Zelda-lite

That phrase is used a lot nowadays, you know when you would ask your mom for a McDonalds happy meal but she quick says “Nope, we got McDonalds at home” only to get home and its just some bootleg burger and toys you already own? That’s the saying, usually its used in a negative way but when I saw that Oceanhorn 2 feels like the Zelda we have at home; I mean that as a term of endearment. Especially if you consider the fact that this game is on Xbox and well, lets fact it we just don’t have these times of games on that console at the moment.

MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99

Oceanhorn 2 – Knights of the Lost Realm is a sequel to Oceanhorn but story wise it’s actually a prequel, set about 1000 years before the events of the first game. Players will control a blonde guy who can use a sword, collects hearts for health and automatically jumps over gaps; this all sound familiar? Dark forces have come to the land of Gaia and its up to the players knight to stop the evil warlock and his army of robots by uniting the lands to stand against them. Even those these story beats have been done a hundred times before, Oceanhorn 2’s watery world and exploration made it a joy to play through.

Gameplay evokes the N64/Wii era Zelda games for exploration and movement. The world is full of little things that push the player to explore further organically which is a nice contrast to the mostly fetch quest systems that are offered in game. Just as in those early Zelda games players will find themselves smashing and slashing any and everything to find hearts, currency and ammo which all will be needed for their quest. Oceanhorn 2 also has puzzles which I found none of them too difficult, but instead all of them really felt like a nice challenge. The entire game, from the bright and colorful visuals to the softer take on puzzles and even the mellow soundtrack; all of it just feels like ‘Zelda-lite’ in the best possible way.

Combat in Oceanhorn 2 is no different as it is simplistic in nature. Players will begin with a sword and quickly find a shield and use those as the base for their offence. A mix of sword slashes and shots from the slingshot ranged weapon will usually make short work of most enemies, bosses will require more movement and dodges but again if you have played a Zelda game and fought a boss then you already know how to approach the foes here.

There isn’t a whole lot original about Oceanhorn 2, it very proudly wears its inspiration to the The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker; not on its sleeve but its cosplaying as Link. This isn’t a bad thing at all, as I said above there aren’t very many of these games on Xbox (which is really sad btw). More than that because it doesn’t have a rage inducing difficulty it makes Oceanhorn 2 a great game for families to play together which is something that can’t be said for a lot of adventure games lately. Some of my fondest memories is playing games with my mom watching (she isn’t a gamer) and finding a game like that now as a father is rare. So, in this sea of utterly fantastic games in the year of our Lord 2023, don’t sleep on Oceanhorn 2 – Knights of the Lost Realm.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.