Owlboy

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9VwGaycmCQ

'tis the season o' blockbusters, so hopefully this won't get lost in the chaos.

Out on Tuesday after the guts of a decade in production. PC for the moment with other formats 'TBA'.

Looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous. Early reviews seem very positive indeed, lovely one here from Kill Screen (the piece discusses narrative and mechanics in some depth if that concerns you).

It is important to emphasize this in particular—Owlboy uses an older model of videogame, but it is not a “retro” title in the sense that its meaning or pleasure derives from nostalgia. On the contrary, the game’s sheer creative energy makes it feel fresher than most modern titles. That this energy was sustained over the course of nearly a decade of development, and that the end result is so perfectly cohesive, is something of a small miracle in a difficult industry. And it is hard to imagine that anything could inspire such devotion from D-Pad’s small team over such a long time other than the plucky owling whose story this ultimately is. The world belongs to Otus; the creators enabled him, but the player’s privilege is to set him on his way, and watch him rise.

gizmo

Really looking forward to this one alright, been keeping an eye on it for the last couple of years and in the meantime I really dug their work on Savant.

There's a nice little interview with one of their programmers here, The Exhausting Ten-Year Journey to Release 'Owlboy', for those interested in why it took so long.

Retr0gamer

Whatever about the actual game but the sprite art and animation is incredible. Really great to see a game with such brilliant 2D art in a sea of awful looking flash art and puppet animation.

johnny_ultimate

And worth singling out the score too alongside the lovely art. Based on the music released so far, it sounds far more expansive and complex than a likely low budget would usually suggest. Almost Nintendo-esque. Production values overall really do seem top tier, which will hopefully help sell the narrative and mechanical vision of the game.

TetraxShard

The artstyle and the music, from that small glimpse, are wonderful. Very refreshing, especially at this time of year.

Definitely going to give this a go.

Mr E

Looks like I'll have a new game to play this evening. This is getting great reviews.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/owlboy
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-10-28-owlboy-review

Pickpocket

Johnny thanks for the recommendation. I'd never heard of it before and now I'm sat here anxiously waiting for it to unlock on Steam.

Sephiroth_dude

Is this a platformer or what kind of game is it?

Retr0gamer

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Is this a platformer or what kind of game is it?

Metroidvania is what I'm hearing.

Mr E

Played it for a half an hour last night - lovely game, looks and sounds amazing - I'm looking forward to exploring more.

johnny_ultimate

Don't think it's quite Metroidvania based on around two hours of play, reminds me more of a Zelda game. There's a bit of MV in there, yes, but so far anyway it's not exactly a constant barrage of sealed paths and secrets, more an expanding world with lots of dungeon-like asides. That could change, obviously.

So far the presentation trumps the gameplay, but the latter is definitely not shabby. It feels 'retro' in a positive and only slightly generic way, with the modern twists very much welcome. At its best it is indeed reminiscent of a classic Nintendo game with modern production values, although hoping the game is more liberal with its fresh gameplay ideas as it progresses

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out if the

fish in the top hat

serves any purpose beyond being a wonderfully random gag :pac:

johnny_ultimate

Got around to finishing this it, and have to admit overall I was a bit underwhelmed. It makes a great first impression - that stunning pixel art and lush soundtrack punching well above their weight. The characters remain charming and interesting throughout, it resists becoming purely sentimental, and there's an overall charm and enthusiasm to the game that is undeniably present.

Sadly, I think its successes are established early on and not sufficiently built on after that. There's some cool gameplay, but not enough. A few sections are frustrating and pace-killing - not necessarily due to difficulty (it's an easy game overall) but more because they're just awkwardly realised. The jump button, for example, becomes a curse during a few misguided platforming sections that take away Otus' flying abilities. There's this weird sense that a few gameplay ideas never come to full fruition. Little annoyances - like the shotgun bar that's always just that bit too slow to refill, especially when it's effectively your only weapon for stretches - accumulate. The story too turns into familiar save the world guff when it's by far at its strongest when focusing more initimately on its charming cast of outcasts. These all amount to a game that doesn't play as smoothly as one would hope.

Rarely is Owlboy an actively bad game, but when you get past the sheer passion of the project it's sometimes a surprisingly middling one. It's still probably worth playing, and your mileage may vary depending on your affection for retro tropes. But for most of the second half of the (pretty short) game I found myself rather unengaged. Which is a shame, because rarely has a game felt like it was ushered into the world so purely on good vibes and intentions.

bigphil2

i believe this will be getting a PS4 version in the new year.. I cant wait to give it a go.