending, I wasn't sure if I could open the game again knowing Niko wouldn't really be there. I didn't want to bring them back, either. How could I, when I'd finally given them their happy ending, letting them go home to see their mama, and all their other friends in the village? It'd just be cruel. I wanted to let the game rest. Niko deserved their happy ending, and I wasn't going to take it from them.

This game gets compared a lot to Undertale, and rightfully so. And while Undertale may be personally more dear to me, being one of my special interests, I think OneShot is actually more impactful purely for how much it plays to your emotions and the ethics of navigating video game worlds. Does that make sense? Probably not.

I felt more ethically challenged playing OneShot than I did either Undertale or Deltarune, which is saying something considering Undertale and Deltarune have routes in the game where you murder everyone. I felt responsible for the characters and the world in OneShot, and the idea of not being able to save both in my intial playthrough ate me up inside. If Niko or another character in OneShot was endangered, I felt like it was my fault. Hell, the game even makes you feel bad for closing the window! And it's how much OneShot appeals to your empathy and ethics that makes it such an effective game, and makes it so rewarding to finally complete the Solstice ending and give everyone a happy ending.

OneShot is also another piece of media I felt like I experienced at the perfect time, and I wouldn't change my first experience with it. I first experienced OneShot at like 4-5AM on a Winter morning. I couldn't sleep, so I was like, hey this game. Why the hell not? And honestly I think this was a great setting to experience the game, and I wouldn't change how I first experienced it.

I hope Niko is having a good life at their home village, and their mama's making them lots of pancakes. They deserve it.