Also on: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, PC
Publisher: FDG Entertainment
Developer: Cornfox
Medium: Digital/Cartridge
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T
I first reviewed Oceanhorn 2 way back in 2021, when it was still a Switch exclusive. My verdict: it was pretty similar to Zelda, but it was well-made enough that it was possible to overlook that.
Now that the game has made its way to other platforms, that verdict is largely – but not completely – unchanged. There’s one key difference that makes Oceanhorn 2 a little more worthwhile on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X than it is on the Switch: there’s no Zelda on any of those systems.
That may sound like a silly reason to praise a game, but I’m totally serious about it. I have nothing against games that blatantly rip off other games (in fact, sometimes I even prefer playing the clones), but it’s kind of hard to say that you need to play Oceanhorn 2 when Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are literally right there. On PS5, by contrast, while you may have games like Tunic or even Horizon Zero Dawn, they’re still not quite Zelda. Oceanhorn 2 is probably about as close as you can come to playing as Link on PS5 without getting into some pretty iffy legal territory.
And I’m quite okay with that. I enjoyed Oceanhorn 2 even when it was just on the Switch, and I’m happy to get a chance to revisit it again now that it’s on PS5. Since it treads such familiar ground – rather than trying to reinvent the wheel – everything is pleasantly intuitive. You know that you need to smash vases and swipe at bushes to pick up health boosts and coins. You know you have to roll and dodge in battles. You know how the environmental puzzles work. It’s a well-worn path, but because Oceanhorn 2 is copying from literally some of the best games of all time, the end result can’t help but be pretty solid.
To be sure, as we’ve established, Oceanhorn 2 isn’t very original. But freed of being directly and easily compared to the original by finally arriving on different systems, it’s much easier to appreciate just how strong of an imitation it is.
FDG Entertainment provided us with an Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm PS5 code for review purposes.
