Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas

There are a fair number of mascot, high profile games that define or defined a genre that you see surprisingly few clones or at least attempts at. For all the complaining about Darksiders being a 'zelda clone' (whatever) you really don't see many others in spite of it being a pillar franchise for an entire console. There's not really many Megaman clones - not precisely, not really - and very few Sonic clones. There are lots of platformers, of course, but of those very few really live up to Sonic or Mario. They're all brownity torture platformers that don't really have the same crisp, refreshing feel of those games.

(I've always been, as a total aside, completely baffled by the treatment of a lot of mascots and their games. Sonic is obviously the most confusing one, where they seemingly just toss out random garbage to weaken the brand, but it feels like the recent efforts in Starfox and Metroid are just baffling. Metroid especially. Metroidvanias have a market, Metroid has a market, Nintendo has ... Never mind)

Oceanhorn is ostensibly a zelda clone, or something, although I haven't played enough recent Zelda games to pretend I'm much of an expert on the matter. It is a Zeldalike more toward the charm and simple puzzle solving, also it has boats and I feel like there's some major Zelda games that had boats. It is otherwise a charming, colorful game about a boy with a sword and a shield and he has bombs and hearts.

Yay.

Visually speaking Oceanhorn is really fun looking and colorful. It's a really successful take on making this sort of game, with an art style that pleases the eye. The animations are generally pretty good, and there's lots of variety in the terrain. I really like how it uses shadows, something simple like the shadow of a cloud passing over you may not seem like a lot but it adds a pleasing touch to the game. The game is essentially a old style 3d isometric RPG kinda dealio, though it does feel very 16-bit style Zelda-ish. The game is conceptually tile based, though it wiggles a little on that.

I know I made a quip about boats, but Oceanhorn does involve some boating - or sailing, really - around. Actually I guess since you don't utilize the sail and instead you shoot at obstacles with a little blunderbuss of some sort. It's a pleasant little mini-game, though aiming with the xbox one stick isn't what I would call measurably great. It gives the world a feeling of depth, except the boat ride is rather short, so it's not that much depth.

The game's other assets are pretty good. The menus look clear and everything is quite legible in a colorful, pleasant way. Audio isn't outstanding, as the music does loop too quickly, but the sound effects are pretty cute. The game's cute audio and playful, pleasing palette basically add up to a game that is soothing to look at in that middle era nintendo sort of way.

The gameplay, on the other hand, is kinda iffy. Combat in Oceanhorn isn't great - it's certainly not bad, but it feels kinda 80% finished - and it makes up a lot more of the game than you ever want it to. I didn't play all that far, maybe a fifth into the game, but this is basically why I dropped it. Combat just...Isn't right. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it feels like enemies don't have proper tells, so the proper way to fight is to shield up whenever you're uncertain, or use a lot of throwing rocks/pots/debris and the like.

Problem is, enemies respawn on a regular basis and come running to hang out with you constantly, but the rocks and bombs you use up don't or don't necessarily. So you end up with these mediocre fights, over and over, where you just have to either run away or sword and board your way through. This isn't so bad, but it just doesn't feel fun, and it makes it hard to keep your bearings when exploring.

The boss fights, or the ones I did anyway, were pretty reasonable little affairs. I'm not precisely sure if they actually were boss fights, maybe mini-bosses, it's hard to figure out. The one section felt like a boss, but the scene didn't respawn (objects were where I had placed them) while the other felt like a miniboss but objects did reset.

The exploring element of the game feels good, and the puzzles while generally simple are the right side of satisfying. But as you're doing these things, enemies pop in and keep respawning. It's not continuous, but it takes away from your ability to enjoy these things about the game.

I didn't play the game long enough to really get into the story, and I get the feeling from the spoilers written on the cards (yeesh, why do people do this) there's a lot more than I got to see. The thing is, after over two hours, I sort of feel like they should gotten some additional hooks in me, maybe some actual exciting story. The generic "your dad died doing a thing isn't that mysterious" mystery really doesn't click with me. There's a fair amount of text and dialogue in that first two hours, but very little of it comes off as especially pointed.

Anyway, if you're looking for a chill isometric "zeldaish" sort of game, I think Oceanhorn fits the bill and does so pleasantly. But for me, the game just didn't really have much of a hook. It was very chill, except for the obnoxious enemy respawning, which is a running issue with games that need a wee bit more playtesting. I don't think I'm quote the audience for it, ultimately.