It takes a lot of work to impress someone like me. I always try to look on the positive side of things, so that’s why you never see any negative game reviews being published on this site. Sure I have some criticism to make once in a while and try my best to point out problems that a majority of other critics will make, but for a majority of the time I try to stay positive. I want to review games that I can absolutely recommend to people due to the amount of quality and love put into them by the developers. However, introducing myself to a genre I have never seen or touched in my life takes a bit of time. It’s like eating out at a new restaurant with your best friend. You have known your friend for a really long time, but you have no idea where you two are eating out and you don’t feel comfortable with the place your friend decided to choose but you can’t tell them that because it would be rude and you might well eat there since you sat your butt down. Your friend gives you insight on what to get and you slowly begin to love the place you two are eating at. Most of the time when I buy a video game I know what I’m getting myself into. When I buy an open world I know I’ll be wandering around for hours. When I buy a first person shooter I know I’m in for some blood pumping action. So when a game I never even heard of called Owlboy somehow ends up on the platter and takes me by surprise, you know something is going on.
This is the tale of a man named Simon Stafsnes Andersen and how he went on to make one of the best indie games I have ever played. No joke. And to show how much I love the game I’m going to try and swear or joke around as little as possible. So here we go. Beginning development back in 2007, Andersen was heavily inspired by the many Nintendo games he grew up playing as a kid. He played The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and of course Super Mario. He was mainly inspired by the Tanooki Suit and Super Leaf power ups from Super Mario Bros 3, the power-up that allowed Mario to take flight when building up enough speed. He always wanted a sidescroller centered around flying around an open space, and when Kind Icarus: Uprising was announced he was expecting exactly that. Sadly that is not what he got, but this idea for a free flight sidescroller is what led to the development of his own game. Seeing how the Nintendo Wii was coming out at the time and small indie developers were beginning to make themselves stand out by publishing more of their games on consoles and the Steam marketplace, Andersen thought it would be a good time to make a retro throwback that captured some ideas never seen before. Andersen formed his own little team of developers known as D-Pad Studio and they began working on what would become his life achievement. However the project would spend almost a decade in production, because the concept for Andersen’s game was reworked several times. At the same time Andersen was dealing with his depression, something he had since his childhood.
Flashforward to 2016 and his team of developers finished up with the final product and published it one Steam for the entire world to play. The final product was known as Owlboy, a new and windbreaker take on the metroidvania genre. Andersen wasn’t probably expecting Owlboy to do so well, especially since indie games are generally buried beneath a market full of big budget titles and so many of them were already retro themed. However the reception for Owlboy blew Andersen by complete surprise. Owlboy was critically acclaimed by many, receiving several positive review scores and being garnished as one of the best indie games of the recent generation. With Destructoid in particular giving it a perfect review score. It set a new standard for metroidvanias and no other metroidvania could take its place as one the best well designed modern metroidvania…... until Hollow Knight came out. Okay, how about we don’t bring up how much I love Hollow Knight for the rest of this review.
What I’m trying to say is Owlboy is stupendous and I’m one of the many few people who think so. This is where the review jumps towards me and how I ended up playing the game. I recently bought a small haul of video games, most of them being titles I was told were good. They included Ori, XCOM 2, Persona 5, Shadow of The Colossus, and Owlboy was one of the few games I got as well. When I finally got down to play Owlboy I was expecting another retro side scroller, but little did I know I would fall in love with the game. I completed it in one day so that tells you something. Everything in Owlboy is so neatly handcrafted and well made that there really isn’t much for me to complain about. It’s a near perfect video game and I can honestly recommend it to anyone who is somewhat interested in what this game is about. Today we’ll be talking about why I love Owlboy and why it deserves your attention. So take to the skies with your only friends and see the world that flies by. For a quick heads up there are going to a couple of spoilers for this review, so you have been warned.
Story
We follow the footsteps of a young owlboy named Otus, as he spends each day of his life training with his teacher and guardian figure Asio. Unlike most of the anthropomorphic owl beings around his village, Otus is considered the odd one out. Constantly failing everything he sets out to do, taking numerous days before he can get a task down somewhat right, and disappointing his master with each failed attempt or mistake. It takes awhile for Otus to understand how to properly do something which makes sense if you are someone like me who tends to struggle to understand a subject on day one, but his master expects him to understand these concepts instantly. Asio keeps yelling at Otus for his mistakes, making him doubt himself even more each action he takes. Otus wishes one day to prove himself to his teacher and show the members of his village that he is capable on his own of doing anything, but that time would take longer than he thought.
One sunny day Otus and his best friend Geddy are tasked with guarding the village and patrolling nearby areas for invaders or monsters, but while exploring the area they eventually uncover a hidden temple containing artifacts of a long gone past. They explore the ancient ruins and learn of an ancient race of owls that lived several decades before them. These ancient owls possessed technology and knowledge far ahead of their time, but something happened to make all their work and entire society disappear. After exploring the ancient ruins the village is attacked by the Sky Pirates, a mysterious gang of metal birds who want nothing more but to destroy everything in their path. While fighting the Sky Pirates, Otus and Geddy encounter a former member named Alphonse. He left the gang because of all the chaos they were causing and he didn’t want to become involved with the evil plans they had for the future. He tells Otus and Geddy that the Sky Pirates plan to collect three ancient relics, and with those three relics in hand they will gain a tremendous amount of power and destroy the world they know. Otus and Geddy being the only ones knowing of the Sky Pirate’s plans prepare for a journey into the great skies above to collect the three relics before the pirates can get a hold of them. They'll encounter several individuals along the way, partake in colossal battles, and uncover more of the ancient race of owls that came decades before them. Otus may even find a useful purpose for himself after all this time.
