The game has a rating of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic for the iOS version of the game, based on 19 critic reviews however, the console versions scored substantially lower, with the PS4 and Xbox One versions scoring 66 and 71 on the site, respectively, based on 22 aggregated reviews. A sequel, titled Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, was released in September 2019. The music of Oceanhorn was composed by Kalle Ylitalo, with a few additional compositions by Kenji Ito and Nobuo Uematsu. Players explore dungeons, fight monsters with various weapons, and throw pots and cut bushes to find hidden coins or hearts.
The gameplay and graphic design of Oceanhorn closely follows that of The Legend of Zelda video games, notably The Wind Waker and A Link to the Past. It was first released for iOS in November 2013, and later had ports for Android, Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita. It focuses on an unnamed boy protagonist's quest to find his lost father and defeat the living fortress, Oceanhorn.
Oceanhorn 2 wears its influences pretty clearly on its sleeve, and it does so in a way that doesn’t always do it any favours, but if you can ignore that and accept it on its own terms, you’ll find a game that’s pretty enjoyable in its own right.įDG Entertainment provided us with a Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm Switch code for review purposes.Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas is an action-adventure video game developed by Finnish studio Cornfox & Bros. Of course, saying “it’s not as good or as well-made as Breath of the Wild” is something that can be said about a lot of games, so, again, there are only so many marks you can dock for that. It’s nowhere near as good-looking, for starters, and the combat - while better than the first game - doesn’t feel as fluid as it does in Breath of the Wild. Still, even I can acknowledge that this switch brings the game much, much closer to Breath of the Wild, and I don’t know that Oceanhorn 2 really benefits from that comparison. There’s also the addition of a few side characters to your party, which means that you’re not always solving puzzles and exploring the world on your own. Oceanhorn 2 also feels more fully-fleshed out, thanks to the switch from the first game’s isometric perspective to this one’s full-on 3D world. The story is much more engaging than the first time around, as is the combat, as are the puzzles. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that it’s a pretty solid game in its own right.
In fact - as I feel like I’ve written on many occasions before - for some weird, contrarian reason, I’m much more fond of Zelda-likes than I am of the original series itself, so Oceanhorn 2 being so blatant about its inspirations sort of counts as a plus for me. To be clear, that’s not inherently disqualifying. Everything about it, from the character designs to the combat to the jars and bushes carrying hearts seems like it was lifted wholesale from Nintendo’s iconic franchise. Somehow, though, Oceanhorn 2 takes the mimicry to a whole other level. The first Oceanhorn was both very good and very indebted to Zelda. Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is really influenced by Legend of Zelda.Ĭall that stating the obvious, call that lazy reviewing, call that what you will - that’s still the most important thing there is to know about this game.