There are only a few games in life that allow the player to feel a certain type of emotions and Owlboy by D-Pad Studios is that game. The player starts the game as Otus, a mute Owl, who lives in the floating village of Vellie. Otus’ mentor, Asio is portrayed as the parent figure that gives Otus the toughest of love, for example, constantly bringing to light Otus’ inadequacies . The adventure begins when robot pirates under the command of the infamous Molstrom unexpectedly attack a nearby city. Otus and newly acquired friend Geddy set of to understand the motive of the robot pirates. Owlboy takes a different approach to normal storytelling by allowing the player to discover for themselves through the silent storytelling.

This game looks damn good. The game is not restricted by the 8 and 16- bit style or its color palette. From the Vellie to the Owl Temples and Molstrom’s pirate ship, the colors are absolutly phenomenal. Even when Owlboy was to pan the camera out, the pixel resolution does not miss a step and always looks fantastic.

Even towards the end, when everything is looking bleak and the plot has taken a turn for the worse, Owlboy consistently delivers a beautiful and awe-inspiring game.

The controls are actually pretty standard. Otus casually jogs, can attack and can fly. It does get on the annoying side that Otus is pretty slow and rolling makes him pick up speed, so I found myself a lot of the time rolling to get along faster.

Owlboy may have one of the best soundtracks in a video game. The orchestral sounds are perfect in every encounter and are pleasing to the ear. The drums heats up when situations are serious and  the flutes, piano are calming when there is a lull in combat. Jonathan Geer deserves immense praise for the work that he has done with the Owlboy.

Owlboy was a joy to play. It contains a hearfelt story that tackles themes of disabilities and friendship without compromising storytelling or gameplay to get the theme across. The ten hours that I had put into Owlboy reminded me why I love these kind of games. I felt for Otus and I believed in the adventure that he went on. It made me feel when Asio consistently criticized Otus. When Otus and his friends triumphed, I felt like I had also won. With its exceptional characters, music, plot and stlye, Owlboy is a game that I will always recommend to those wanting a 2D adventure game.