Olija

 PlayStation 4
Olija Image
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Your PS4, a powerful gate to other worlds, will take you to Terraphage, a wild land filled with new challenges and ancient tales.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. PlayStation Universe
    Jan 28, 2021
    100
    Olija is a masterpiece, a graceful and gorgeous 2D action platformer that oozes style and substance, with engaging gameplay, fast, fluid action, and varied challenges to always keep you on your toes. An engrossing narrative and some truly incredible sequences make it one of the best indie games available on PS4.
  2. Digital Chumps
    Jan 28, 2021
    90
    Sensibilities both modern and retro pepper the fabric of Olija. Players may walk away from the game feeling confused, satisfied, or yearning for more. While I lean towards satisfied with my time, I could not help but immediately begin another playthrough, hoping that more would be illuminated the second time around. Much about Olija is familiar and a game with less self awareness would have drawn out its ideas, pushing players with more aggressive enemies or platforming bordering on tedious. But that’s not what we got. Instead, Olija is a balanced work that speaks volumes despite its quiet nature, breathtaking in both its journey and execution.
  3. Gamers Heroes
    Jan 28, 2021
    80
    With Olija, what you see is what you get. It is well-executed for the most part and is an absolute joy to play. If this is your type of game, don't hesitate to pick this one up.
  4. Het Nieuwsblad
    Feb 9, 2021
    80
    Is ‘short but sweet’ a euphemism for ‘tastes like more’? In case of Olija, that is a heartfelt ‘yes’. This charming 2D platformer excels thanks to its pixel art, innovative controls, compelling story and fun puzzles.
  5. Everyeye.it
    Feb 1, 2021
    75
    Thanks to its peculiar tales of storytelling and staging, the Skeleton Crew production acquires the flavor of those stories with an ancestral charm that are worth listening to, so short yet intense, often harbingers of small - sometimes great - emotions.
  6. Pure Playstation
    Apr 28, 2021
    70
    Olija delivers a simple and easy hack and slash platforming experience. There is a severe lack of context at relevant times which serves only to take away from the immersion. All in all, Olija works well as a filler title between bigger games and when in need of “video-game junk food” and is easy to jump in and play.
  7. Gamer.nl
    Feb 12, 2021
    60
    Olija's main mechanism works great, but then fails in performance. Levels rarely excite the player with interesting variations and complex level design, which makes the game disappointing as a platformer.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. onemorelevel_1
    Feb 3, 2021
    8
    A LEGENDARY HARPOON:
    Olija seemed to be very ominous game at first. It got minimal pixelated visuals, but rich gameplay and movie-like sound    A LEGENDARY HARPOON:
    Olija seemed to be very ominous game at first. It got minimal pixelated visuals, but rich gameplay and movie-like sound design. Its melancholic vibe reminded me of a recent game I played Inmost. I love Japan and its mythological history and folktales, and Olija seems to dive into that realm. I knew where I was getting myself into, when I saw some early gameplay footage of it; fast-paced action, lots of gore, lore and the odd, gloomy atmosphere. I played this fully on PS5 console.

    GAMEPLAY, CONTROLS, GRAPHICS, WEAPONS AND SOUND:
    The game starts strongly; with a shipwreck and a man Lord Faraday, who gets stuck into a mysterious place called Terraphage. I found other castaways, a legendary harpoon and an actual place, that I could build up as I went on a journey. Everytime I got back from caves and dungeons, the place was more full of survivors I rescued along the way.

    Olija is almost linear, mixed with some RPG elements, as I could buy health upgrades and craft various hats from materials, that gave extra protection or extra moves. I like the options and, obviously, I used all the help I could get. The game hides lots of secrets out of the boundary and I liked the satisfaction after trusting my guts and finding secret areas and items.

    With my main weapon, a legendary harpoon, I also got new alternative weapons, as I progressed in the game. Unfortunately, I found it tedious and slow to change the alt-weapons. The gameplay is fast-paced and my inputs always felt too slow. Also the controls could need some tweaking, for example, adding secondary button for the alt-weapon, to scroll them to opposite direction. Definitely these little details were the biggest problem in Olija, everything else was just so enjoyable.

    The detailed sound effects of enemies getting cut in pieces to enviromental audio was well-thought-out. What comes to the visuals and pixelated graphics. At times, I had to stand up and back away from my TV screen, to really see the whole picture clearly. It was rather diffcult to play on TV screen (55″), when so much was happening and all the pixels were so big.

    THE LAST WORDS:
    Olija is beautiful, enjoyable and rare game, but the controls might need some fine-tuning. I enjoyed those insane fight scenes, puzzles I had to solve, the storytelling and dungeon bosses. I’m sure every hack&slash gamers will enjoy this. I did too, and I don’t usually play this type of games.

    Olija is a great game, not too long, not too short, about 4 hours. I do recommend this, but if you still hesitate to buy it, there’s a free demo on Steam.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best PS4 Game of 2021