Oceanhorn - P.S. I love you, Zelda

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Hello everyone! How it's the punching and kicking going with the Rumble Fish, the fighting game I talked about in the last entry? In this entry I’m going to talk about a game I recently discovered while I was taking a peek at Steam’s treasure cave. The game is called Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas. Let’s see what this little jewel of the indie scene has to offer.

Released exclusively for iOS devices on 2013, Oceanhorn is a classic style Action RPG developed by three-man Finnish indie team Cornfox & Bros. and inspired by legendary The Legend of Zelda series. The game was later on ported to PC in 2015 and then PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, which will be the version I will be using for this entry, although other than a few tweaks on the graphics and the controls in order to adapt the game to the new platforms, all the versions are identical content-wise. As I was saying before, Oceanhorn is an Action RPG inspired on Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series and more specifically in the entries A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo and The Wind Waker for the GameCube. In fact, the level of “inspiration” is such that many will surely directly tag the game as a simple copy, and as you will see in the next lines, they might have a good point. However, that does not necessarily mean Oceanhorn is a bad game, in fact, I think is a good game, or even a pretty good game if you are into classic style Action RPG games and more specifically into games such as the Zelda series or cult classics such as Alundra.

A boss will be waiting for us at the end of each dungeon.

The story of Oceanhorn starts when our hero wakes up and finds a letter from his father explaining that he left in order to face the Oceanhorn, the sea monster (hence the title of the game). Fearing the worst, the hero decides to set on an adventure that will take him all over the world while searching for his father. As you can see, the story is not one of Oceanhorn’s strong points, although it does a good job at bringing the story forward. Regarding the gameplay, Oceanhorn follows all and each of the patterns set by the Zelda series, something that will be clearly evident right from the very beginning of the adventure, like the use of the isometric camera. Our mission will consist on exploring the different islands that form the game’s world while we look for our father and the monster Oceanhorn. During our adventure we will be visiting several villages where we will be able to interact with their inhabitants in order to obtain information that will take us to our next goal. As we explore the islands and complete missions, we will unlock new islands that we will be able to visit with our boat. Yes, just like in the above mentioned The Wind Waker (one of my favorite Zelda games, by the way), we will be using a boat in order to travel from one island to another, although opposite to what we can see in Nintendo’s classic, we won’t have to control the wind’s direction or even the boat’s direction, as once we select our destination on the map, the boat will take us there directly, leaving us to focus on the “pumpkin seed gun”, which (once unlocked) will allow us to fight off the enemies that we will encounter while sailing as well as shooting at the floating crates we will find scattered on the sea in order to obtain rewards. Once we arrive to our destiny, we will be able to explore the island with complete freedom, allowing us to uncover all kind of secrets, including the iconic hearts pieces that will allow us to increase our hero’s max health (yup, they didn’t even bother to change those…). However, just like in the adventures starring Link, there will be certain areas we won’t be able to reach the first time we visit them, forcing us to visit them again once we have obtained the necessary objects in order to be able to explore them, such as bombs (what else!) or boots that will grant us the skill to jump. Of course, no tribute to the Zelda series can be complete without dungeons filled up with puzzles (switches, blocks we can push, etc.), although Oceanhorn’s dungeons will be much more simple when compared to those Link had to adventure in. And, of course, if there are dungeons, there must be bosses, so at the end of each dungeon we will face a giant Zelda style boss, which we will only be able to defeat once we discover their weak spot. However, not everything is exactly the same to The Legend of Zelda, as opposite to Link, Oceanhorn’s hero will be able to gather experience and level up (eat that Link!), allowing us to obtain upgrades such as the above mentioned gun for our boat, a bigger bomb bag that will allow us to carry more bombs, or a bigger quiver that will allow us to carry more arrows for our bow (you didn’t think they would really forget about the bow, did you?). As I said before, those that might accuse Oceanhorn of being a clone might really have a point, although it is also fair to point out that is a really good clone, done with a lot of love, care and respect.

It's impossible to deny that Oceanhorn (upper image) drew "certain inspiration" from Zelda Wind Waker (lower image).

Regarding the game’s presentation, Oceanhorn makes use of a colorful and charming style that matches perfectly the game’s tone. However, don´t go expecting anything crazy here, after all, we are talking about a game that was originally released for smartphones and tablets. I personally found Oceanhorn’s rather generic and uninspired artistic design to be its biggest flaw when it comes to the presentation, but then again that is just my personal opinion. Where Oceanhorn does a much better job it’s on its soundtrack, which includes some tracks by some the industry’s heavyweights such as Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series) and Kenji Ito (Mana series), giving as a result a soundtrack full of pieces that help to set the mood just right.


Following the path of some of the most legendary video game series such as Zelda is no easy task, in fact, it requires certain courage as comparisons will be certainly unavoidable, and although Nintendo’s game is (very) superior in every single aspect to Oceanhorn, that doesn’t mean the game created by this small and humble Finnish team is bad by any means, especially if you keep in mind that it was developed by just three people. It’s not a very long (for the genre standards) or challenging game, but I truly believe it has enough to offer to all the fans of the genre, especially all those starving for this kind of games and that do not own a Nintendo platform to enjoy Link’s adventures. The game is available on iOS, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and there are already plans for the Android and PS Vita versions. Actually, the reception of the game has been so positive that the Finnish team is already working on the sequel. Oceanhorn is not an innovative game, and perhaps it never intended to be so, but what it does it does it well, making of it one of the best options (if not the only one) for all the fans of the genre. Enjoy it!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIZzRdrVRJY

Seriously, this is not a Zelda game...