Gameplay
Like I stated at the beginning of this review, Owlboy is a metroidvania that combines elements of flight. Providing smooth controls and the ability to easily navigate through tight areas. Littered throughout each area are several puzzles to solve and enemies to fight along the way. The player will have to analyze their surroundings and think carefully how to get past each problem. A majority of the puzzles are centered around using Otus’ abilities or interacting with surrounding objects, and this simple interactivity is what allowed the developers to constantly add new mechanics each step of the journey. Finding a way to test the player’s reflexes and make the puzzles get more complex overtime. For example you may encounter some rain clouds that you can pick up and drag around. These rain clouds can be squished to make them start spewing out rain water, and the rain water can be used to fill up wells needed to progress through the area. Maybe you’ll find some buttons that need to be stood on to open up gateways, so you may need to find objects to weigh them down. Sometimes these objects are obvious, but most of the time you’ll have to use your friends.
Speaking of friends, let's talk about that combat. Besides the puzzles and exploration there is the combat and the combat is what I describe as fair. It’s easy to get a hold of and challenging enough so it doesn't feel like a cakewalk. To fight off enemies you have your three friends who can be summoned at any time and can even help out with some environmental puzzles. You have your best friend Geddy, Alphonse the Sky Pirate, and Twig a stick bug trying to be a spider. Each ally provides a different way to approach combat and interact with your surroundings. Geddy has a simple blaster that fires rapidly and can attack from a long distance, Alphonse has a flaming shotgun that can light up paths and take down foes quickly, and Twig has the ability to zip over long distances using webbing and stun enemies using his web shooters. Each ally is useful when used during the right situations. Remember those button puzzles I mentioned earlier, you're going to have to use the weight of certain companions to progress.
The enemies you encounter have different attack patterns and abilities, and either require creative strategies to beat or need to be attacked at a specific weak spot. If you die during combat you spawn back at your previous checkpoint, which are often close by allowing you to jump straight back into the action. Besides that there really isn’t much else to say about Owlboy. The gameplay is great mainly because the developers were able to expand upon simple ideas. That’s how I think level design should be handled. Introduce one mechanic, then another, and stack them on top of each other over the course of the game. Helps make the player understand what they are doing and not so it feels like they got thrown into a situation and they have to react. Your Otus and his friends, they should be able to stop the Sky Pirates from ending the world.
Thoughts
Owlboy is great and by now you should be able to tell that I absolutely recommend this lovely made game. There aren’t that many bad things I have to say about Owlboy. Almost every aspect about the game I have to admire. The art design is great and obviously a lot of time was spent designing the world, characters, backgrounds, and some of the high tense cinematic moments in the story. It’s all pixel art, but it’s taken to a whole new degree where there is lighting and shading for characters which is nice to look at. Levels are sprawling mazes that test the player’s understanding of how the mechanics work or how they handle more than two things happening at once.
The controls are tight and Otus never feels slippery to control. He never drifts towards a direction you weren’t pointing at, and aiming your friend’s weapons feels as accurate as possible. Just want to bring up again for fun how the artwork is great and the amount of color in this game is jaw dropping, putting some Triple A games with huge budgets but low production value to shame. The soundtrack is wonderful and helps give every moment of the game the crucial edge it needs. Thank you Jonathan Geer for composing it. Your three companions actually feel special rather than be characters that are just supposed to be “there”. Unlike most games where companions feel like objects that you drag around and occasionally hop in for one or two dialogue lines, the friends you make in Owlboy are there to support you. They fight for you and support Otus whenever he is feeling down. As good friends should always do.
The one aspect of Owlboy that I ended up really loving more than I really should have is the story. Otus is constantly doubting himself thinking he can’t achieve anything and those around him hate him for being such a failure. He tries pushing himself hoping to achieve something, but his goal is dragged away further with each attempt. This is a topic I personally connect to. Everyday in my life I question the actions I make. Did I do them perfectly and were they worth it? Could I have done something to make my actions better? Am I a helpful person or just a trainwreck of a human being? Owlboy isn’t a game about existence, but it did certainly make me question my efforts to keep pushing forward. I felt like crying near the end, because of how much sacrifice Otus had to go through to bring balance to the world he knew. He asks his master if he was ever disappointed in him and he tells Otus, “no”. That last moment helped symbolize what I personally believe I should aim for. That goal is being proud of who I am and what I do every single day to make everyone around me happy.
So the story is fantastic and each element of the gameplay works, but what complaints do I have about Owlboy? Well due to the linear structure of the game there isn't much of a reason to revisit old areas. The game is quite short lasting about five hours long compared to a metroidvania like Hollow Knight or Axiom Verge, and it is lacking replay value. Why bother when the core experience is worth going through? In the end I highly recommend Owlboy. It’s a magical journey that everyone should play through. That’s why I give this game a 9.5/10 for excellence at best. I would even say it’s a masterpiece.
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