Owlboy

Release: 2016
Platform: PC
Developer/Publisher: D-Pad Studio
Genre: Platformer, Twin-stick shooter, Metroidvania
Gameplay Stats: 5 hours, 9/12 Steam Achievements

Owlboy was a critical darling released in late 2016. My understanding is that it was finally released after a decade long Kickstarter campaign. I took a bit of a break during my playthrough, but I don't think that reflects my thoughts on the game, just that it may color how accurate my opinions might be since I started it around a month before finishing it.

Visuals: Owlboy is quite possibly the best pixel art I've seen. I think this would have been normal if Nintendo had continued down the road of pixel art instead of changing to 3d models in the past. This could've been on the Super Super Nintendo! The game is gorgeous. I can't gush enough about how detailed the visuals are and how nice everything in this game looks. Almost everything in this game is visually distinct and conveys its use immediately. The sprites look wonderful and they do a great job conveying the emotion of the characters.

Audio: The soundtrack is also very pretty! I do think that it's missing a bit of heart though, which is an odd complaint for this game. I enjoyed all of the music, but I couldn't whistle or hum a single tune. I don't think I'll revisit this OST at any point, but I may be surprised. I didn't especially like the sound effects present here, but I think I'm kind of a nit-picker when it comes to sound effects. They remind me a lot of old school sound effects which I think would be largely better if they lowered their pitch almost across the board. The game isn't voiced, but sounds play whenever different characters speak and I think the devs did an excellent job here. The babble voices match each character's personality pretty well.

Plot: Owlboy is such a heartfelt experience! I really can't recommend the story enough. You're drawn in almost immediately by seeing how a village treats our mute protagonist. I'm not a fan of a silent protagonist, but having him classed as mute with characters talking about it fits better than any other silent protagonist I've seen. This game does a great job characterizing most all of the recurring characters which is really nice. It really oozes personality. The story is definitely vying with the graphics as the best part of this game.

Gameplay: This is where I think the weakness of this game truly lies. Our main character, Otus the owl, can fly, but can't really fight. This leads to an interesting story dynamic in the game and between the characters. My issue here is that the concept being interesting doesn't mean that the game is interesting to play. The combat is simplistic and the exploration is largely uninspired. There are huge rooms to explore with only a couple interesting things inside of them. It leads to a lot of wall scraping looking for hidden passages, which I find very dull. I think I might be an outlier here, but playing this game didn't really jive with me. I just didn't enjoy playing this game.

I remember reading reviews of this game and being stoked to play it after it came out. I ended up waiting for a sale to buy is of course, but I'm not sure I saw what other reviewers did. The story of this game is excellent! The experience is clearly lovingly-crafted. I didn't really enjoy any of the game between the cutscenes. Your mileage may vary, of course. [7/10]