Oceanhorn - I Can't Believe It's Not Zelda

I Can't Believe It's Not Zelda

Oceanhorn : Monster of the Uncharted Seas

While in there are 10 of thousands of games on Steam, PC gamers often lament the lack of games in the Zelda style. Gradual exploration, quick exciting combat, puzzles, earning new abilities that open new areas and allow more game play options - these are some of the trademarks of Zelda game the just don't make it out of the console market very often.

Well, Oceanhorn is a indie game that does bring it to PC, and does a good job too. Some could say that the fact that Oceanhorn is good is the fact that large chunks of it are more or less ripped right out of Zelda Windwaker. From traveling around an ocean on a little boat to exploring little island, each with a specific purpose towards pushing the game forwards. Oceanhorn is almost a love letter to Windwaker. But I don't want to push that as a negative, especially if you have never had the opportunity to play Windwalker. 

In Oceanhorn you are a young boy who takes his sword and bow and sails his boat around to a bunch of islands in a small ocean. Each island is full of puzzles, enemies, NPC's to talk to and progressing through them (often in a less than linear fashion - your choice) moves the game along. It will take about 15 hours to travel through Oceanhorn seas, islands and various dungeons which feels about right for the game as presented - much less than a Zelda game - but that's okay. Oceanhorn does not outstay its welcome. 

The combat is simple but well done, various enemies have to be dealt with in different ways and often the world layout gives you some freedom on how to go about this. The puzzles are good - enough to make to pause and think but nothing brain burning and I never felt lost, it avoids the "wait, where am I supposed to go/do next?" issue that I sometimes run into. I ran into a few places where I was able to get stuck and had to reload but that was probably more on me for trying to push the game in unintended directions. 

Oceanhorn also looks really nice. There is a good consistent atheistic through the whole game. The islands and dungeons make up a half dozen or so different themed environments which feels enough for the indie sized scope of the game. I quite enjoyed sailing around in the canon equipped boat grabbing treasure and pre-exploring the outer borders of an island before landing.

Some downsides, most of the NPCs are unremarkable, completely functional but also forgettable. This leads to a somewhat boring story but since most of the game is interacting with the mechanics I wasn't bothered by the lack of narrative. 

And the final boss fight was a real pain in the ass - exponentially harder than anything else in the game for no reason. This stalled the game's end for me but as the story was nothing to be excited about it really was more about wrapping it up at that point.

Overall it filled a niche game style that I like and for $15 (and often on sale for less as well as being on phones/tablets) I was not disappointed. The developer is currently working on a more ambitious sequel that looks good so far and will probably be out later this year.