Owlboy review
The ever-faithful Geddy can fire a pistol, turning the game into a twin-stick shooter of sorts. Instead, Otus can carry his friends by their shoulders, using whatever abilities they bring with them. While it has that a Metroid influence, you’re not spending your time hunting down artefacts or weapons that open up new pathways. The threat of gravity’s never a looming one, which opens the gameplay up with exciting possibilities.
Owlboy review free#
For starters, Otus’ free flight means you won’t be doing the running and jumping you’d imagine you would in a platformer. While it has obvious inspiration in games like Super Mario Bros and Metroid, it cleverly changes what you expect from games like those. Owlboy brilliantly does a few things that subvert genre conventions. When the pair returns, they discover their home attacked by pirates, which serves as the impetus for a grand adventure that takes the duo to varied and exciting locations exploring caves, pirate ships and ancient ruins.Īlong the way, Otus meets new friends, but they’re not only there for the sake of the story. On patrol with his friend Geddy, Otus – with the owl cloak that grants him flight – is distracted by a menace that drags him deep into the caves in the town of Vellie. Otus is one of the last of the Owls, a human-hybrid race that protects the skies above the floating islands in the air let loose from the ground in a catastrophic event in a time long passed. Here, it immediately creates a sense of empathy and connection that carries through to the handful of other characters that you’ll meet on Otus’ adventures.
It’s the sort of negative relationship that many of us have had, whether in school, at work or in social circles, where no matter what is said or done, it’s just not good enough. Always eager to please, Otus is mocked and bullied by his peers, berated by his elder mentor Asio. It’s centred on a young, mute owl called Otus. Unusually, for games of this ilk, there’s a strong narrative focus – and right from the onset, it’s engaging, thought-provoking and utterly charming. It made its way to Nintendo’s Switch in February, is now available on the other consoles. After nearly a decade in development ( detailed here) Metroid and Mario-inspired action platformer Owlboy finally saw release towards the tail of 2016.