LuckPercentSRL Owlboy Review

What seemed to be just a little indie game with over 9 years of development, Owlboy is an adventure to behold. I finished this game two days after the game had released. Why? I absolutely fell in love with the game. There's a lot of things that really hold this game and make you just want more. While there are many MANY good things about this game. There are, however some spots I really was disappointed in. Now I won't be spoiling the whole ordeal on what I am talking about, but I will make reference to it so this review does HAVE SPOILERS AT THE END OF THE REVIEW ON ITS OWN SECTION BUT IT WILL BE SPOILER FREE!!!

Owlboy is an Indie adventure game where you control Otus, a mute Owl who apparently has a lot on his shoulders when things don't really go his way. He and his friend Geddy are tasked with watch over their village when a huge group of bandits known as the Pirates invade, taking an Owl relic that is stored in the village. And off we go on our adventure to get that back and stop the Pirates and their plans.

One of the first things I've noticed in game is the presentation along with the soundtrack. Holy crap this game has detail in its animations. Props to the devs and animators for a very polished game. The scenery looks beautiful and it sets the mood in the beginning as a light-hearted adventure. Otus himself is a mute, but the amount of detail in his responses, whether he is twiddling his thumbs when he's nervous, he covers himself with his cloak when he's sad, its all there and I wasn't expecting how I would feel for the poor guy. One effect though I had with the looks of the game were at some points, textures didn't spawn (which were resolved by resetting the game) and there are some weird bugs like if you eat a healing item and get hurt at the same time, it produces some weird result. Nothing gamebreaking, but I think that needs to be addressed.

Speaking of feeling, this game can really tug on your heartstrings. You can get attached to these characters and then suddenly the feel train will hit you. I remembered that I at least teared up or even flat out cried at some sections because what was happening and how I didn't want bonds or spirits to break from the main cast. This story is very well done and the pace is very fluent. There weren't times I wanted to put down the game because I was just done. No, like I said before, I wanted more. When it finally ended, I was pleased with what I got. The game's difficulty isn't that bad either. It's very easy to get into and the game will test your knowledge of when to use certain partners, There are some hard spots, but it isn't too bad.

Now lets talk about that gameplay huh? So Otus, as a mute owl, he really can't attack. He can stun people with is little spin, but thats all he can really do other than his little dash (which I'll get to in a minute). So the game pairs you up at first with your best friend Geddy, Geddy has a gun, which Otus can carry him and he can fire at enemies. This is an interesting mechanic as you need to manage having your partner on you while also dodging enemies, solving puzzles. The whole game would be a boring cake walk if Otus can attack. Because of this, there are special sections were Otus is alone and he has to sneak past enemies. There are a number of stealth sections in this game and they are handled pretty well. I never got bored of them as they went by pretty fast. Not to mention you have a great source of movement. Oh my god the movement. I mentioned Otus can dash either in the air or on the ground. As a speedrunner, I absolutely love games with amazing movement, and Owlboy is no exception. Sure there are a lot of times I spammed the dash to get point A to point B in a timely manner, but I never felt rushed. The regular flight speed that Otus has is very optimal. At no times when I was exploring a dungeon that I needed to move around by dashing, only when I needed to backtrack or dodge incoming fire. There is even an upgrade you get that makes your movement even better so that in the later parts in the game when you have more freedom to backtrack and collect any of the game's currency to buy the extra goodies.

Overall, the game is a gem. It was worth the wait of 9 years of development and polish. I didn't hear about this game until youtuber VideoGameDunkey where he had said he had a really good feeling about this game. I looked into it, and gave a lot of hope. Owlboy is a must play if you like adventureous games with a story that really likes to hit your soft spots. I absolutely loved it and am looking forward to speedrun this game!

Owlboy gets a 9.5 out of 10 for me. ~LuckPercentSRL
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SPOILER SECTION! SPOILER SECTION! SPOILER SECTION! READ IF YOU WANT

So with all the praise I just gave this game. Why did I give it a 9.5? There are two small disappointments I had with the game's story.

So at the end, it appears that Otus had fallen because he activated the anti-hex to save the world. In the end, we get this little section of him talking to all his village friends and they appear to be happy, saying bye sort of feeling, like a memory sequence. We find his teacher at the end who explains some things and where he is. Then it ends and we see him falling from space to.....his death? Is he alive? I'm not sure. It looked like he was dead initally, but his master say the realm he is in gives him a section chance? And then we see him falling from space so is he still alive? Arrrg! I just wanted to know and it just ends off right there! So yes, the ending is a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, there are still a couple of things that make it great.

Also, Captain Molstrum seemed like an interesting antagonist. He was hyped up to be this unstoppable baddie who, with a relic, absolutely obliterates Advent with one blow. We all wanted to get back at him and I was so ready to fight him in like the 3 sections you have contact with him, and you don't get to at all. He gets killed by the plot and I was sad about that. Now this isn't to say the final boss was boring or a wasted potential because I did enjoy fighting him. I'm just sad that we get this hyped baddie and we don't even get to fight him.