Owlboy
Owlboy is a story-driven platform adventure game, where you can fly and explore a brand new world in the clouds! Pick up your friends, and bring them with you as you explore the open skies. Overcome obstacles and greater enemies, in one of the most detailed adventures of this era. Being a mute, Otus struggles living up to the expectations of owl-hood. Things spiral from bad to worse with the sudden appearance of sky pirates. What follows is a journey through monster infested ruins, with unexpected encounters, well kept secrets, and burdens no one should have to bear. A love letter to pixel art for a new audience, Owlboy is a story-driven action adventure, with a unique mix of flight and platforming. Carry anything. Recruit Otus’s friends as gunners to fight for you, each with unique abilities and stories. Large dungeons with big and challenging boss battles. An adventure 10 years in the making.
Game Discussion
Steam User 16
Having finished playing Owlboy I truly wish I had played it much sooner instead of pushing it off as long as I did. The pixel art is so beautiful and both story and characters felt so well written to me and I personally enjoyed every bit of my time exploring the world.
Steam User 8
That was beautiful. A relaxing time with a good story. 100%-ing this game is very difficult so I won't attempt it but I recommend this one for sure.
Steam User 10
OwlBoy has been one of the most Beautiful games I have played. A game that was in development for 9 years and I can really see why. The whole game feels like the biggest passion project ever, with charming characters, A beautiful soundtrack, a well written story and visuals that will just have you awe struck throughout the whole playthrough. Seriously, Everything I mentioned blends together so perfectly that this feels like a masterful symphony of art.
I cannot get over how beautiful this game looks, I have said in other reviews on how the pixel art in some games is very good but god damn Owlboy is just on a whole different level. To me, Metal Slug has always been one of the best looking 16-bit games that has ever been created, and if you look at it you can see that it still holds up very well and not a lot of things have come close. Owlboy is now my new highest Standard, im serious, the pixel art detail is out of this world. I sort of wish they would hire the artist to make a new Metal Slug game because holy hell, its so insane. This game visually is officially timeless.
The soundtrack of the game is a lovely orchestra where it fits the mood perfectly for every area/level you explore. It switches from very somber tones that encapsulate the night time feelings of watching the stars to a beautiful score for adventuring that will get you ready for whats to come and beats that encapsulate the dangers of the fights you present yourself in. Such a wonderful auditory experience with great sound design all around.
The story of the game is written expertly as you follow a boy that is not good at anything, not even his own natural talents, as you go on an adventure with other characters that are also looked down upon because they tend to screw up. All of them band together to prove to everyone that even the lowest skilled folks can create a huge impact on the world. You get attached to the them in their voyage as you see how from the start they were strangers to one another but then become close friends towards the end that look out for each other.
The gameplay is pretty good, Otis (owlboy) cannot fight so you have to pick up your teammates for you to be able to kill any monsters. Each member does something different as they are also used to solve the puzzles that you come across. Overall a fun experience gameplay wise and I had no complaints from it as I enjoyed the combination of changing between characters on the fly to solve puzzles or to fight bosses. The game in general is not very hard, its pretty linear at times and incredibly easy but that didnt really affect my experience with the overall product as I still had a ton of fun playing for this game is more about the journey unfolding in front of you.
Owlboy is one of those games that when I look at it I will remember it for how beautiful it was, from the Title screen all the way to the end Credits, the game is a masterful art piece that will be preserved for many years to come. Check it out for yourself.
Steam User 5
Such a beautiful game, yet it got so little attention. Its music, its characters, its story is so grand and moving that it brings you to tears. It's one of the few games I genuinely cried hard at, and it's forever earned my respect and admiration. I so want to share this game's experience with as many people as possible.
Steam User 6
This is a must play for game devs, and casual gamers!
Much like the Wall-E movie, most of the story is not infodumped, but told through the environment and minor clues given from NPCs.
I have ditched several games because of the infodump stuff.
"Oh, you came from another world? Well here, the evil Steve made the sky black in the war of whatever... Now there are monsters that come from the Dingus realm and snatch people from their beds at night! You must be the chosen hero of the prophecy that is meant to bring balance back to the force."
Not here. There is a lesson to be learned for all devs in this game. Suggestion of a past, and am environment that brings it to life. Huge Hollow Knight player (110% on Switch). Much of the same applies here. Here is the world, infer its history from when you see and do. Not what is jammed into a subpar dialog + instructional mission tutorial sequence.
Let the world speak for itself.
The devs of this game are masters of their craft.
Play their game!
Steam User 4
i mean what can i even say about this game that could ever do it real justice? you should really just stop reading now and play it! i went in blind myself. a buddy of mine came to visit and shared his steam library with me JUST so he could sit there and watch as i started playing this game! just so he could see me begin to enjoy the true masterpiece that this game is for the first time! everything about this game is brilliant. the art style is retro yet legitimately one of the most beautiful games ive ever played. the music is fantastic! one of the few times i went out of my way to find and buy the sound track to a game ever, its that good. the writing and story are moving and funny and just oh so good, with so much emotion expressed with just text and a little bit of timing and sound effects. and the gameplay is this genius mix of platformer and twin stick shooter. i literally cant say enough good about this game!
tldr: a brilliant fusion of retro style and gorgeous art and music and a fun and moving story! seriously. just play it already!
Steam User 3
This is honestly one of the most beautiful, sad, difficult and fun games I've played. I discovered this game thanks to Savant, and I'm thankful for it.
It is honestly a really good heartwarming game with a story told in such a good way I didn't mind it lack of complexity. It is a fun game, difficult but not so much, and a good story to trap you in it and wanting to know more about where the story is going.