Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas Reviews
Oceanhorn never escapes its identity as a Zelda impersonator, and an exceptionally dull and uninspired one at that.
Oceanhorn is a great game providing a solid amount of time for its story and many unique places to explore.
I truly enjoyed Oceanhorn in a way I haven't enjoyed a game in a long time. Besides the lack of a real challenge the game is pretty much perfect for me.
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas is a fun action adventure inspired by the classic Zelda series. While it mimics much of what makes those games great, it adds it's own brand of magic to the formula. Despite some simple combat, Oceanhorn is a worthy foray filled with peril and treasure. An enjoyable experience for adventure seekers everywhere!
Overall the game is a decent action-adventure, closely mimicking one of gaming's most iconic franchises. It may have everything on what makes it a Zelda game but it didnt quite get what makes a Zelda game great, but to its own Oceanhorn is a very good game.
It's clear that the creators wanted to try their hand at creating something wonderful, but because of borrowed stories and a lack of character development, their final result is lackluster.
OK, I know what you are thinking…didn’t they already review this game? And the answer is yes, but not on the Nintendo Switch. We wanted to take some time and test out this title again on Nintendo’s hardware. Kyle reviewed this one originally, and now it’s time to get my take on it. I did not read Kyle’s review again before reviewing this myself, so lets see how close we both felt on Oceanhorn.
While Oceanhorn welcomes many a Zelda comparison, the game sticks to its guns to provide a somewhat enjoyable, if flawed, adventure that may not be necessary, but still manages to be fun along the way.
It is pretty easy to spot the inspirations behind the title Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas. This is a game that has found its way onto just about every platform available now, and of all of them the Switch seems like a suitably comfortable home, lending itself nicely to the pick-up-and-play mentality that Nintendo has been pushing for its hybrid home and portable console. It is a fun game that kind of feels like a portable Zelda title, even though Oceanhorn would have benefited from taking a few more chances along the way to better establish its own identity.
Oceanhorn is a game built from components so familiar that even Nintendo has tired of them. If the brief was to ‘Make a Zelda’ then Cornfox & Bros have only succeeded on a surface level. The studio evidently has talent – it’s a visual and aural treat – but due to the game’s mobile heritage, Oceanhorn on Switch feels compromised, vague, and ultimately forgettable.
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas has a few problems in it’s design choices and others stemming from its mobile roots. But the developers did do a fitting job paying homage to the classic adventure genre and giving that Legend of Zelda formula their own spin. Even with that though, it’s not fun. It got frustrating, not to mention it has that simple combat. If you’re a fan of the adventure genre and looking for something to play on your Switch, maybe look elsewhere. At $15 it seems a little much for what it is, especially when the iOS version is $8. If you’re willing to overlook the issues I had with this game though, you may have some fun and find the $15 perfectly suitable. It’s not for me though.
Oceanhorn is a good game. The music is great, but the character designs are very poor. That being said If you want a Zelda-like game on the Playstation then this is the game you need.
At the end of the day Oceanhorn stands a bit in the shadow of the classic Zelda games that inspired it but at the same time has more to offer than its age and lineage would imply. This isn't a AAA game, but it appropriately also lacks the AAA price tag, so as long as you scale your expectations fresh off of playing the likes of Breath of the Wild it shouldn't be quite so jarring. If you're in search of a game that will satisfy you for a weekend or two, depending on how much attention you're setting aside for its 10+ hours, it is an enjoyable experience if the pace and level of challenge are a good fit. I have high hopes for the upcoming sequel, to see what the team has learned and what they can produce when they're targeting the console market as the base this time around.
Oceanhorn is fairly cliché, but it works. It's a tried and tested formula for great adventure games, and that's exactly what Oceanhorn is. While maybe not quite an 'instant classic', it certainly fills a Zelda-shaped void in the non-Nintendo market.
Oceanhorn good short adventure that may appeal mostly due to its wonderful visual effects and a charming soundtrack. The gameplay is not too diverse, but this mechanic a lot, but the combat system is boring after half an hour, and enemies becoming more and more. Boss battles are not interesting, most of them you can just scatter bombs, and magic. Death in the game means almost nothing, the player just toss to the checkpoints with all stored items. In the game there are too few original ideas and no challenge.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Oceanhorn is Zelda-like experience for every one of us who has never played one. For Zelda fans, it's just a familiar, if simplified, experience. For every one though it's a nice looking and somewhat challenging title to fully complete. It encompasses many of the open world RPG elements in small levels based on tiles. I'd recommend to play it, but maybe first try it on mobile.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas seems to have found its rightful place on Nintendo Switch and I'm delighted I can add it to my collection on the system.
On the whole, Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas is a decent, if not overly spectacular game. I get that they are clearly massive fans of the Zelda series and wanted to do their own game in the same vein, but I would have liked to have seen a little bit more originality and uniqueness in there. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy my time with the game because there were moments where I didn’t want to put it down.
Oceanhorn - Monster of Uncharted Seas is a title that has come a very long way. Originally releasing as an App on Apple's iOS, it has since seen releases on the PC, the Mac OS, and most recently both Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's XB1. Using both a game play and visual style that pays homage to a few of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda games, you are tasked with searching the seas for a way to defeat the mechanical sea monster known as Oceanhorn.
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas is nothing more or less than solid. With a sequel coming up soon, we hope the game is better suited for those playing on a console than this one was. We just can’t recommend this for the full $15.