Also On: Xbox One, PC, Switch
Publisher: D-Pad Studios
Developer: D-Pad Studios
Medium: Digital/Disc/Cartridge
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E10+
By whatever measure you want to use, Owlboy is pretty well-regarded. It was universally praised when it first came out on PC a few years ago, and youโd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesnโt like its console ports now.
So I guess Iโll be the first.
Actually, thatโs kind of misleading. I wouldnโt say that I dislike Owlboy so much as I simply donโt see what the fuss is all about.
Like, I get that people enjoy its nods to all things retro. It has graphics and music that wouldnโt have been out of place on the SNES, its Metroidvania gameplay will appeal to anyone who loves sprawling platformers, and it has a fairly coherent story about Otus, the titular owlboy who has disappointed his family and is now battling with invading sky pirates.
In other words, itโs like dozens upon dozens of other similar games. I mean, yes, Owlboy arguably came closer to the beginning of the indie game boom than something like Iconoclasts, which checks off all the same boxes, but if I had to choose between Owlboy and most of its contemporaries or followers, I donโt get why I would pick Owlboy over something else.
The one neat innovation I can see in Owlboy is that it doesnโt just think of platforming on a flat plane. While thatโs obviously a core feature of many Metroidvania platformers, by giving the main character wings (since he, after all, a boy whoโs an owl) the game opens things up much more than most other games of this ilk. You get a little more freedom to explore right off the bat here than you do elsewhere, which is nice.
But that, by itself, isnโt enough to set Owlboy apart or make it a must-have game, as far as Iโm concerned. Itโs fine for what it is, and I certainly wouldnโt begrudge anyone who does love the game and hold it in insanely high regard, but if Iโm being completely honest, I just donโt get it.
D-Pad Studios provided us with an Owlboy PS4 code for review purposes.