A special branch police officer android has to discover the origins of her past in a future dystopia, ruled over by a totalitarian government. It's not Ghost in the Shell, but Oni, a heavily anime-inspired, third-person action shooter developed by Bungie and published by Rockstar Games.
Oni was the last Bungie release before the studio changed gaming forever with Halo. Oni released just 10 months earlier than Halo, and it was quickly overshadowed by the latter. However, Oni is worth remembering as an innovative and stylish title that fell completely under the radar.
Oni takes place in a dystopian 2023, ravaged by pollution, where most of the world is permanently uninhabitable. All world governments have banded together to form the totalitarian World Coalition Government, which lies to the populace, claiming the polluted wastelands are in fact nature preserves. The government uses a special police branch, the Technological Crimes Task Force (TCTF) as its hammer, deploying the unit to suppress any and all opposition.
Oni protagonist Konoko begins working for the TCTF, only to unravel corruption and a mystery that will not only require her to save the world, but discover her past. Konoko will have to fight both the TCTF and criminal organization the Syndicate to find out the truth.
Oni was heavily inspired by several groundbreaking anime that, at the time of its release in the early 2000s, were continuing to gain popularity in the United States. At a time where a whole generation of would-be fans was discovering anime through Dragon Ball Z and Cowboy Bebop, Oni leaned into its inspirations. Classic films Akira and Ghost in the Shell provide clear inspiration for the cyberpunk setting of Oni, with Konoko clearly being based on Ghost in the Shell protagonist Major Kusanagi.
Hidden behind what seems like another 2000s-era brawler, Oni actually has quite a few interesting mechanics. Players can attack with standard punching and kicking combos, but Konoko can also roll in any direction, slide to take enemies off their feet and even use a Street Fighter style rising uppercut and spin kick. Konoko can suplex enemies and attack them with a flying neck breakthat feels as good to pull off as it looks. Konoko can use firearms as well, but given her brawling skills, guns are often secondary.
Oni also has a bunch of little combat details that are unique even among current titles.. Enemies will often have only one magazine of ammo in their weapons, and when they run out of ammo they will transition to melee brawling with Konoko. Enemies will also frantically search for a new weapon if there is one laying on the ground that Konoko has taken from another enemy, picking it up and transitioning to ranged combat. It was impressive at the time and still is pretty cool today.
Enemies in Oni are broken into color-coded groups, with green-clothed enemies being the weakest and blue and red-clad enemies being the strongest. Each color has its own respective fighting style, allowing the player to instantly observe and strategize how to take groups down.
Additionally, each enemy's health bar is also color-coded. Green flashes indicate the enemy is at full health and red pops up when the enemy is near death. This feature is a great visual way for players to take in information while keeping the combat cinematic and sleek. All of these little mechanics come together in Oni to produce a game that feels as fun and satisfying to play.