Hey guys, Dungeonjay here. You may know me best for my children’s book, “Everytime You Are Bad A Kitten Dies” where in the last chapter I explain how to be a bad-parent so they’ll move out sooner but today we are going to review a game called, “Owlboy”. A pixel art story-driven platform game designed by D-Pad Studio, a company that has only developed a couple games but already is starting to get a nice following. As for Owlboy, it was released back in the tail-end of 2016 and features gorgeous graphics and an art-style that would have any 16-bit enthusiasts standing up and applauding. From what I understand they have been developing on this game about 9 years before release and the polish on this title shows the devotion they went into it. So, lets go ahead and dive owl-attack formation into the review and if you like what I have to say then subscribe!
Gameplay and Storyline
So, what is Owlboy? It has been coined the phrase as a ‘hi-bit’ adventure game. In this you can fly and explore a world in the clouds. In the beginning, you control a young Owl named, “Otus”. In this world created by Simon Andersen, the Owl’s have a society and are as developed in language as you or I. That is except for Otus, who happens to be a mute. This doesn’t stop him from trying to become part of the Owl-hood and is taken under the wing of Asio, who is more than a little harsh on the young mute Owl. The opening sequences show the world through the eyes of Otus and relay his thoughts. One thing is certain, he wants to prove himself. When given the task of standing watch, he snaps to attention but quickly is drawn into a game of cat and mouse as he tries to catch a mysterious troublemaker. Through a series of simple puzzles and combat, he is sidetracked away from Vellie, the home territory he was standing watch over. When finally it is revealed to him that Vellie is in danger, Otus rushes back only to arrive too late. Sky pirates swarm the skies as they attack the village and all appears lost.
All is not lost as the story-line progresses and Otus comes up with a plan to strike back and quell the sky pirates by finding three ancient Owl artifacts. Without going into too much spoiler territory, the use of Owl ancient technology and vivid backgrounds goes a long way to reveal much about the ancient time before the cloud villages and their much more simplistic approach to everyday life. Ancient constructs litter the ground and look much like what an ancient advanced alien civilization would. For whatever knowledge the older Owl society had, has been lost. In this, the story-line wraps around you and doesn’t let go as you want to continue to push forward and figure out exactly what happened and at the same time how to save your people from the Sky Pirating marauders.
Owlboy controls make the transition between stages easy. There are two different style of modes, carrying someone and without. Otus has the ability to pickup his friends and they assist him in combat or certain situations like destroying barriers, lighting pathways with torches. Using a controller, there wasn’t a moment I felt that the controls weren’t spot-on and if I ran into trouble it was user error and not the mechanics in-game. Each AI also performs beautifully in design to relation to what you are doing. There are even sneak tactics to be incorporated into the gameplay. Honestly, Owlboy doesn’t pull any punches and delivers a vast array of great combat and movement.
Owlboy also excels at simplistic but varied puzzle solving that in some situations may have you scratching your head for a minute to figure out but nothing that stands out as impossible. Having trouble crossing over water than look for a cloud to carry you across. Barrier stopping your entry, find a switch hidden in the underbrush. Owlboy delivers this in heaping servings and this may be the one drawback to the game I have. A few too many puzzle barriers or problem solving to block combat gameplay and story progression. While, in some instances it was nice, I started to feel that in every stage there were only a few mobs and then some puzzle to solve. This pattern, also, seemed to intensify the deeper into the gameplay. It did, however, stretch the gameplay and without them this would have been a short one hour rump of a game and instead pushed into a few hours to complete for myself.
Sound And Music Design
Between the popping of monsters as they disappeared to the flapping of Otus’s wings as you took off into the skyline in this breathtaking world of Owl’s, the sound team did a tremendous job in conveying what was happening on screen with weapon noises and environment. Even the ambience of wind played at just the right time brought together what mood they were trying to pitch for in any particular section. Combine that with one of the best game soundtracks I have personally heard of 2016 from any game. You don’t even have to leave the title screen with the introduction piece invoking the potential of future high adventure and wonder. I even found myself loading up the OST and playing it in my downtime because of how great some of the songs are crafted. Hell, I recommend even if you don’t pickup the game that purchasing the soundtrack is well worth the investment as the composer Jonanthan Geer is truly one of the better artists in the industry I’ve heard in quite some time for this type of style.
As you guys know, I rate buy, sale or forget about it and Owlboy is a buy. Truly this title stands its ground as one of the best pixel games to come out of 2016 and in my opinion it may be the best I’ve played in this genre in some years. It does everything right that a teenage boy growing up in the SNES and Genesis era look back fondly at and then makes it ten times better. As you know, I have kids and sometimes I let them get involved in some games I played and see their opinion on it and while the puzzles were a little complicated for my youngest, my seven year old was having the time of her life playing this game. So, in my mind this gives me a two thumbs up seal of approval. Well guys, thats it. I’m Dungeonjay signing out, have a great day gaming!
If you want to support my actual video of this then I recommend checking the audio visual review here and subscribe! Thanks!