Owlboy

 Switch
Owlboy Image
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 175 Ratings

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  • Summary: Owlboy is a vertical platform adventure set in the sky, where the islands of the world have been spread apart after a great calamity. You play as Otus, among the last of the Owls, a renowned race that has produced many of the world's great wonders
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. CGMagazine
    Feb 23, 2018
    100
    Owlboy is a masterpiece. Plain and simple.
  2. Atomix
    Feb 14, 2018
    92
    One of the greatest indie game of the last few years has arrived to consoles. A great Metroidvania with awesome art and pretty good game mechanics. A very intense story with all types of incredible moments.
  3. Nintendo Life
    Feb 11, 2018
    90
    Owlboy is a three-pronged attack of success: the gameplay is tight, satisfying, and remains fresh throughout; the game’s world is visually stunning thanks to some truly masterful pixel art; and you’ll find yourself really caring about the cast of characters and the world surrounding them thanks to a compelling storyline and background lore. The game could be improved with the inclusion of map to aid exploration, but when that is the only real thing we can pick at as a negative point it is clear that we’re on to a winner.
  4. Switch Player
    Feb 28, 2018
    90
    Ten years in the making and certainly worth the wait, Owlboy is a fantastic platform/adventure game that succeeds in making you care about the game's characters through a great tale of an underdog (or owl) wanting to prove himself to those who doubted him. Looking for a new indie game? You'd struggle to find one as well designed as this!
  5. NintendoWorldReport
    Feb 13, 2018
    85
    When that patch comes, Owlboy is absolutely worth checking out, even if just for the pretty artwork and enjoyable story. Fortunately on top of that, the gameplay is also sound, delivering a nice puzzle platforming experience with a wealth of variety and distinctive elements. That being said, the Switch version is rough around the edges right now. It’s still possible to play through and enjoy, but it might be worth holding out for the patch (or even the physical version in May).
  6. Universo Nintendo
    Mar 19, 2018
    85
    Owlboy is a game with quality artistic style and music that leaves the ideal mood for fun. In addition to good controls with a quick response, the game makes sure to vary the gameplay.
  7. App Trigger
    Feb 12, 2018
    65
    Owlboy has a lot of charm but suffers from a convoluted control scheme and some serious game-crashing bugs. The best way to play it is still on the PC, even though the Nintendo Switch seemed like it would be the most ideal place to play it.

See all 27 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 54
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 54
  3. Negative: 9 out of 54
  1. ToastyBoii
    Aug 18, 2018
    10
    Owlboy is a straight up masterpiece with amazing art, world building, lore, great music, unique but simple controls and general veriety inOwlboy is a straight up masterpiece with amazing art, world building, lore, great music, unique but simple controls and general veriety in gameplay.
    The story is not what is seems and in a good way, it surprises you with a hard hit to the gut, but lifts you up a bit later. the tone is always right and the game is just straight up my second favorite game of all times.    … Expand
  2. Bullish
    May 19, 2018
    9
    Sad this game is not more well known because it has a very EPIC feel to it.

    + incredible pixel art + epic music + solid story with some    Sad this game is not more well known because it has a very EPIC feel to it.

    + incredible pixel art
    + epic music
    + solid story with some good twists and turns

    - questionable moments, like navigating dark tight spaces more than once
    - a boss that is just a lag machine    … Expand
  4. SileSixEcho
    Mar 20, 2018
    9
    Great game. Sure it's not for everyone but however enjoys classic plattformers with some new touches, great art and music and an enjoyableGreat game. Sure it's not for everyone but however enjoys classic plattformers with some new touches, great art and music and an enjoyable story should get this. I feel sorry for the haters that spent their money on it but more because they were not able to embrace Owlboy's beauty.… Expand
  5. sjogro
    Feb 6, 2020
    6
    Bad; controls are icky, gameplay lacks some real fun, lack of ingame options (such as save/load/map/fasttravel), lineair storytelling andBad; controls are icky, gameplay lacks some real fun, lack of ingame options (such as save/load/map/fasttravel), lineair storytelling and gameplay segments become boring after a while. Good; original story, original world, great graphics and music score. Conclusion: Some parts are just intolerable and annoying to go over and over till it’s finally done. The world is confusing and certainly could benefit from a simple map. Or even some fasttravel points. Yet I’m glad I gave this a shot. From the start it reminded me a little of Kid Icarus Of Myths & Monsters on the GameBoy, which really got me excited. After playing through I wouldn’t really recommend this game as much as I thought I would when I had just played the first part. Not really for new Switch owners but if you’re bored on Switch and haven’t tried this yet it’s definitely worth a go.
    Also: I think some reviews are pretty harsh because the makers gave us a smell of something really interesting.    … Expand
  6. flowqi
    May 16, 2018
    6
    The good:
    - beautiful graphics and animations, very detailed pixel art
    - a nice story with some twists (if you care to dig deeper) - some    The good:
    - beautiful graphics and animations, very detailed pixel art
    - a nice story with some twists (if you care to dig deeper)
    - some event-driven sections to mix things up
    The bad:
    - Control scheme is very unintuitive
    - Bad world design, the sections lack cohesion in terms of traversal
    - Very unstable with lots of game-breaking bugs    … Expand
  7. bitterologist
    Dec 25, 2021
    5
    The art style is lovely, and the music is nice. The central mechanic is thematically neat (you can only succeed with the help of yourThe art style is lovely, and the music is nice. The central mechanic is thematically neat (you can only succeed with the help of your friends), but also nonsensical and kind of redundant. There are some neat sections of gameplay, but most of it is sub-par. There are quite a few difficulty spikes, stun-locks and an overall clunkiness to the controls which makes large swathes of the game feel more like a chore than something enjoyable. Also, the lack of a map really hurts the game. I got as far as the monkey boss, but that's where I ran out of patience.… Expand
  8. MegamanAT
    Apr 1, 2019
    0
    most overrated game ever. lousy controlls, bad story, bad leveldesign. no worth 20 bucks. more a 5 $ game.

See all 54 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best Switch Game of 2018
33
#33 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2018
63
#63 Most Shared Switch Game of 2018

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