Owlboy

 Switch
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 175 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 93 out of 175
  2. Mixed: 63 out of 175
  3. Negative: 19 out of 175
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  1. AnatolGoodnor
    Aug 18, 2023
    7
    Charming, linear 2D-game with great visuals and good music. Not really Metroidvania, because the exploration is missing. I do like the general gameplay, although the control scheme takes a bit of time getting used to. The level design is pretty okay. Starts strong, but feels unfinished and as if a lot of content was cut in the latter parts of the game. Overall the story is fine, with a fewCharming, linear 2D-game with great visuals and good music. Not really Metroidvania, because the exploration is missing. I do like the general gameplay, although the control scheme takes a bit of time getting used to. The level design is pretty okay. Starts strong, but feels unfinished and as if a lot of content was cut in the latter parts of the game. Overall the story is fine, with a few twists. But the selection of the last boss is just not clever at all. Really promising start, but falls short in the end.… Expand
  2. poggomobile
    Jun 16, 2022
    5
    it's ok... cute art and interesting idea, but I don't know... it just keeps losing me. Whoever created it is good, but needed to spend more time making the playability a bit better I think.
  3. 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 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 gameThe 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
  4. B-Bog
    Sep 26, 2021
    5
    I _really_ expected more from this game. It draws you in with an interesting concept, beautiful pixel-art and an intriguing narrative, but kinda falls apart when it comes to the actual gameplay, mostly due to hacky dungeon-design and a horrible control scheme. The difficulty curve is all over the place, the enemies mostly don't present a fun challenge but are just annoying pests that slowI _really_ expected more from this game. It draws you in with an interesting concept, beautiful pixel-art and an intriguing narrative, but kinda falls apart when it comes to the actual gameplay, mostly due to hacky dungeon-design and a horrible control scheme. The difficulty curve is all over the place, the enemies mostly don't present a fun challenge but are just annoying pests that slow you down, the exploration suffers from the lack of a map-screen and too many dead-ends that only become relevant in the post-game, the reload time for the shotgun is straight-up ridiculous, and getting knocked down and dropping your partner EVERY TIME you get hit is just infuriating, especially since after you have fallen, you'll often have trouble even locating your character on screen. The latter is not exactly helped by the TOTALLY overblown screen color-shifting effects that'll make you wonder if you have accidentally installed f.lux on your Switch. I also found the post-game lore revelations to be really disappointing (so, if you were wondering, no, collecting the Golden Disks isn't really worth it if you haven't already done so in the course of your normal playthrough). Like, c'mon guys, the game is over, there's probably not going to be a sequel, just spill the tea already, what happened?… Expand
  5. Attegun
    Mar 7, 2021
    6
    Seriously overrated, a game with a good idea for the mechanic behind it, but is poorly realized trough unsatisfactory level design and the story wouldn't be if more fleshed out, but it comes out as rushed, trying to make me feel sad for characters that I didn't care for that much.
    Its good pixel can't hide the fact that this game is really not fun, and the controls are worse than
    I    Seriously overrated, a game with a good idea for the mechanic behind it, but is poorly realized trough unsatisfactory level design and the story wouldn't be if more fleshed out, but it comes out as rushed, trying to make me feel sad for characters that I didn't care for that much.
    Its good pixel can't hide the fact that this game is really not fun, and the controls are worse than
    I thought. They're not straight up bad, but feels uncomfortable to play.
    It took me two weeks to finish just because I didn't want to get back to it.    … Expand
  6. Gontrand00
    Dec 8, 2020
    7
    A beautiful platformer with some really nice moments, but that has some bad points in it.

    -The controls are so not intuitives that even after 5h of playing the game I still mess some commands -You character feels somewhat sluggish and that absence of fluidity sometimes just make you so weak against any ennemies -There is one thing I would literally erase from the game if there was a    A beautiful platformer with some really nice moments, but that has some bad points in it.

    -The controls are so not intuitives that even after 5h of playing the game I still mess some commands
    -You character feels somewhat sluggish and that absence of fluidity sometimes just make you so weak against any ennemies
    -There is one thing I would literally erase from the game if there was a patch : the fact that your character fall down EVERY TIME you get hit by an enemy. It is such a bad idea since, not only it kills your flow, but it also makes you have a great disadvantage against any enemy, since you have to get up and fly again to just go back to being equal with them. It's even worst when they hit you near a wall since you'll also hit the wall, then fall down to the ground. All this literally takes 3 secondes every time. A good thing is that dying doesn't really have consequences, but still. It's utterly frustrating because, again, it's a platform game. Anything that can easily kill your flow or makes things unfair because of bad controls really waste the potential of the game.

