Owlboy review for PS4, Xbox One, Switch

Platform: PS4
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 youโ€™d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesnโ€™t like its console ports now.

So I guess Iโ€™ll be the first.

Actually, thatโ€™s kind of misleading. I wouldnโ€™t say that I dislike Owlboy so much as I simply donโ€™t 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 wouldnโ€™t 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, itโ€™s 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 donโ€™t get why I would pick Owlboy over something else.

The one neat innovation I can see in Owlboy is that it doesnโ€™t just think of platforming on a flat plane. While thatโ€™s obviously a core feature of many Metroidvania platformers, by giving the main character wings (since he, after all, a boy whoโ€™s 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, isnโ€™t enough to set Owlboy apart or make it a must-have game, as far as Iโ€™m concerned. Itโ€™s fine for what it is, and I certainly wouldnโ€™t begrudge anyone who does love the game and hold it in insanely high regard, but if Iโ€™m being completely honest, I just donโ€™t get it.

D-Pad Studios provided us with an Owlboy PS4 code for review purposes.

Grade: B
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