One Rotten Oath Delivers a Unique FMV + FPS Hybrid Horror Experience

FMV is not a common thing in video games, and normally, developers lean into full animation when it comes to video game cutscenes and gameplay elements. There are, however, a few brave enough to lean into full-motion video and combine it with normal video game visuals to deliver art styles. Indie developer Piotr Bunkowski is one such developer who has managed to create an FMV and FPS hybrid, One Rotten Oath, that features a unique art style thanks to the combination of FMV elements and FPS gameplay in a horror setting.

This is not Piotr’s first bout in the video game industry, as the developer’s first title, ‘A Trip to Yugoslavia,’ was released back in 2016, during his high school era. It was also a unique title that featured a visual art style of a movie taped on an old VCR player. Set in Yugoslavia, the game saw players exploring a post-war Yugoslavia through the eyes of Dimitri, an amateur photographer caught in a forest on the outskirts of town. It met with a decent reception and hence encouraged the developer to create another title with an equally unique art style.

One Rotten Oath Delivers a Unique FMV + FPS Hybrid Horror Experience

One Rotten Oath is a horror game in which players are tasked with protecting a bunker filled with survivors of the event known as The Leak. People around the world have turned into monsters, thanks to a chemical leak, and the surviving people are hiding in bunkers. One such bunker is the player’s responsibility. Your goal in the game is to protect the bunker’s protective barricades, which remain under constant attack by zombies during the night.

This is made even more difficult by the fact that the bunker’s only generator keeps dying randomly for 60 seconds. During this time, players must use everything they have to kill the attacking monsters and protect the civilians inside. The game features 2D rotoscoped sprites in 3D environments, and the zombies are cut out manually frame-by-frame. Players have a multitude of weapons at their disposal to keep the different types of enemies at bay. The narrative takes place in the form of FMV cutscenes in a visual novel style.