    I stopped playing around 2/3 of the game since it was lacking rythm, the world design wasn't at his best and I always felt that the fight were kinda unfair. I don't get why they put so many controls on every buttons where they easily could have mashed some together.

    Wait for a sale. I got it for 5$.    … Expand
  7. alan2pc
    Nov 17, 2020
    5
    I’m the type of player that doesn’t get drawn in much by art, music, and story. Don’t get me wrong, those things can put a great game over the top. But for the most part, I’m looking for gameplay. And I felt like Owlboy failed her. I didn’t enjoy the gameplay at all. I put in about 2 hours playing this game and decided it wasn’t for me. My 8 year old nephew said his friend had theI’m the type of player that doesn’t get drawn in much by art, music, and story. Don’t get me wrong, those things can put a great game over the top. But for the most part, I’m looking for gameplay. And I felt like Owlboy failed her. I didn’t enjoy the gameplay at all. I put in about 2 hours playing this game and decided it wasn’t for me. My 8 year old nephew said his friend had the game too, and thinks it stinks as well. So, there you have it, kids and adults both agree.… Expand
  8. moothemagiccow
    Nov 12, 2020
    6
    This game is all right, but it's in love with its story, which is really weird. If you enjoy watching someone getting yelled at by their abusive boss and looking sad all the time, all the while being unable to skip the cutscene, check out Owlboy.

    Whoever said it's a Metroidvania does not know what a Metroidvania is. The game is linear. As a whole, the game is frustrating because it    This game is all right, but it's in love with its story, which is really weird. If you enjoy watching someone getting yelled at by their abusive boss and looking sad all the time, all the while being unable to skip the cutscene, check out Owlboy.

    Whoever said it's a Metroidvania does not know what a Metroidvania is. The game is linear.

    As a whole, the game is frustrating because it does a bad job explaining itself. If there's a specific way to beat an enemy, it's not clear about it. If you can't shoot something, there's no audio or visual indicator that it doesn't work, you just keep shooting it and nothing happens. In one instance, I was supposed to throw its weapon back at it, but it was unclear whether I could just pick up the weapon or if that would hurt me. It becomes a matter of trial-and-error, which just wastes time. It fails to explain itself in the global sense, too. It tells me things like "go find Geddy!" and I seriously can't remember who Geddy is, and I certaintly don't know where he is.

    The game can be frustrating, but is at least somewhat forgiving. Whenever you encounter a challenge and get killed, it starts you back pretty close to where you left off.
    There are also a few bugs, which is surprising as it's 2 years old and has been patched a few times.    … Expand
  9. Theobaer
    Jun 13, 2020
    5
    Lovely crafted, lovely looking yet only mediocre adventure-platformer, that I would really love to rate high, but it's story and gameplay couldn't attract me too much and I don't feel any urge to pick it up (plus, there are plenty alternatives out there, that feel way more statisfying to play, so why would I force myself into playing it, you know?).
  10. Eldarvoe
    Feb 21, 2020
    6
    I love how this game looks, it has one of the best (if not the best) pixel art visuals I've ever seen, but unfortunately I didn't like gameplay or the story that much.
  11. 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 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 certainlyBad; 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
  12. chr1so
    Oct 21, 2019
    7
    An ok side scroller/metroivania. Most of the game exploration-wise is just decent but the boss fights were the real highlight here and helped make it a solid 7 for mine.
  13. jcolin
    Aug 1, 2019
    6
    It's a fairly fun adventure game but the roguelite elements really hold it back. Unlike some other rogue lites where you may die but you've earned some upgrade that will carry over, in this one you simply respawn at the start. Basically, just try, try, and try again. In the roguelites i like, things get easier the more you die as you get strong enough to beat the challenge. In this one ifIt's a fairly fun adventure game but the roguelite elements really hold it back. Unlike some other rogue lites where you may die but you've earned some upgrade that will carry over, in this one you simply respawn at the start. Basically, just try, try, and try again. In the roguelites i like, things get easier the more you die as you get strong enough to beat the challenge. In this one if you're really stuck on a level thats just it. You're done.… Expand
  14. CodyWanKenobi
    Jun 21, 2019
    5
    Owlboy is NOT a masterpiece. After playing through the entire game, I was shocked at all of the high reviews that swayed my buying decision. I got this game at half price and I still feel that I paid too much. I cannot understand why anyone would call this game a masterpiece. Don't be fooled. There are so many other indie games out there that are much better than Owlboy. Skip this one,Owlboy is NOT a masterpiece. After playing through the entire game, I was shocked at all of the high reviews that swayed my buying decision. I got this game at half price and I still feel that I paid too much. I cannot understand why anyone would call this game a masterpiece. Don't be fooled. There are so many other indie games out there that are much better than Owlboy. Skip this one, unless you can get it under $10.

