Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard

Very good!

What a wonderful game. The voice acting was amazing! It felt professional and expressive and the game has great writing to boot. It never felt dull or longwinding. I love how the main character, Finn, always has an answer for pretty much anything you can do. Whatever you can pull, take, give, combine - he will have a unique quip for most of it. And the art style is amazing - the characters are creative, emotive and gorgeous - and so are the backgrounds or the worlds they live in. From their cozy hometown to their cold and dreadful new reality in the end. [h2]Story[/h2] While I think any single part of the story has been done before, how this game combines these story parts definitely felt new to me! And it's written so well. One small thing: how the wolves were handled felt a little flat to me. I'm fine with them being a classic case of an animal race being wrongfully prejudiced against (and them growing vengeful because of it), but I would have liked to see a little more nuance rather than every other animal never questioning whether or not wolves were actually evil outside of some fleeting thoughts from Finn. But I really like how this game has managed to combine the existential dread that is our world - with its obsession with machines, AI and the imminent demise we're all hurdling towards, both technically and ecologically - with a more typical "different world" animal kingdom story. The game does a great job at making you feel home in its world. Both the original hometown and the Edge of Owlsgard felt magical and cozy. That made Chapter 4's impact even more brutal - you feel the dread in your stomach as the game sells how awful your new "home" is. Because of Chapter 4, the ending felt bittersweet. While all the animals lived happily ever after, the same won't go for us when our time comes. It was a reminder that we might soon perish because of our own stupidity and greed, taking every animal with us. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] Absolutely loved how nostalgic the gameplay was - it's the sort of games I grew up with, but modernized while keeping faithful to the originals. This comes with one caveat though - it also has some "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ moments" just like those old games had, because you have to combine/use/look in a specific way with specific items that not always make the most sense :P It's part of what makes this genre. I will praise the game for minimizing the amount of these "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ moments" - I only had to consult a manual like 2/3 times in total. And also thank you, game creators, for letting me skip the boat part :P [h2]Technical[/h2] I think technically the game is a little weak. Sometimes the audio becomes unstable and starts cracking, which worsens over time. I checked if it was my PC, but every other app was fine (and I have a RTX 2080 so it can't be that either), so I assume there's some bug somewhere. No big deal tho, restarting the game solved it every time. (And to the translator, you missed translating 2/4 lines into English in Chapter 4 while speaking with the leader of the wolves inside of the train :P) [h2]Conclusion[/h2] Overall, I absolutely recommend you play this game! It's a nice story that I will remember for years to come and will look fondly back to. It's almost a shame that I will never be able to play this with fresh eyes again :P