A game with so much potential, and it's all squandered on controls from hell.

Actually, there are some other annoyances, too. There is no in-game map and no quest markers, so it's often hard to know where to go. And the level design is ... mixed. There are a few cool locations, but for the most part it's quite bare.

What's really good: graphics, music, writing, and really the whole artistic package. The presentation feels very coherent. And though the story isn't especially original, and is riddled with plot holes, it scampers along pleasantly enough.

So, the controls. Ugh. They are so sensitive to direction that any slight movement of an analog stick can snap you in the wrong direction; and aiming is critical. The hit boxes seem to have no relationship to the pixels. There's this whole button dance you have to do when switching between walking and flying and carrying and dropping that is just so fiddly and annoying, and it feels like an unnecessary complication. And finally my least favorite: Every time you get hit, you are thrown to somewhere else on the screen, but also your sprite is flashing, so it's very, very so hard to see where you are for a few seconds.

What's sad to me is that so much time went into making this game, so I must assume that all these problems are actually design choices. Features, not bugs. I guess there are people out there who enjoy this kind of gameplay. Not me!

When it comes down to it, Owlboy is not unplayable, but also as charming as it is, it's sadly not enough to be worth the frustrations. I usually aim for 100% completion in games like this, but when the credits rolled I was happy to uninstall.

A game with so much potential, and it's all squandered on controls from hell. Actually, there are some other annoyances, too. There is no in-game map and no quest markers, so it's often hard to know where to go. And the level design is ... mixed. There are a few cool locations, but for the most part it's quite bare. What's really good: graphics, music, writing, and really the whole artistic package. The presentation feels very coherent. And though the story isn't especially original, and is riddled with plot holes, it scampers along pleasantly enough. So, the controls. Ugh. They are so sensitive to direction that any slight movement of an analog stick can snap you in the wrong direction; and aiming is critical. The hit boxes seem to have no relationship to the pixels. There's this whole button dance you have to do when switching between walking and flying and carrying and dropping that is just so fiddly and annoying, and it feels like an unnecessary complication. And finally my least favorite: Every time you get hit, you are thrown to somewhere else on the screen, but also your sprite is flashing, so it's very, very so hard to see where you are for a few seconds. What's sad to me is that so much time went into making this game, so I must assume that all these problems are actually design choices. Features, not bugs. I guess there are people out there who enjoy this kind of gameplay. Not me! When it comes down to it, [I]Owlboy[/I] is not unplayable, but also as charming as it is, it's sadly not enough to be worth the frustrations. I usually aim for 100% completion in games like this, but when the credits rolled I was happy to uninstall.