The New Classics #34: The Caligula Effect – Overdose

The Backstory: I honestly didn’t remember I owned that game. Here’s the story: I played the digital Vita version some years ago, got bored in a flash and ditched the whole thing. Fast-forward to 2022; I bought the second entry, read Kina’s post about Overdose, got itchy and put CE2 to the test, and ended up loving it. There I was, happy and sated, browsing one of my Switch Unikeep binders to select my next game — when I suddenly spotted Overdose. How? When on earth did I buy that game? I sure as heck don’t remember doing so — which is not surprising at all, given the ridiculous number of games I purchase. Anyway, I reasoned that since I owned the thing, I might as well put it to the New Classic test and see how it fared.

 

 

The Game: Well, colour me shocked: Overdose is much uglier than its sequel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen graphics that fuzzy and washed-out; needless to say, the vivid colours and overall stylishness of number 2 are nowhere to be found here. Although the difference is shocking, it’s by no means a deal-breaker; all that fuzziness and these pastel hues combine to create some unique and recognizable graphical style — that, or I’m suffering from a serious case of gaming Stockholm syndrome. Anyway, I wasn’t there for the graphics; I was there to see if the simulation phase was unskippable in that first entry.

 

 

I uttered a giant sigh of relief upon discovering that simulation can be skipped indeed — and should totally be skipped if you play in easy mode, because it’s basically useless. Once I verified that most important point, I was let free to roam a giant dungeon with many nooks and crannies and a crap ton of foes. I obviously had to slaughter every living being in sight; and it wasn’t long before I was seriously over-levelled, engaging lv.30 foes with my lv.10 team of three — and winning without breaking a sweat. 

 

 

I didn’t polish off the first dungeon this time around, because I basically didn’t need to; however, I like the fact that dungeon roaming and socialization seem to be combined in Overdose. That school dungeon was teeming with fellow high schoolers I could talk to; that alone was enough to give them relief, and none of them had the impudence to send me running errands like in their CE2 fellows. 

 

 

The Verdict: Although I nearly had a fit upon seeing Overdose in my Switch binder, things finally turned out pretty well. I like that game, and I’m very much gonna keep it in my precious collection. It offers the same Caligula Effect goodness as its sequel, only with a very different atmosphere. That’s the Death End Re;quest story all over again, and some series could well follow that trend — I’m looking at ya, Hyperdimension Neptunia canon line!