Ocean Horn Guide

Oceanhorn tells a simple tale involving a boy trying to locate his missing father. Awaking to a simple note, your unnamed character sets out to find his father and defeat a large sea monster named Oceanhorn that could be involved with your missing father. The game doesn’t have a deep story, so those expecting an interesting narrative will be a bit disappointed, but the story serves as a gateway to keep the game flowing along.As you set out to explore the world around you, one thing becomes very apparent: this is a pretty straight forward Legend of Zelda clone. The inspiration of A Link to the Past can be seen in just a few seconds upon moving around the world. Your character moves in a very “Link”-like fashion, and the game uses an extremely similar control style to classic Zelda games. Hold down the button to charge up your sword and do a spin attack, break pots to find coins and hearts (yes, there’s a heart meter as well), and so on.Notice how my subheader in the title was “A Link to the Waker”? That’s because not only does the game take heavily from A Link to the Past, but there is some Wind Waker thrown in as well. Your character traverses from island to island in the game via a boat, which can be upgraded and given new abilities. Travel from island to island, enter and complete a dungeon, get a new item to advance further in the game. There’s achievements that the game offers you as well, so it’s not just a mad dash to the end of the game. The enemies are a bit stock and can be a bit boring, and the AI in the game is a bit lacking, with enemies often getting stuck or avoiding attacking for some reason. Overall though, the combat is solid and engaging.

A nameless hero, who has achieved his training, heads out into the vast world to look for his lost father and finish the quest that he had set out to accomplish: slaying the legendary calamity of the oceans, the titular Oceanhorn, who separated the two from the hero's mother in the past. In doing so, the hero will uncover the story of the Arcadian Knights, his own ancestors, and meet with various types of people of different races, from bird people, the Owru, to fish people, the Gilfolk. While the plot is mostly kept relatively simple, it's also omnipresent at the back of the game and regularly comes to remind the player of its presence through text or, every time the player arrives on an island and presses any button on the controller, via a voiced monologue of the hero's father from the latter's diary. This voice over will be heard absolutely every time the island is reached if they, in a rush to try to skip the animation of the hero arriving on the island, try to press the buttons at random, which can be a bit annoying after several times. The hero, through his exploration of islands, caves, dungeons and sometimes villages, will eventually gather new equipment. Bombs, a bow and arrows, a fishing rod, trencher boots that allow him to both jump across short ditches, as well as rolling forward, and so on.

The game does have some clever puzzles that will put a smile on your face. There are also some sequences that are designed to make you really feel for the kid, especially when he's just trying to find out what happened to his dad. Even the action, though simplistic, can be fun in an old-school kind of way. Which is why, if you're looking for something a little more innocent than your typical adventure game, Oceanhorn puzzles and exploring will keep you entertained. It all feels very Zelda-like, save for a selection of magic spells that also remind of Zelda, but not nearly as much. The one thing that is different is the presence of an experience level system, which does not affect the hero's health or attack power, but will simply reward him with higher storage capacities for bombs, as well as granting bonuses to some magic spells. Overall, it controls not so different from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Each of the four buttons on the right of the controller (or on the Joy-Con's R) performs a different action. Y always triggers a sword swipe, the A button performs the usual contextual actions that 3D Zelda games since Ocarina of Time have made popular, like grab, throw, talk and so on. The X button performs the active spell and the B button makes the hero use the active item. Items and spells are scrolled through one by one by pressing the down or up directions on the D-Pad, respectively. This can be a bit annoying when having to scroll through all of them one by one just to find the right one in the middle of a fight, since they can only be scrolled forward. Otherwise, the action has to be paused and items or spells be selected through the in-game menu. Speaking of which, the menu, because it was meant to be touch-based, feels a bit clunky to navigate through using exclusively the left analogue stick.

A nameless hero, who has achieved his training, heads out into the vast world to look for his lost father and finish the quest that he had set out to accomplish: slaying the legendary calamity of the oceans, the titular Oceanhorn, who separated the two from the hero's mother in the past. In doing so, the hero will uncover the story of the Arcadian Knights, his own ancestors, and meet with various types of people of different races, from bird people, the Owru, to fish people, the Gilfolk. While the plot is mostly kept relatively simple, it's also omnipresent at the back of the game and regularly comes to remind the player of its presence through text or, every time the player arrives on an island and presses any button on the controller, via a voiced monologue of the hero's father from the latter's diary. This voice over will be heard absolutely every time the island is reached if they, in a rush to try to skip the animation of the hero arriving on the island, try to press the buttons at random, which can be a bit annoying after several times. Oceanhorn has a cartoonish style and is also more about exploration and puzzle solving than combat and looting, but its story and puzzles aren't as clever as a Zelda game. In addition, its cartoony approach and arcade-like combat are amusing, but it probably won't hold the attention of those looking for something darker. For those unfamiliar with Zelda-style adventures, the game's mechanics may also pose a problem, since there isn't a lot of explanation about what you're supposed to do.

The hero, through his exploration of islands, caves, dungeons and sometimes villages, will eventually gather new equipment. Bombs, a bow and arrows, a fishing rod, trencher boots that allow him to both jump across short ditches, as well as rolling forward, and so on. Explore the islands of Uncharted Seas, a world filled with many dangers, puzzles and secrets. Fight monsters, learn to use magic and discover ancient treasures which will help you on your quest. Use all your wits and skill to unravel the mysteries of ancient kingdom Arcadia and sea monster Oceanhorn. Oceanhorn combines captivating storytelling, breathtaking 3D visuals and exciting gameplay into one massive action adventure experience you will never forget.  And Oceanhorn is fun. Yes, you go around exploring islands, looting treasure chests, fighting enemies, and conquering dungeons just like in Zelda. It's not innovative. But this is probably as close to a true Zelda game as we’re going to get on a mobile device.Some things are unique, and they’re the most rewarding: Unlike in Zelda, killing enemies earns you experience in the way of blue diamonds, which raise your Adventurer level and net you cool bonuses (such as inventory expansions and better stamina) every time you reach a new tier. The touch controls work incredibly well. They’re fluid and natural, and you can choose from a couple different methods, including a virtual analog stick. The interface is clean and easy to use even when under duress.