It’s the latest indie game masterpiece and it’s Owlboy from D-Pad Studio! A name affixed in video game lore, no doubts, and this gem conjures up the finest things about SNES-era gaming and merges plenty of modern hoo-hahs into the mix.
Owlboy
Some nine years in the making (hey, owls are difficult to tame), it’s launched to massive critical acclaim (10/10s, mainly) and is a rather joyous and enthralling experience.
It’s one to add to your Must Play list and, by Jove, when you do you will fall in love.
We keep going on and on about it, but the indie game scene really is something to behold.
We’ve been left so deflated by the often uninspired blockbuster titles being released on the PS4 and Xbox One, but then there’s Steam churning out a steady stream of indie masterpieces.
With its minimal, but effective, use of a story and emphasis on crisp, colourful, and clear graphics, alongside an excellent soundtrack, you can’t help but feel influences from Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle.
Plus, there are some sound effects akin to the equally amazing Teslagrad.
We’ve bitched about graphics in the past, but this isn’t to say we’re dismissive of them.
They’re a wonderful complement to the gaming world, but the problem these days is it seems to be the overriding fascination with many developers and gamers.
The result? It’s detrimental to gameplay and innovation. Still, though, check out this SOB!
It’s important to remember these days, cartoony graphics do not equal a kid’s game. Owlboy boasts mature themes about alienation, bullying, physical inadequacies, and appearance.
It’s also one tough SOB and offers a mighty challenge to new or experienced gamers alike.
It’s really wonderful, what else can we say? This is why we play video games. It’s a balanced, beautiful, charming, poignant, and engrossing adventure which will drag you in and leave you hooting like an idiot for months to come.
A classic? Possibly! One of the best games of 2016? Yes! What are you waiting for?
“I hate owls…”
Then you are a dangerously unstable halfwit.
Plus, I HATE video games!
Then perhaps don’t play them, eh?
Professional Moron 
At the risk of appearing completely stupid and out of the loop, what the hell does “indie” mean and don’t spread it around that I don’t know please.
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Never fear, madam! An indie game is a game (duh!) made by an independent developer. So instead of it being a massive studio like Nintendo, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Sega etc. making it, you have small independent studios (sometimes consisting of only one person) with reduced budgets making smaller scale games. The technology allows for it these days and there’s no hindrance on quality.
It’s different from mainstream gaming as there you mainly get hyper-violent titles like CoD and GTA which are filled with juvenile violence – plus, those games are enormous and are built by teams of hundreds of people. Indie game developers don’t have the same weight of expectation from an enormous fanbase, so the developers can be much more creative and innovative.
The result is indie games tend to be like those from the SNES era in the ’90s. I particularly love them as they’re much shorter than massive blockbuster titles. Being a busy adult (allegedly), I don’t have to thump in 100+ hours to get anywhere as the games tend to be 5 hour bursts of loveliness.
It’s the best thing in modern gaming, to be honest. Owlboy is a great example, but there are plenty of others such as Shovel Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, Teslagrad, SteamWorld Dig, Runner 2, Stardew Valley (where you run a farm) etc. etc. etc.
You can download Steam for free and have a look, if you’re interested, but that’s it in an enthusiastic nutshell! I think you’d dig Stardew Valley as it’s so relaxing.
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Thank you! That’s a weight off my shoulders not having to smile and nod like I know what everyone’s talking about. Stardust Valley here I come!
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As the old saying goes: “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeee!”.
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Looks very cool. I use Steam to play Kerbal Space Program but not much else at the moment…
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That does look very cool, but I haven’t got round to it yet. I can highly recommend Axiom Verge or Half-Life 2 for yourself. The latter is one of the best games ever and has a ridiculously excellent, intelligent, well made sci-fi plot. It’s really astonishing what Valve did with it.
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