We strongly believe that some towns are best avoided, and St. Sectaire might be one of them. Odd Town, developed by The Flying Baguette, takes us on a peculiar adventure full of suspicious residents and strange activities. It’s an unusual little game, and despite some rough mechanics, we’ve enjoyed our time exploring its streets.
Welcome to St. Sectaire
Our adventure begins with a broken-down car and very little money to repair it. Stranded in St. Sectaire, we have to find work, meet the locals, and figure out how to leave. The thing is, the longer we stay, the more suspicious everything becomes. People disappear, and the police behave strangely. Little by little, a conspiracy begins to unfold.
The town is filled with unusual architecture, narrow streets, interconnected buildings, and hidden passages. It feels like a living, breathing thing, and it’s fun trying to crawl into every nook and cranny and lose ourselves in the retro-inspired visuals. The, for lack of a better word, chunky environments and pixelated textures give everything a distinctive appearance. There’s a slightly unsettling atmosphere, too, as even the most ordinary places seem to be hiding something. Although the world is relatively small, its handcrafted design encourages us to explore every corner, and we found ourselves quite happy wandering around without worrying too much about our next objective.
Making Money and Getting Into Trouble
Money talks, and fixing our car certainly isn’t going to be free. Odd Town provides several ways to earn some dosh. We can take ordinary jobs, including cleaning and baking, or embrace a less respectable lifestyle involving theft and intimidation. The money can then be spent on food, clothing, and useful equipment, some of which helped us explore previously inaccessible areas.
There’s quite a bit of freedom in how we approach the town. We can enter buildings, interact with residents, search for hidden locations, and generally behave like someone the local authorities would rather see leave. Shopkeepers may fight back if we steal from them, and steal we did. Changing clothes helped us escape police attention and encouraged us to try our luck again. It’s cool being naughty in Odd Town. The devs have clearly tried to make the town react to our actions, and we appreciate that ambition.
Unfortunately, the activities aren’t particularly varied. Many involve straightforward interactions, and after repeating similar jobs, the initial excitement gradually begins to wear off. Considering how interesting the town itself is, we would’ve loved more creative objectives that made better use of its unusual setting.
The Police Have Other Plans
Combat is another area that could use improvement. Fighting relies on basic punches and kicks, but the mechanics feel rather awkward and lack the satisfaction we expected. It’s functional enough for occasional confrontations, although we’d much rather spend our time investigating suspicious locations than exchanging punches with the locals.
The police aren’t much better. Their behaviour can be frustrating, and avoiding them doesn’t always feel particularly rewarding. Running away and changing our appearance are useful options, but the stealth mechanics could certainly use some additional refinement.
A Strange Place Worth Visiting
After our first few hours, we’re left with a positive impression of Odd Town, particularly its visual style and strange atmosphere. We would’ve loved more varied activities and less awkward combat, but we still enjoyed our time with it. It’s hard to find a perfect game, and Odd Town certainly isn’t one, but it’s good enough and has enough personality for us to confidently recommend it for a weekend or two.
- Game: Odd Town
- Developer: The Flying Baguette
- Publisher: Hyperstrange
- Release date: October 15, 2026
- Platform: PC
- Genre: First-person adventure / Exploration / Mystery
- Game mode: Single-player
- Review status: Early impressions
Leave a Reply