    The GOOD: Art style is occasionally pleasing. Geddy (Otus' friend)

    The SOSO: The music and sound was okay but overall, forgettable. Not like some of the other comparable indie games like Hollow Knight. The controls and gameplay often felt weird. The mechanic of carrying your friends was new and fresh but it didn't really grab me as something that I wanted more of. Having to grab, pull up, then consume a piece of fruit to restore my health felt too long and drawn out for such a simple task.

    The BAD: Boss fights! During more than half of the boss fights, I had no idea what was happening. Every boss was defeated on the first try and each felt like... "what just happened?" The main villain, Molstrom... you never even fight!? Such a strange choice. The shop to buy "upgrades"??? was pitiful. You get hats, which have no explanation but essentially provide you one free hit before taking damage. You have a handful of health upgrades and a couple lackluster gun upgrades. I wouldn't have hated the character upgrade system so much if there were an adequate fast travel system. Thinking of backtracking to old areas to find forgotten coins (especially when Otus flies so slowly) was laughable. You've got cannons everywhere, why not put in a fast travel system? And if somehow I missed access to an existing fast travel system, then that is pretty poor game design. The world was horribly designed and very boring. I was excited to go to advent and see an actual town, but it gets destroyed and has no purpose, the rest of the world is just a few islands here and there. I felt that I was in a game with a world patched in a built around the game rather than in a real world that could exist for the story. The story was convoluted. It was either hard to follow or I was not invested/interested enough to even care about what we were doing. There were so many moments, such as the owl temple? up in space, where you can't fly, that dragged on and on. I kept going because I wanted to finish the game. I wanted to see if it would get better, but nothing about the story motivated me to finish. Character loyalty and development was very poor. I had no reason to be invested in the townspeople of Vellie, yet my whole purpose was to help them? I was so lost and unattached throughout the whole game. The times when I was supposed to be drawn into the story with backstory or other events seemed forced and out of place.    … Expand
  15. drlowdon
    Sep 23, 2018
    7
    Owlboy is a 2d platform-adventure game from independent developer D-Pad Studio. Players take control of Otus who, following a pirate attack on his sky village, sets out to stop the pirates causing any more harm.

    Owlboy is a great looking game combining beautiful 2d graphics and smooth animation with a soundtrack to match. The gameplay is fairly old school but, for the most part, fairly    Owlboy is a 2d platform-adventure game from independent developer D-Pad Studio. Players take control of Otus who, following a pirate attack on his sky village, sets out to stop the pirates causing any more harm.

    Owlboy is a great looking game combining beautiful 2d graphics and smooth animation with a soundtrack to match. The gameplay is fairly old school but, for the most part, fairly entertaining during the opening half of the game. Unfortunately Owlboy does cross the line from challenging to frustrating in its latter stages with the inclusion of one hit kills, bullet sponge enemies and increasingly large spaces between check points. I never felt as though I didn’t want to see the game through to the end but by the time the end credits rolled, after around 10 hours of gameplay, I can’t say I was dissapointed that the game was over.    … Expand
  16. TheSeahorse
    Aug 31, 2018
    6
    Owlboy is a weird game to review. I want to love it but it has so many flaws that I end up only ”kind of liking it”.

    The art, music and characters are what carries this game. It’s crazy how good pixel art can look when done correctly. The characters are funny and likable which makes the story more interesting (even though it’s a pretty basic story). Owlboy has a beautiful world and a    Owlboy is a weird game to review. I want to love it but it has so many flaws that I end up only ”kind of liking it”.

    The art, music and characters are what carries this game. It’s crazy how good pixel art can look when done correctly. The characters are funny and likable which makes the story more interesting (even though it’s a pretty basic story).

    Owlboy has a beautiful world and a very unique game play idea that unfortunately doesn’t work that well. 2D platforming with no boundaries doesn’t work. The game tries to make it work but the flying always feels somewhat clunky and you end up bumping into things you didn’t mean to all the time.

