ElecHead dev’s upcoming game Öoo is Bomberman meets exploration puzzle platformer

Rachel Watts, 24 July 2025

With the release of 2021’s ElecHead, developer NamaTakahashi proved that not only could they create an intuitive, endlessly clever puzzle platformer, but also one of puzzle gaming’s cutest protagonists. ElecHead’s electricity-conducting robot buddy is nothing short of adorable, and it looks like Takahashi will be spoiling us again with another cute protagonist with a creative puzzle power in their upcoming game Öoo.

In Öoo, you play as a cute caterpillar with explosive potential. It’s a charming exploration platformer where you discover creative ways of using bombs to solve puzzles. Your caterpillar's circular segments can detach and explode on command, and you’ll be using this power to solve momentum-based puzzles.

The controls are simple enough. You can use WASD to move, left-click to ‘plant’ a bomb, and right-click to explode it. When you plant a bomb, it detaches from your body, so you can move into position, plant the bomb, move the rest of the caterpillar, and then detonate the bomb. When it explodes, a new one grows back on your body.

The first handful of levels challenge you with momentum-based platforming. Place your caterpillar next to a bomb, and they will be projected away when it's detonated. You can use this momentum to fly across gaps and project yourself upward onto high platforms. Using this ability, you can begin to navigate through Öoo’s world, each screen becoming a puzzle where you need to carefully place your caterpillar and detonate bombs in a way that you progress.

Avoiding spikes is one obstacle to overcome (you can fall on them or accidentally blast yourself into them), but more obstacles will begin to present themselves. Frogs will block your path, and the only way to get them to let you pass is by feeding them flies. No, you cannot explode the frogs, as they are bomb-resistant. Nice try, though. You need to explore the surrounding area, find a fly, then lead it back so the frog can eat their lunch. 

Similarly to ElecHead, you’ll often need to find secret passages where the flies will be hiding. These hidden spots aren’t that difficult to find (not in the demo, anyway), it’s just a case of paying attention to environmental clues, like making a room symmetrical by placing a bomb in the right place. Blow that bit up, and it will reveal a tasty fly. 

All good fun so far, but here’s where Öoo steps up its game. After the first handful of levels, you’ll find an apple and after chomping on it, you gain a second bomb in your body. Two bombs! The potential for more intricate momentum-based movement just got blown wide open! You can now plant and explode two bombs individually. Whatever bomb you planted first will detonate first, followed by the bomb you planted second. You cannot plant a bomb mid-air, BUT you can explode them. You can also explode to the first bomb to give momentum to the second bomb.

This is fantastic because now you can platform your way through tricky corners and bends. Plant bomb A and bomb B next to each other, and then position yourself on the right-most side of the two. Explode bomb A to projectile you and bomb B to the right, let yourself and the bomb fall and then, with the right timing, detonate bomb B, and you’ll be blasted to the right again to safety. It’s a satisfying chain reaction.

Since you control when the bombs explode, you can carefully plan out where everything goes for your desired movement. Your caterpillar bestie cannot jump, so placing them and your bombs in order is important, but if you get it wrong, it's nothing that a quick explosion and re-planting can’t fix. There’s also the limitation that you can only plant a bomb if there’s enough vertical space, as every time you plant a bomb, the caterpillar ends up on top of it. S,o tight gaps with low ceilings will have to be thought around. Some sections require careful timing, like how, in the demo, there are barricades that respawn after you blast them. Thankfully, you can see a timer for when they’re going to rematerialise - a yellow square that represents a timer. 

The demo is around 20 minutes long, and is more than enough to get me hyped for the full game. After enjoying the depths of ElecHead’s puzzles, I know that what’s in this demo will only be the tip of the iceberg for this bomb exploding mechanic, so I’m excited to see how else it’s utilised. 

I am also keen to see more of the world. If it wasn’t obvious enough in the intro, I’m in love with this caterpillar cutie. The two space buns on their head, their little green face and rosy cheeks - they could be Hello Kitty's new bug best friend. The animations are satisfying too, like the way the caterpillar bobs along when you move, how they falls asleep when you don't move them for a while. When you blow up a section of wall, the bricks fly off the screen and make a little ‘ow’ noise.

There’s something really old-school about Öoo. It wouldn’t feel out of place in the game lineup for the NES, our cute caterpillar buddy plastered on the front of a dusty cartridge in someone’s attic. No word yet on when the full game will be out, but I hope it’s soon, as I can’t wait to play more.