Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm
Developer: Cornfox and Bros
Publisher: Cornfox and Bros.
Genre: Action, Adventure, RPG
Number of Players: 1
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: October 28, 2020
Price: $29.99
The Legend of Zelda game franchise is one of the best and most successful in gaming history. The first game will have its 35th anniversary next year, and since 1985 and many successful sequels later, many other games by different developers and publishers gave tried to copy the formula of its success to varying degree of quality. I wonder why there is not yet a genre name for these Zelda-like games, like metroidvania or roguelike, but the fact is there is so much game already who has tried to replicate it. One of such games is Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm.
When I first saw the trailer for it, I got excited, but unfortunately couldn’t play it right away as it was exclusively available only on Apple Arcade. This sequel is a big leap from its predecessor in terms of scope and visuals. Whereas the first one was mostly in isometric view, Oceanhorn 2 is now in full 3D environment, resembling the 3D Zelda games like Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild. No, the protagonist cannot climb most surfaces like in Breath of the Wild, I tried, but I guess that would be reserved for future sequels. But the game really looks and plays vastly different for the first, and kudos to the developers for going this big for the game’s first sequel (which is actually a prequel, since this game is set many years before the events of the first game).
After a year exclusivity, it was finally released on the Nintendo Switch, and I finally got my hands on it. I must say, it does play rather nicely. Not as good as the Zelda games, but quite close. It does look really good, both docked and in handheld. Plus the music is just as good as the first one and gives out that familiar Zelda vibe.
So, on to the gameplay: anyone familiar with Zelda games will feel just at home with Oceanhorn 2. In this game, you play as a nameless mute knight who is tasked to bring three magical emblems to their origins to help defeat a returning evil warlock named Mesmeroth and bring balance to the world. Wherein Zelda games the hero usually just go on an adventure alone (with a fairy or a magical hat in tow for assistance), in this game you are accompanied with other knights to assist you. You can also command them to do some tasks like press a button or aid in battle. They are fairly reliable in combat and they provide exposition if you feel lost, but generally, they really don’t make much impact to the overall gameplay and oftentimes their AI fails which will make you feel like you will fare better alone.
Speaking of combat, you will have plenty of this either against monsters or humanoid enemies. You have your usual sword, used for melee combat, and the caster gun, which allows you to shoot projectiles against enemies, from regular bullets to elemental ones, which pretty much act like your magical spells. You can shoot at enemies or certain targets and you can switch which projectile to use depending on the situation. You have access to an equipment wheel, which allows you to set which weapons to equip and command your partners to do whatever it is necessary for them to do at any given time. This is easily accessed by pressing the R button and you can use the L analog stick to pick your options.
The enemies you fight vary in both their tenacity in battle and how they attack. Most of them are aggressive and will relentlessly attack you and some of them hit quite hard. You have a shield to defend yourself but if your timing is off, some attacks can knock you back and even leave you down to the ground until you rise back. If you don’t feel like doing close quarter combat, you can opt to shoot from afar, but your bullets are limited so you have to plan ahead and keep this in mind. You can, of course, pick up bullets by slashing bushes or digging the ground or any marked surface. You can also pick up coins, artifacts, or extra hearts. By the way, you can expand your HP pool by obtaining heat containers. Collect 3 and you acquire an additional heart for your HP.
Defeating enemies awards you with experience points (which are represented in crystals that you have to pick up) and coins. Once you collected enough experience points, you level up, which make you go up in rank in your being a knight and will allow you to carry more bullets and healing hearts. In order for you to become more powerful in battle, you have the option to equip your weapons with shards which will make some of their attributes level up, depending on the shard you equip. You can get these shards mostly from treasure chests scattered in the world, with some can be bought from vending machines at exorbitant prices. You will have to defeat lots and enemies and slash even more bushes to gain money, but I guess you won’t mind that much since slashing your sword is quite fun. Too bad, the game doesn’t support Joy-Con motion controls to make sword-slashing even more interactive.
When you are not battling enemies, you will spend majority of the game exploring the vast world of this game. It is open world, in a way, though the world is divided into several sections. Traversing one section to the next will show a quick loading screen, similar to the 3D Zelda games before Breath of the Wild. You can go to any direction you want, but the terrain and bodies of water will limit the places that you will be able to actually reach, since you won’t be able to climb hills or walls or swim, at least in the beginning. You will eventually unlock the grappling hook later in the game, which will allow you to quickly reach certain ledges. This is one of the equipment that you can obtain in the game. I won’t spoil the rest of them, but I will say that as you progress in the game, more areas will be opened up for you to further explore. Treasures are scattered throughout the land and are marked on your map, so eventually you will be able to get them all as your abilities expand.
There are different biomes for each of the areas in this game, like a forest or a tropical island or even under the sea. You will have to explore dungeons in these areas, collect special equipment, solve puzzles and defeat big bosses. The game present a good amount of challenge without being too overbearing, which makes it more accessible to both veterans to the action adventure genre and the newbies.
Sadly, this game, as beautiful as it looks and sounds, is far from perfect. It has quite a few technical hiccups that might hinder you from fully enjoying the game. There are the frequent and very noticeable frame rate drops, that seem to happen each time you rotate the camera and most noticeable when the game auto-saves. There are even times when the game just flat out froze, and the only thing left to do is to close and restart the game. The game frequently auto-saves, so you won’t lose much progress, but still this is quite annoying. The game has save backups so if you or the game screw up, you can choose an earlier save and try again.
Overall, Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is one good and enjoyable game to play from start to finish. It may be a Zelda clone, but Zelda games are imitated for good reason: they are fun to play. This game doesn’t hide that it is almost a Zelda game in everything except the name, and it shows in the quality of this game. It is ambitious in scope and content and has really out-Zelda’d the first game in every aspect, but it is still not perfect. The animation could still be much more refined and the combat could still be better, but it is on the right path for more improvement in the future. But such sequels are still beyond the horizon, so for the time being, give Oceanhorn 2 a chance and embark on an epic adventure right at the comfort of your seat on the Nintendo Switch.
REPLAY VALUE: High
PROS
- Amazing visuals and aesthetics set in a vast environment, with different biomes splendid level design
- Does not hide the fact that it is borrowing heavily on familiar Zelda game tropes use them quite well
- Excellent music that brings familiar Zelda vibes
- The White City, the main hub in this game, is vast and really feels like a city where lots of people live, many of whom you can talk to for a few bantering to game expositions to uncovering secrets
- Superb gameplay that any Zelda fan will feel very much at home with
- Top-notch voice acting
- Save backups are a life saver
- Ideal for handheld gaming
CONS
- Controls can be floaty at times
- Quite a few and noticeable graphical pop-ins
- Frequent and very noticeable frame rate drops
- The game froze on me at least twice; I had to close the game and restart it
- Character animations are not very fluid and generally lack polish
- The shining points scattered everywhere that you can search often contain just a single, solitary coin, making going out of your way to get to them frustrating and doesn’t worth the effort
- No enemy lock-on targeting, which is a game industry standard since it was introduced in Ocarina of Time. Of all the things that this game could possibly nick from the Zelda franchise, this is what was left out, and this made combat a bit unwieldy at times as you would constantly switch to different enemies to focus on
RATING: 4/5 Sword Slashes and Dodge Rolls
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