Music is great. Making it, though? That can feel intimidating. It’s a lot of theory and rules, and learning notes, chords and harmonies. Cosy musical playground Oddada skips all that, so you can cut straight to the fun parts of putting together your own chilled-out tunes.
Train tracks
To create a track in Oddada, you guide a toy train to different interactive scenes, each letting you build the various layers of your song: beat, bass, melody and the extra oomph. (Coincidentally or not, this train does not have a track.)
The game invites experimentation: for example, it may not be clear how exactly placing a bird on a tower that makes sounds changes said sounds, but it does something. And it’s up to you to discover the nuance, see (or hear) what you like and move on to the next part of your song.
It also promotes spatial thinking. To figure out certain scenes, you’ll need to pause and understand what goes where so that a sound is produced.
Music to your eyes
Oddada is a really well-designed experience, with haptic sounds and gorgeous visuals that feel genuinely joyful and calming.
The soft blues, reds and greens that go so well together; the variety of instruments and structures you encounter as you go; the clicks, taps and bops the objects make as you interact with them. It all feels truly satisfying to play with.
The game is undoubtedly retro-inspired – you earn a virtual cassette every time you complete a track, and a very neatly designed cassette rack to store your creations in. The instruments and machines throughout the game pay homage to the classic devices of the ’80s and ’90s, too. It all combines to make Oddada a fun and nostalgic hit we keep coming back to.