I initially had something longer written down but it was getting too wordy and not quick enough to the point (sorry I don't write steam reviews, like at all, usually, also I feared coming off as a pretentious "game journo" which my previous draft was edging towards, but clearly, you can forget about this though, Strap in).
For the short and skinny on it, I think if you're into "artistic games" (more art than game mind you) with a resilience against obtuse strange design decisions combined with nonlinear progression, along with entertaining & interesting characters, then Copper Odyssey is definitely worth checking out if you haven't already! (It's already free on itch.io anyways, steam version's only upper hands are achievos and recently added awesome steam cards, emotes & profile backgrounds). If you're an RPGMhead of the sickest, highest, most poisoned degree, then absolutely no skipping out on this one, check it.
Un(?)fortunately I'm probably one of the few who've gotten genuine enjoyment out of the literal gameplay, so I'll temper my expectations and try not to glaze my interest in that part too much. It doesn't help that I've gotten genuine enjoyment out of much objectively worser games than this one too if I'm being honest.
"Copper Odyssey" is as described in its advertising "A Printmaking RPG," printmaking is, well, play the game and find out. You play as the "Monitor" of a school's print shop, on a particularly bad day in said print shop in fact. Angels have taken the print shop hostage and have added four brand new additions which surround it. The goal is, in theory, simple, beat the four zones in any order. Each is ruled by a previous member of the print shop, take them out in any way you can! And then move onwards to finally take out the lead angel who's orchestrated everything. Of course though, given the aforementioned fact that the game is obtuse and strange in its design, there's at least a bit of an extra layer of confusion to trying to figure out everything in terms of progressing through the zones on a first-time playthrough. But definitely play it blind (as is the general sentiment), as a lot of the enjoyment for a first time playthrough comes from trying to figure out the giant pseudopuzzle of progression and exploration. Later on, the enjoyment comes from knowing how to utterly break the game's gameplay and progression almost immediately, and ignoring the original intended challenge. Not very engaging if I had to be truthful and not a statmunching JRPGgrinder supernerd. The combat is basically throwing instakills around and it doesn't really ever leave that domain, it's a low point for anyone who plays JRPGs for strategy (well, unless you're going for Monitor-only which is an alright challenge and the routing for it is neat) and not because they love seeing big numbers obliterate big bars. I've forgotten to mention that the game is also a buggy mess in some cases actually too, whoops. It's nothing too overly gamebreaking though (usually, there are few instances in regards to the combat actually if you do things in an obtuse manner, figure-it-out), but at least the game's files aren't going to shred themselves up or brick your computer anything like that.
Beyond that, the characters present in your party and the zones are all genuinely enjoyable, weird, and interesting (some even "quirky" if you will) to read the dialogue of, and it all comes off in a non-infuriating way, which is a rare sight to accomplish such a balancing act at least in my personal "sights-that-I've-seen." I would like to write in length about them along with the world's setting, however this review is already as long as it is, but I'll at least also say as an addendum; if you play this game and are fond of them too, not only do you have a sequel to play and several other game-experiments published for free, but CAM's also made plenty of comics related to Copper Odyssey's characters & extended setting! "Way of the Canvas," It's a real multimedia experience, which I think is a rarity these days (or maybe I'm just too tired to care for most things made "these days"), and it's interesting seeing an independent artist take on such a wide variety of mediums. I'm absolutely infatuated with adoration for their work and what it stands for. "Respect the Craft!"
