GAME REVIEW: Owlboy (Switch)
(Flying Lessons - Jonathan Geer)
It's safe to say that my fixation on Metroidvania games has instilled a certain bias in me when it comes to selecting my next game title. When you look at lists of great indie games in this genre, Owlboy comes up almost immediately, which is primarily why I picked it up.
Well, that, and the promise of excellent visuals and a stunning game soundtrack.
Does it live up to its promises?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Absolutely.
THE LONG VERSION:
Well, when I say 'absolutely', I mean, "It delivers on every one of its promises except one." We should get one thing clear right from the outset: This is... not what I'd call a Metroidvania. Metroidvania games typically involve a great deal of backtracking and revisiting of partially explored areas once you have power-ups. They typically involve a lot of item collecting. There's quite a bit less of that going on here, and the vast majority of it is due to storytelling.
The question you're left with when this is all said is, should you still play Owlboy? The answer is a resounding 'Yes'.
STORY
You play as Otus, a young person under the tutelage of Asio, a village elder of supposed renown and talent. I can't tell if you're supposed to be a boy with a special cloak that makes him owl-like, or some kind of heavily anthropomorphized owl. I suspect it's the latter, hence the game's title. Anyway, you're a mute, so much of the game's story is told through the exposition provided by your friends and the other people around the village. That story is basically that Otus, bless him, is not the most promising student and is frequently looked down upon by his mentor and some of the villagers. The Owls in Owlboy are great and powerful creatures burdened with purpose. What purpose? That's the real story of the game. Most of the game's story is told as you progress, but there are occasional rewards that you'll find by exploring into the game's edges that provide snippets of additional lore. Owlboy's story isn't particular complex, but it's well-thought and cohesive, and certainly makes you want to continue playing.
GAMEPLAY
Flying is your main means of conveyance in Owlboy, and thankfully, the folks over at D-Pad Studios nailed it. Flying feels fluid and easy. The controls for flight are somehow sharp without being over-sensitive, and you can generally put Otus wherever you want him whenever you want him. Walking feels slow and kludgy in comparison but that's only because it's not flying. Indeed, there's really only one part of this game that's shaky, and that's the transition from walking to flying. The in-game mechanic is supposed to be a double-tap to jump OR a hold jump to fly sort of thing. They should have chosen one or the other, not both. This gets in the way more than any other single control in the entire game, and that's unfortunate because you spend so much damn time going from walking to flying in critical moments. Taking damage in the game can frequently ground Otus, and not having a precise, reliable way to get back in the air was the cause of -many- deaths. Fortunately, Owlboy also features a forgiving checkpoint system in a game that, in the grand scheme of things, really isn't that hard for anyone used to playing run and gun shooters. Or, you know, veterans of any dual-stick shooter.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
D-Pad say they created this game as a love-letter to Pixel Art, and I'm not so sure they're giving themselves enough credit here. One of my all-time favorite games is 'Fez', and when I think if amazing love letters to Pixel Art, that's what I think of. Fez is pixellated and gorgeous . Owlboy's visuals surpass many of the games from the 16-bit era of gaming, both in the smoothness of animation and the sheer beauty they manage to convey. If this is Pixel Art, it's some of the best I've ever seen. Play this game on as large a display as you can; there's SO MUCH going on in this game and the Switch's tiny screen doesn't do it nearly enough justice. Not even close. There's so much detail to be had here that you can only see on the big screen. Then there's the other problem that the Switch has with this game.
The audio.
The audio design for this game is gorgeous from top to bottom. The sound effects are wonderful, charming, and effective. Indeed, many things are conveyed to you through sound in this game, so playing with the audio down is probably a bad idea. It contributed to a variety of frustrations until I happened to play the game with the audio up and realized what I was missing. Then there's the film's score, which runs the gamut from being cute to heartbreaking to exhilarating. Jonathan Geer has done a masterful job here over the course of a massive 50 songs. Nothing in the Score feels recycled or over-used. Leit Motifs are used to great effect here. My one minor gripe about the soundtrack is the occasional use of chip tune sounds. I love chip tune as much as the next guy, but when you hold it up against music like 'Mesos', it's so very, very out of place.
Owlboy is yet another one of those poor little 'indie' games that's a staggering accomplishment, a labor of love over a decade. Especially considering you can buy this game for only $20, it was so very worth the wait. It's not a perfect game, but it's very, very close and it's over far too soon.
