Ocean's Heart
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Critic Reviews for Ocean's Heart
From start to finish, Ocean's Heart is an enjoyable, albeit short, adventure following the familiar 2D Zelda formula. Having a brand new world to explore, filled with various side quests, should be enough to get any fan of that classic top-down template excited. While the writing and dialogue feels subpar at times, the familiar, yet still-solid gameplay makes up for it. Ocean's Heart is undeniably a 2D Zelda game in all but name, but Tilia's adventure shows that a game doesn't always need to be groundbreaking to be a good time.
Ocean's Heart is an excellent tribute to the Zelda era on SNES, but it also knows how to shine with its own light both in the pleasure of exploration and in the narrative tone.
Review in Italian | Read full review
In the great pantheon of top-down 2D Zelda-alikes, Ocean's Heart is right up there with the lovely Blossom Tales. The world is well designed, the items and abilities are perfectly judged and it is aware enough of its influences to feel like a loving tribute rather than a cynical clone. Combine this with some nicely written dialogue and you have a winning formula. A great remedy for the January blues and a nostalgic trip back in time.
When it isn't going through the motions with its main story, Ocean's Heart is an imaginative retro adventure worth your time.
The game's not perfect — its dungeons and combat are relatively mild and its main campaign is eclipsed by more engaging optional content — but it successfully channels the adventurous spirit of Nintendo's fan-favorite Zelda franchise, particularly in its overworld.
Ocean's Heart is a charming, albeit uninspired, Zelda-like 2D adventure that wears its influences a bit too heavily.
Still, Ocean's Heart is a tremendous experience even with some rough edges. It's evocative of the likes of Minish Cap in all the best ways and succeeds at being more organic and open than a lot of similar games. I'd love to see this game's foundation build and grow because the promise is immense, but even if this is the peak of Ocean's Heart's developer Max Mraz, it's still an enjoyable game.
There are moments when the difficulty spikes a little too harshly but that's compensated by the simple continue system. The map can be unhelpful and the borders between spaces a little hard to always detect. But Max Mraz knows how to make the player feel welcomed inside the world he builds and I cannot wait to see what he can deliver next, after Yarntown and Ocean's Heart.
