Growing up we always had a group of close friends that we would do anything for. Most of the time when you grow up you might grow apart, which is natural, but what if you lose your friends because of mind control. In Atomic Owl, that is how the story begins and sets up the quest to save the world and hopefully free your friends. Atomic Owl is a 2d-platformer with rogue-like features, where you play as a samurai owl with a talking sword, trying to save his kingdom and hopefully free his friends from the control of the main villain.
The game works like most 2d-platformers, but unlike most games you actually start off with all of your equipment and abilities. The difficulty comes from how you learn to use all your gear to pass through each level. You have three different main weapons to use in combat. They range from your basic attack with your sword, a mid-ranged chain whip, and a large sword that does heavy damage but short range. Each weapon works best against certain enemies. The basic sword is good for enemies who charge close to you, the whip is good for enemies who hop around when you get close, and the large sword is good against enemies who are damage sponges. You also gain a sickle, (which also talks) that you can throw to automatically hit any enemy on screen, but can only be used three times before it will need to recharge. This is perfect against flying enemies who fly and shoot projectiles.
The levels look amazing and represent how good has lost and evil has taken over. The levels have a dark hue in the sky and the music is eerie, adding to the atmosphere of dread yet hope. It makes sense since two years have passed since you were sealed away and lost your friends. But of course the moment your sword is brought alive and frees you, you immediately start on your journey to save everyone. During levels you will occasionally meet up with your friends who either tell you that it’s pointless to fight them or just roar. After these moments you can’t help but feel dread. You might be able to stop the villain and save the kingdom, but you can’t help but wonder if it is even possible to save your friends at this point or even if it’s worth it since it is stated that they just gave up fighting the mind control.
The game has some rouge-like features incorporated into the gameplay. As you explore the levels you will find different power-ups to help you on your journey, from the ability to knock back enemy bullets, longer and multiple dashes to improve platforming, and much more. Each time you play a new level or return to camp, you will have to get new abilities/regain your ability affecting the experience. Some playthroughs will end up being easier depending on your luck of the draw and some will be much harder, adding to the replayability of the game, which is key to any game’s longevity.
During the levels you will find and collect two different types of orbs. The blue orbs are obtained every time you defeat an enemy and are used to upgrade the abilities that you randomly obtain during gameplay, and the green orbs will permanently increase your health bar once you collect enough. You can stop playing at any time and return to camp to upgrade your abilities but doing so will make you lose any abilities that you currently have, so you have to be careful when you return to camp and decide whether it’s worth stopping your progress in the hopes you will get the same abilities again. This game is perfect for people who are looking for an easy way to enter the rouge-like genre. The game is simple and you can beat the levels with any set of powers. You can get overpowered and breeze through or work hard to earn victory. This is the main enjoyment of any rogue-like game and this game is the perfect entrance to the world of rogue-like gaming.
In conclusion, Atomic Owl is an amazing and simple game to get into. With fun platforming challenges, a good replay value, and a story that has you questioning what is worth doing, I highly recommend this game to anyone who is interested in trying something new yet still familiar
Score: 8 out of 10
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch