I appreciated that each could be used both in puzzles and in combat.Īs you progress you’ll gain experience points that will strengthen your character. This was however the greatest offender, and other abilities were much clearer. Maybe I simply missed a tutorial somewhere but it was a lot to figure out through trial and error. Look away too soon or pull your hand off the aim button and the charge will dissipate. Then while still holding down the aim button I could look around to drag the electric current to another point. For the record I had to hold down the aim button, fire the spell, continue to hold down the aim button, and remain looking at the target until the spell had hit. Frustratingly, charges on these spells have to be built up by gathering materials in the environment, so every time I’d try and fail I’d have to gather resources before I could try again. I was able to find some text that told me I could do that but nothing to tell me how. For example, an electricity spell can be used to bridge electrical connections between various points. I did find that some of the secondary uses of various items were a little vague and unexplained. When you dive into a cave expecting some extra cash and come out with a grappling hook, you know you’re in for a good day. In fact I was able to immediately interact with things I was likely intended to have returned for later. I appreciated that despite some minor sequence breaking it didn’t seem to trip up the game design. I even found instances where I was able to get a key item a little earlier than it was required. The progression of the story is quite linear but you’re regularly given opportunities to stray from the primary storyline and explore optional areas. While not entirely open right away, the world opens up in stages. The rest of the experience fares much better. Regardless, combat is easily the weakest part of Oceanhorn 2. New abilities and items you find along the way also help to give you options that work a bit better. As you build up your party they’ll help take some of the pressure off you which makes things a bit more manageable. On top of this there is a degree of input latency between pressing the block and when your character actually performs the action, making nailing the timing of blocks very difficult. The problem is there is no targeting system unless you are actively blocking, which prevents you from using other abilities. Hitting the shield at the right time will even parry and knock the enemy off balance. You have an attack button, a dodge roll, and a shield. They also serve to smooth over one of Oceanhorn 2’s greater failings, the combat.Ĭombat in Oceanhorn 2 fluctuates between, “I can live with this,” and “why oh Lord hast thou forsaken me?” On the surface it looks to operate much like modern 3D Zelda. But more realistically you’ll be using them to do the jobs of heavy rocks and hold down buttons. For example a ranged party member may be able to flip a distant, unreachable switch. Depending on a party member's weapons they’ll have different uses throughout the adventure. This opens up a lot of interesting possibilities for dungeons and puzzle solving. This is essentially a 3D Zelda game that you play with a party. This is where we immediately see a contrast between the clearly Zelda influenced progression and more JRPG inspired elements. Along the way you’ll pick up a tropey though charming cast of party members including a princess who refuses to act like a princess and wants to fight, along with a robot who seems technologically more advanced than the world around him. After retrieving a mysterious lockbox and completing your training as a knight, you quickly find yourself on an epic quest against a mysterious evil force. Oceanhorn 2 sees you playing as a nameless hero. Add to that its very short loading times and you have a game that is set to stun right from the get go. In fact I’d feel perfectly comfortable calling it one of the best looking games I’ve played on Switch all year. Oceanhorn 2, whether playing docked or handheld, is incredibly good looking. While I don’t usually start my reviews with graphics and technical performance, I myself was caught off guard by them so immediately, they need to be given a moment here at the beginning. But can this expansive indie adventure live up to the titles it has been compared to? It is equal parts classic JRPG and The Legend of Zelda, landing not too far off from something like the Mana series. Fresh off its exclusivity to Apple Arcade, Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, has arrived on Nintendo Switch.
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