Over the last few years there hasn’t been many games that have got me to boot-up my old gaming PC. I’m predominately a console gamer (and now solely a Switch gamer) and like playing my games on the comfort of my sofa. However, when Owlboy from D-Pad studios was released back in 2016 with raving reviews, I spent my Christmas break back in England trying to play through the game. Unfortunately, I never managed to finish the game because of a corrupted save file, but I always knew one day I would go back and finish this chirpy little game. Flash forward a year and a half and Owlboy is on sale with 20% off on the Nintendo Switch. Finally, finally I get to beat Owlboy…. but is that a good thing?

The Story

You play as Otus, a mute Owl who is in the middle of his guardian training. In Otus’s floating island village of Vellie, Owls are protecters. They are highly trained to defend their village from the marauding Sky Pirates that lurk around in the open air. However, because he is a mute, Otus is seen as the but of every joke and is treated horribly by his master.

On a routine task, Otus and his companion Geddy are investigating a mischievous stranger in the village. As they follow the stranger, the pair stumbles across a hidden ancient Owl Temple. Upon entering the temple, the two friends find an ancient device that lets Otus teleport Geddy to his position (which is very convienient for puzzles).

After making it to the main vault of the ruin, Otus and Geddy realise that the mischievous stranger is working for the evil Sky Pirates. The Pirates’ plan is to steal one of the Owls’ ancient relics. After an intense battle the pirates are defeat, causing one of them to join your team!

The three companions set off on an adventure to stop the pirate Captain Molstrom from finding the Owls’ remaining two relics. Nevertheless, a deeper plot unravels as the story progresses. It is not just the Pirates Otus has to worry about.

The story in Owlboy was a little confusing, as what seemingly starts off as being a typical ‘save the world from the bad guy’ story soon becomes tangled in overly complex subplots and lore. I could see that some parts of the story were there as lore to build D-Pad Studios’s universe. And I also think a lot of the random story was there to lay the foundations for the next game. However, when mixed together it made for a choppy and overly long story which by the end, I didn’t enjoy.

On the other hand, what I really liked was how D-Pad Studios developed their main characters in the game and really gave them clear and concise motivations for wanting to help save the world and stop the pirates. Otus for example, is always seen as a fool or worthless by his peers and therefore has a point to prove. Geddy is loyal and wants to be their for his friend Otus, whilst also protecting his friends and family in Vellie. Alphonse the Pirate’s sense of dignity and pride has him fight for the good side instead of the bad. The final character (who I won’t say because it’s a spoiler) is an outcast from his family and was betrayed by the pirates, forcing him to side with Otus. I thought it was great how fleshed out each of the main characters were in the story, which is not always seen in other indie games.

The Game

The game is a 2D side-scrolling platform puzzler with some very light metroidvania elements. Otus can fly, run, roll and spin but he cannot use a weapon. Therefore, each of your companions has a specific weapon which only they can use. Otus has to fly around and carry that character to use their weapon. The game is a twin-stick shooter with the left joystick controlling Otus and the right aiming his companions’ weapon.

So for example, Geddy has a basic pee-shooter type gun and Alphonse has a shotgun which is very slow to reload. It can also be used as a torch and a means to burn the environment to open up new areas. Furthermore, he is very heavy so Otus moves slower, but it also means Alphonse can be used to hold down bigger pressure plates, which help solve puzzles. The third character has a grappling hook which helps Otus platform through tough winds and warp through enemy attacks.

In addition, Owlboy also has a significant amount of boss battles that the player must overcome. I liked the visual design of every boss but the actual mechanics behind the battles were pretty standard. They reminded me of some of the ‘bullet-hell’ bosses from The Binding of Isaac but were much easier to understand and beat.

I enjoyed the twin-stick aspect of the game but the combat really took a rear-seat compared to the puzzles in the game. Each puzzle was well designed, fun and made you think. Many had that aspect where the solution was simple. Nevertheless, they made me over think so much that I was trying to do Rayman-Like equations in my head, only to realise all I needed to do was look bit harder or try something a slightly different way. I find this aspect great because it always shows how well designed a game’s puzzles are and how bad at puzzles I am!

As I said above the Metroidvania aspects of the games are very light. For players that wish to just play through the story, there is no real need to back track. The only collectables in the game are coins and a few special tokens which don’t have that much of an effect on gameplay. The coins can upgrade Otus’s health, but I would argue they are mostly there as distractions for players.

Art and Music

Anyone who knows anything about indie games can tell you Owlboy is famous because of its art style. It’s pixelated graphics are stunning, there’s no two words about it. The animation is always flawless and the art direction in the game’s world is beautiful. Each environment is varied, rich and colourful.

The music too is up there with some of the best. Orchestral sounds swoop and swoon as Otus flies around Vellie, with slower more melancholic tones at the sadder parts of the game. The sound design too it fantastic. I love Otus’s whistles of approval and the evil laugh of Captain Molstrom. Put it all together and I have no problem saying that Owlboy is the best presented indie game on the Nintendo Switch. However, because of its immaculate presentation I feel some things may get overlooked by reviewers.

Problems

Firstly the game crashed on me four or five times. Again like The Adventure Pals, it was always close to the end of the game when it happened. One boss battle in particular (the metal snake) was so framey it was almost unplayable. I was mostly guessing where the snake might be and shooting, hoping my bullets would hit and end my framey nightmare.

As I said above, the combat was lacklustre and too easy. The only challenge came when you were up against multiple enemies. However, what tended to happen was that you would get pin-balled between enemies and killed. So when you get hit once, you may as well reload your game. This made combat always feel like a chore, which was very disappointing.

Finally, my biggest issue was that the jump and glide function were both mapped to the same button. Throughout most of the game this was fine. However, close to the end there is a platforming section where you have to masterfully time your jumps and glides. This literally took me 45 minutes to beat because the controls weren’t tight enough. There was times when I’d want to glide but instead I’d jump (and vice versa). I really wish there was an option to change the control scheme in the game!

Summary

To conclude, the excitement I had for Owlboy was definitely over exaggerated. Though the game’s art and music are a masterpiece, its choppy story and somewhat boring combat make it a little bit of a drag to play. There are some definite highlights such as the puzzles and depth of the four main characters, however, for its quite expensive price of $24.99, I feel there are a selection of simply better indie games you should play first. Maybe do what I did and wait for it to go on sale before picking it up.

That’s why I give Owlboy by D-Pad studios my rating of

What did you think of my review? Did you love Owlboy and think I don’t know what I’m talking about? Let’s have a conversation over on Twitter or join the Switch Indie Fix Discord Server.

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