    The game is a bit short (took me 6 hours) but it still felt like a chore to complete the last two hours. There just isn’t enough ”game” in this game, it’s more of a visual novel. And when the novel part isn’t great the game isn’t great either.

    Overrated    … Expand
  17. Sunshadow87
    Jul 27, 2018
    6
    Con los años los metroidvanias se han convertido quizas en mi segundo genero favorito tras los RPGSs. Por eso me sorprendo a mi mismo dandole una nota tan normalita a un metroidvania que ha tenido tan buena recepcion por la critica como owlboy. De hecho, si tengo que pensar en algo memorable de este juego, es el cuidado apartado grafico pixel art...
    La historia de owlboy cumple su    Con los años los metroidvanias se han convertido quizas en mi segundo genero favorito tras los RPGSs. Por eso me sorprendo a mi mismo dandole una nota tan normalita a un metroidvania que ha tenido tan buena recepcion por la critica como owlboy. De hecho, si tengo que pensar en algo memorable de este juego, es el cuidado apartado grafico pixel art...
    La historia de owlboy cumple su funcion, recordando a la de algunos estudios de animacion como gimli. Sin embargo, a diferencia de estos, en owlboy solo encontraremos momentos puntuales en los que son capaces de tocar nuestra fibra sensible.
    Otra cosa positiva en principio es el gameplay innovativo, que introduce la mecanica de vuelo. No obstante, aunque aplaudo su valentia, innovar no es siempre sinonimo de mejorar. Al principio la mecanica entretiene, pero conforme avanza el juego se acaba haciendo tediosa, y los controles acaban siendo enrevesados. Tambien encontramos menos habilidades de exploracion y backtracking que otros metroidvanias, haciendose un juego mucho mas linial: ve a la mazmorra 1, observa la historia, ve a la mazmorra 2, observa la historia, etc... quizas el punto que lo hace salir peor parado.
    En general un buen juego, pero lejos de ser de los mejores de su genero    … Expand
  18. utybo
    Jul 27, 2018
    6
    Owlboy looks fantastic. The music is amazing and the characters are really charming. However, there are quite a few problems with this game :

    - It's way too short. Finishing it took me less than 10 hours, with very little incentive to go back and play again. - Playing in handheld mode or with the joycons by themselves is really hard and uncomfortable due to the constant jumping between    Owlboy looks fantastic. The music is amazing and the characters are really charming. However, there are quite a few problems with this game :

    - It's way too short. Finishing it took me less than 10 hours, with very little incentive to go back and play again.
    - Playing in handheld mode or with the joycons by themselves is really hard and uncomfortable due to the constant jumping between the R stick and the A/B/Y/X buttons. Use a Pro controller or the joycons grip.
    - Some bosses are hard to understand. When I see a boss, I should be able to understand its patterns pretty easily. In Owlboy some bosses feel like messes
    - The difficulty is really weird, going from hard bosses to ones that are quite easy.
    - The game is *very* linear. Additional collectibles are almost only secret rooms or rewards for clearing areas, not actually finding new parts of the map.
    - There's literally nothing after the credits. No new game +, nothing like that. The game tells you the results of your actions but you don't get to experience them, which makes the ending very frustrating. Trying to re-launch your save after you've finished the game just sends you back to right the moment right before the final boss.

    In the end I just want more content... The game is definitely too short and linear, where there could have been tons of expansions made.