It's safe to say that my fixation on Metroidvania games has instilled a certain bias in me when it comes to selecting my next game title. When you look at lists of great indie games in this genre, Owlboy comes up almost immediately, which is primarily why I picked it up.
Well, that, and the promise of excellent visuals and a stunning game soundtrack.
Does it live up to its promises?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Absolutely.
THE LONG VERSION:
Well, when I say 'absolutely', I mean, "It delivers on every one of its promises except one." We should get one thing clear right from the outset: This is... not what I'd call a Metroidvania. Metroidvania games typically involve a great deal of backtracking and revisiting of partially explored areas once you have power-ups. They typically involve a lot of item collecting. There's quite a bit less of that going on here, and the vast majority of it is due to storytelling.
The question you're left with when this is all said is, should you still play Owlboy? The answer is a resounding 'Yes'.
STORY
You play as Otus, a young person under the tutelage of Asio, a village elder of supposed renown and talent. I can't tell if you're supposed to be a boy with a special cloak that makes him owl-like, or some kind of heavily anthropomorphized owl. I suspect it's the latter, hence the game's title. Anyway, you're a mute, so much of the game's story is told through the exposition provided by your friends and the other people around the village. That story is basically that Otus, bless him, is not the most promising student and is frequently looked down upon by his mentor and some of the villagers. The Owls in Owlboy are great and powerful creatures burdened with purpose. What purpose? That's the real story of the game. Most of the game's story is told as you progress, but there are occasional rewards that you'll find by exploring into the game's edges that provide snippets of additional lore. Owlboy's story isn't particular complex, but it's well-thought and cohesive, and certainly makes you want to continue playing.
GAMEPLAY
Flying is your main means of conveyance in Owlboy, and thankfully, the folks over at D-Pad Studios nailed it. Flying feels fluid and easy. The controls for flight are somehow sharp without being over-sensitive, and you can generally put Otus wherever you want him whenever you want him. Walking feels slow and kludgy in comparison but that's only because it's not flying. Indeed, there's really only one part of this game that's shaky, and that's the transition from walking to flying. The in-game mechanic is supposed to be a double-tap to jump OR a hold jump to fly sort of thing. They should have chosen one or the other, not both. This gets in the way more than any other single control in the entire game, and that's unfortunate because you spend so much damn time going from walking to flying in critical moments. Taking damage in the game can frequently ground Otus, and not having a precise, reliable way to get back in the air was the cause of -many- deaths. Fortunately, Owlboy also features a forgiving checkpoint system in a game that, in the grand scheme of things, really isn't that hard for anyone used to playing run and gun shooters. Or, you know, veterans of any dual-stick shooter.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
D-Pad say they created this game as a love-letter to Pixel Art, and I'm not so sure they're giving themselves enough credit here. One of my all-time favorite games is 'Fez', and when I think if amazing love letters to Pixel Art, that's what I think of. Fez is pixellated and gorgeous . Owlboy's visuals surpass many of the games from the 16-bit era of gaming, both in the smoothness of animation and the sheer beauty they manage to convey. If this is Pixel Art, it's some of the best I've ever seen. Play this game on as large a display as you can; there's SO MUCH going on in this game and the Switch's tiny screen doesn't do it nearly enough justice. Not even close. There's so much detail to be had here that you can only see on the big screen. Then there's the other problem that the Switch has with this game.
The audio.
The audio design for this game is gorgeous from top to bottom. The sound effects are wonderful, charming, and effective. Indeed, many things are conveyed to you through sound in this game, so playing with the audio down is probably a bad idea. It contributed to a variety of frustrations until I happened to play the game with the audio up and realized what I was missing. Then there's the film's score, which runs the gamut from being cute to heartbreaking to exhilarating. Jonathan Geer has done a masterful job here over the course of a massive 50 songs. Nothing in the Score feels recycled or over-used. Leit Motifs are used to great effect here. My one minor gripe about the soundtrack is the occasional use of chip tune sounds. I love chip tune as much as the next guy, but when you hold it up against music like 'Mesos', it's so very, very out of place.
Owlboy is yet another one of those poor little 'indie' games that's a staggering accomplishment, a labor of love over a decade. Especially considering you can buy this game for only $20, it was so very worth the wait. It's not a perfect game, but it's very, very close and it's over far too soon.
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