games

Yes, I'm reviewing something owl related. Yes, I'm incredibly predictable.

Anyway. Owlboy is a side scrolling indie game I had been meaning to play ever since it released back in 2016. Now I finally have, I have something to say about it.

First, a little history on this game. It was released to huge praise due to its highly detailed sprite art. Strangely, despite this positive reception, I don't think it has really stayed in the gaming worlds subconscious in the same way as say, Undertale and other indies have. This could be due to it being released juuuust before the indie gaming boom. It could also just be bad luck.

One of the first things you will hear about this game is that it was in development hell for 9 years. This is a little misleading. Sure, development was technically started in 2007, but it was stopped, started, put aside and picked up again for those 9 years. The lead developer reportedly suffered from severe depression and his fear of releasing an imperfect game was supposedly so bad that the small team of developers restarted the whole thing from scratch 3 times. Wow.

Okay, so on to my thoughts on the game itself.

Gameplay:

Owlboy's genre can be hard to place. Your character can essentially fly and carry/throw things, so there is a lot of platforming. This is paired with the ability to grab the main characters gun wielding friends to basically fly and shoot in sort of a run and gun way, but this isn't really a run and gunner either. It's got some metroidvania elements too, but the best way I can describe it is as a side scrolling Zelda, as you will mostly be using your comrades abilities paired with the players flying to explore dungeons, solve puzzles and beat larger than life bosses as the story and world building is drip fed to you. The pacing is good, with puzzles being somewhat challenging at times without making you feel like you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing. The game does a great job at giving you enviroment hints about what you can do, without holding your hand. It also expects to to master newly introduced things rather fast, without being unfair. There are a few frustratingly difficult bosses towards the end, but nothing (outside of a certain cannon mini game) that will make you feel like it's impossible to beat.

Visuals and sound:

Think of the best sprite art you've ever seen in a game. When I think of a game with good sprite art, I think of the Metal Slug series. I have to hand it to them, Owlboy right up there with Metal Slug in terms of quality. I have never seen such damn pretty scenery. A lot of time and effort when into every little thing on screen and it shows. It manages to look beautiful no matter if the location is a green meadow, a lava filled cavern or a snowy wasteland. The final location in the game, In particular, was awe inspiring. There are some very, very cool set pieces in this game.

The characters themselves have a great art style too. Think Wind waker, in a good way.

As for the music. It's a mostly orchestral with some electronic and synth instruments here and there when it's needed to fit what is happening in the story (Some distorted synth used in a boss theme for a robotic monster, for example). It manages to avoid the "samey" trap of some orchestral OSTs by scoring with the situation or environment in mind so that the music suits what's happening. It somehow manages to time itself perfectly so you get these times where the music, story and gameplay come together to create a moment.

Music example 1

Music example 2

Music example 3

Story:

The story is great, at first it sets up the ancient owls as noble and superior technology wielding scholars, and you expect the "bad guys" (who turn out to be robot slaves made by the owls) to be the "well intentioned but bitter extremist" villains, but the game hints throughout the story that the ancient owls were kind of shit, eventually having one of the heroes outright say "Hey maybe they weren't as great as we were led to believe." This culminates in the final boss simply being an owl like Otus, who is trying to fix the shitty mistakes of his ancestors who have basically doomed the world with their arrogance (long story short, it turns out the ancient owls fucked up centuries ago by trying to cheat death and have doomed the continents to soon float into space). Instead of taking the obvious "idealist villain wants to save the world but is going about it wrong" angle, the heroes instead agree with him and help him save the world in the end.

So overall, while it might not appeal to those who don't like retro games, it was right up my alley, and I was pleasantly surprised.