    Is Owlboy overrated? Definitely. But it still has amazing visuals and an overall good story-line. It's just a shame that the game is so... weak, content wise.    … Expand
  19. carreracarrera
    Jun 23, 2018
    5
    por que sera que todos los canales o revistas nintenderas les dan 10 a todos los juegos. este juego es de un 5 por que ya estamos en otros tiempos, en todo queda por debajo de todo lo que hay actualmente, los videojuegos se deben medir por lo que son, si hoy en dia grafica, sonora y jugable hemos mejorado hay que calificarlos al tiempo actual. es como si hoy en dia nos sacaran un auto enpor que sera que todos los canales o revistas nintenderas les dan 10 a todos los juegos. este juego es de un 5 por que ya estamos en otros tiempos, en todo queda por debajo de todo lo que hay actualmente, los videojuegos se deben medir por lo que son, si hoy en dia grafica, sonora y jugable hemos mejorado hay que calificarlos al tiempo actual. es como si hoy en dia nos sacaran un auto en 2019 pero con todas las caracteristicas de un auto de los 70´s. claro ya sin errores, pero como lo vean es un juego de los 70s. y no puede recibir la misma calificacion de uno actual… Expand
  20. MedusaMadman77
    Jun 4, 2018
    5
    Somehow both slow and dull. Wait for a hard sale on this. I played for a day or two and just got bored. A $10 at best.
  21. artificeprime
    May 22, 2018
    7
    Owlboy is a work of art that is definitely worth experiencing but it does have some weak points. Crashes were frequent. I am generally not a fan of pixel art but the beauty of it in this game is hard to deny. The art direction is excellent and the quality is consistent throughout. A few sequences in particular have a cinematic quality that I have never seen in a pixel art game before. TheOwlboy is a work of art that is definitely worth experiencing but it does have some weak points. Crashes were frequent. I am generally not a fan of pixel art but the beauty of it in this game is hard to deny. The art direction is excellent and the quality is consistent throughout. A few sequences in particular have a cinematic quality that I have never seen in a pixel art game before. The sound track is also a highlight and the way it evolved with the story always seemed appropriate and never got repetitive. Gameplay is fun for the most part and there is a good amount of variety but there are some areas that I found to be a chore to get through. The pacing of the game was also a bit weird, key moments felt rushed without much explanation as though chunks of the story had been removed. The story is good but quite simple, for an action platformer it is well above average and certainly better than any Mario story I can recall but I felt that it missed the opportunity to be a great story because it never really dug deep with any of the concepts it introduced. Overall though I liked the story for what it was and it was interesting and had some unique ideas.

    Gameplay 7 - The thing that made gameplay unique is the way you use different team-mates for your special abilities. Rather than upgrading your own attacks you find new friends to carry around and they each have a special skill. The idea is pretty cool and adds a sense of importance to the companions you rely on throughout the story. There are some sections where you lose a companion and you miss them because your abilities are more limited. The control scheme though could be a bit confusing I constantly found myself accidentally dropping my team-mates and then I would have to cycle through them to get the one I wanted. Also aiming with the right stick while moving with the left with the charged ability could be troublesome. Not a big deal but a bit frustrating during fast paced battles or parts where timing was crucial. Another thing about gameplay that was a bit of a pain was the way the camera moved between sections. Sometimes the camera would follow Otus which was fine but when you got to the edge of a new area it would stop before shifting over, almost like swapping between two different images. The transition felt jarring and happened very frequently. Collecting coins in the game was a bit underwhelming. You can spend the coins but almost the only thing you get is a slight health upgrade. It just didn't feel rewarding.

    Story/Progression 7 - The story is quite unique but still follows the typical structure of collecting special objects hidden at the end of dungeons. There are a few things that it does different from most games though. There are some major twists, whenever Otus and his friends go to a new place something unexpected usually happens. Without giving spoilers those moments ranged from tragic to awe inspiring. I found the lore to be a bit underdeveloped but the ideas were good enough to keep me engaged. The final was very satisfying.

    World 7 - Each location has its own identity and all of the dungeons have a unique style and atmosphere. The biggest weakness of the world is the layout. It is a convoluted web of passageways. There is no fast travel system so every time you want to back track you need to go back through a long winding tunnel of obstacles. It didn't bother me at first but by the end of the game I found getting from place to place to be a chore. The dungeons themselves are pretty well designed but it would have been really helpful if you could teleport from one area to another after clearing each one. Teleportation already plays a role in the game so I don't know why that wasn't included as a way of getting from place to place.

    Characters 6 - I did like the characters but very few of them evolved beyond their very basic personality. There are only a few characters who we really get to learn much about beyond their basic description. There were a couple characters who were more than they seemed and those reveals were satisfying but some of the primary characters seemed quite one note.

    Visual Design 8 - This is easily one of the best looking pixel art games I have ever played. The environments are all beautiful and detailed and the sky always seems to look vibrant. The background sculptures actually look three dimensional and have a high level of detail and structure. There are a few scenes that show historic events in the story that are true works of art with a very high level of detail and form.

