The Legends of Owlia

This game looks and feels like an NES game because, well, it is! This game delivers the fun of the classic adventure games with a fun story and excellent game play.

This is game reminds me of when I was first playing Legend of Zelda and other NES games that I've cherished over the years. It has a good storyline, which is Adlanniel, a student of falconry, and her owl companion, Tyto, are asked by Great Owl King, Silmaran, to save five of the Great Owls from Mermon, the Merman King, who is bent on taking over the land of Owlia. It has a wide variety of floating sea creatures you can defeats and different dungeons with a lot of puzzles. If you want a preview of the game, here's a link: https://youtu.be/_GE0dqfdb-Q

Disclosure Up Front: I received the digital product "for free" since I already own the ACTUAL NES cartridge and would otherwise be unable to supply a Steam Review. -------------------------------- A Background Regarding Style: -------------------------------- Before digging into a review of the game, itself, I think it is important to clarify that: THIS IS AN ACTUAL GAME FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, THAT REALLY WORKS ON REAL CONSOLES! It is not "retro style". It is not "LIKE an NES game"... It IS an ACTUAL NES game (with an actual cartridge available for play on NES consoles). The clever guy behind GradualGames wrote and released his own emulator (GGVM) in order to port his NES game to PCs. As a result, there are going to be some design limitations related to NES hardware that anybody with an enthusiasm for that system (and that era of gaming) should have no problem with. This stands in stark contrast to mountains of indie games over the last few years that LOOK LIKE classic games, but ARE NOT (and face none of the subsequent design challenges that GradualGames conquered to put this game on genuine hardware). ---------------------------- Gameplay ---------------------------- The developer states that he was inspired by games like Legend of Zelda, Star Tropics, and Crystalis, during his design process, and I think it shows (in a good way). The "Star Tropics" inspiration comes in the form of distinct "Chapters", where you are limited in your ability to retrace your steps to earlier dungeons and areas. It also shows in the unique and charming implementation of your character's owl companion (which has a range of abilities like retreiving items and long-range attacks -- and is INTEGRAL to the puzzle solutions of the game). The "Legend of Zelda" inspiration shows very clearly in the dungeon room styles, some of the in-room block patterns, as well as the character life meter. The sword-based combat (when not attacking with the owl) has a decent feel like either Legend of Zelda or Crystalis. Recognizing that this game is a real game for the NES, the quality of how well these elements were implemented in a homebrew game really contends for top marks on the system. Released in NES period, this game would have received top marks, as while it won't rival many of our loves for Legend of Zelda, itself -- simply due to deep nostalgia -- it is easily as good as any Zelda-clones of the early era -- i.e. Neutopia, Golden Axe Warrior, etc) The dungeon puzzles and exploration in this game are varied and satisfying, and the game gives a good level of challenge that a lot of us classic gamers just don't feel when playing "retro style" indie games. ------------------------ Graphics and Sound ------------------------ Can't say it enough -- this is an actual NES game. If you fully understand what that means, you'll see that this game looks and sounds great, compared to most of what that system has to offer. Don't fool yourself with comparisons to any "retro-style" indie games, because they face no underlying limitations of any practical sort, and are an imitation where THIS GAME is the genuine article. ----------------------- Controller Use ----------------------- GGVM has X-input controller support, so most modern controllers should work. Personally, I've taken to using a Steam Controller, and I have published a mapping to Steam that uses the keyboard map for GGVM. So if you have a Steam Controller, please take a look for the "Owlia Optimized" configuration. ------------------------ The Final Word ------------------------ If you enjoy NES games like Legend of Zelda and Star Tropics, this game is well worth the price, and you won't be disappointed. This is a good game, that is well worth playing, even viewed in the modern context (as opposed to the NES context).

Owlia is a game that hits the nostalgia just right in terms of graphics, sound, music, and boss battles...but that's a small portion of the game. Too bad most of the game is excruciatingly cryptic. And not in the NES way where you could figure most things out with in-game hints. In Owlia, many of the puzzles are just guess work. Many puzzles require bombs and whatnot that require a lot of grinding if you're not lucky enough to figure out the solution to the puzzle before running out of bombs. In Owlia, every treasure chest contains gold pieces. Strange, being you don't purchase anything in Owlia. Gold is used to enter every dungeon.... Yep, you have to grind hundreds or thousands of gold pieces just to enter a dungeon. Too much tedious grinding. If the grinding was removed, the game would be fairly decent. If the puzzles weren't terrible, the game would be good, even. But in its current state it is not good, imo. In the game's three to four hour duration (the game would be maybe 1-2 hours if the puzzles and grinding were removed), there are a few good boss battles and nostalgia inducing sounds and imagery. But if you want a FUN game, you're going to be a bit let down. Pros: -great OST -decent sprites -a couple good bosses -interesting world and story Cons: -Grinding! -Gold buys nothing -Puzzles are annoying -Padded adventure to bloat its duration -Some rooms in dungeons are crammed with monsters, leading to cheap deaths -Seriously, whose idea was it to put gold currency into the game but have nothing available to buy? -Treasure chests galore and NO ITEMS IN THEM! Owlia is a well designed game in the technical sense, but more care next time around focusing on fun factor would be appreciated. Less grinding. Less cryptic puzzles. NES was great, but this game took it too far.

Disclosure: I received this title for free, as I already own it in physical form on Nintendo NES cartridge. First and foremost, this is a game programmed for, and completely able to be run on, the Nintendo NES. It isn't styled after 8-bit classics, with modern amenities and fancy new programming tools to make crafting it a relative cinch. It is built from the ground up by one guy with a passion for keeping the system alive and relevant, even today. This port to PC/Steam maintains all of the charm and challenge of working with this old hardware, while making look as good as it possibly can within these limitations. It also adds in a few small, but appreciated features, like savestates and minor option tweaks. Beyond these small changes, however, lies a truly retro and unique experience which draws some parallels to classic NES games such as the original Zelda, Star Tropics, and Crystalis. The game is fun, challenging, and feels as though it could have easilly been in the original NES library. If you are a fan of true classic NES gameplay, I fully recommend you give this title a try... and let's be honest; that owl is friggen adorable!

Co jsem pochopil, tak tohle je doopravdy NES hra. Proto je třeba si uvědomit, že je podstatně limitovaná v možnostech. Jelikož jsem Nintendo nikdy nevlastnil, bylo pro mě hraní této hry příjemným zážitkem.

If you like The Legend of Zelda (NES); Golvellius (Master System) or Crystallis (NES), buy this game. It's a very good old-school spired action RPG/ . Se você gosta de action RPGs dos videogames de 8 bits como The Legend of Zelda e Crystallis do NEs, ou Golvellius do Master System, compre esse jogo. É um ótimo adventure/ action RPG feito em estilo retro/ oldschool.