    Sound Design 8 - The sound track is great. The songs themselves are very good but also the way they are used in the story. Each area has its own theme but the music also changes as the story progresses. I always felt that the music matched the atmosphere and that is pretty rare even in AAA games. The sound effects were also pretty good although they didn't stand out as specia    … Expand
  22. 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 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
  23. Winko
    Mar 6, 2018
    7
    Good:
    - Breathtaking sprite art and animations
    - Fun boss fights and sequences scattered throughout - Flying around party members and using them in place of traditional weapons and abilities is a very fun and unique mechanic - Solid soundtrack - The writing and animations convey emotion very well - Great level design with the added bonus of a ton of variety Mixed: - Very    Good:
    - Breathtaking sprite art and animations
    - Fun boss fights and sequences scattered throughout
    - Flying around party members and using them in place of traditional weapons and abilities is a very fun and unique mechanic
    - Solid soundtrack
    - The writing and animations convey emotion very well
    - Great level design with the added bonus of a ton of variety

    Mixed:
    - Very unpredictable narrative but you're constantly waiting for the plot to find it's footing
    - Characters are well written and interesting but the abrupt ending results in some incomplete character arcs
    - Very little incentive to seek out all the collectibles but the cut scenes in the shop were some of the most charming in the game

    Bad:
    - Some puzzle mechanics are more tedious then enjoyable
    - Pacing problems throughout
    - Deceptively linear; not a whole lot to explore in the open world
    - The dev team set their scopes way to wide plot wise, leaving for a sudden and frankly disappointing ending
    - The Switch's problem with precise controls can lead to some frustrating moments
    - Some frame rate issues during boss fights
    XXX    … Expand
  24. jpacor
    Feb 20, 2018
    6
    I am a huge fan of Metroidvania and story driven games, and when I heard that Owlboy was coming to consoles, I was really excited after seeing the reviews and praise from the Internet on the game. But ultimately, I am disappointed with the experience.

    The gameplay is very average and dull, where it consists of you flying, shooting enemies (which is very frustrating and consists of    I am a huge fan of Metroidvania and story driven games, and when I heard that Owlboy was coming to consoles, I was really excited after seeing the reviews and praise from the Internet on the game. But ultimately, I am disappointed with the experience.

    The gameplay is very average and dull, where it consists of you flying, shooting enemies (which is very frustrating and consists of awkward controls), and going through temples. There aren't too many extras or unlockables gained by exploring, a staple of Metroidvanias that is missing. The puzzles are mostly simple, and boss battles toward the end become very difficult, with the last one being nearly impossible.

    The story is also marginal, it has some humorous moments and likable characters, but is nothing to write home about.

    Also, as of now on the Switch version, there are many, many game crashing bugs that occur, mainly when the loading screen first appears when traveling to a new area. During the last boss, I was close to the end of the battle, only for my game to crash and I had to start over. Keep in mind, the last boss fight is very difficult and I was finally about to complete it, which was remarkably frustrating.

    The real disappointment here comes from the first couple of hours being great, and the rest of the game being a boring drag. The beginning of the game has a promising story and characters, and the gameplay seems like it will be fun and highly enjoyable. But after the first dungeon, I started to become bored, and barely even made it to the end of the game. I will say that the art and music is excellent, with beautifully detailed characters and environments, and a pleasant orchestral soundtrack.

    I do not understand the critical acclaim behind Owlboy. It is a repetitive, dull game that fans of Metroidvania may enjoy, but absolutely not at full price, I'd suggest waiting for the physical version to come out and drop in price over time if you are really interested in playing. The beginning of the game, art and music are all spot on, but most of this adventure is passable.    … Expand
  25. Elias_Schmitz
    Feb 15, 2018
    7
    i will tell you something, be skeptical every time you see the critics really liking a movie or game, not always it is for everyone, this is a good example. This game is not bad, actually, but it is nothing espetacular. The gameplay is really boring and doesn't help you to engage the story. It is a really beautiful game tough and has a incredible soundtrack, but once again, it is not enough.

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. XGN
    Jun 11, 2018
    90
    Owlboy is amazing thanks to it's fantastic set of characters and an incredible world to explore. The game has beautiful pixel art and great dialogue that will make you laugh out loud. The only downside is that the game crashes for no reason sometimes.
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  2. TheSixthAxis
    Jun 1, 2018
    80
    If you called Owlboy a piece of art, I would nod my head and agree wholeheartedly. This game, in visuals alone, is a masterful achievement. For those breath-taking visuals to be matched by equally beautiful characters and unique gameplay moments just elevates it even further. The beginning of the game is a bit too slow, and sometimes the gameplay was merely okay, but those are minor blemishes on a video game experience that is absolutely worth your time, and definitely worth the decade that it took to bring it to life.
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  3. Everyeye.it
    May 7, 2018
    80
    Too bad that the conversion for Switch brings some problems, as a scheme of commands not always intuitive and annoying crashes that could damage the enjoyment of the experience.
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