Atomic Owl… hhmmm.. There are a number of things I like about this, and some key things, not so much. Eastasiasoft’s latest platformer has a hefty amount of likeable ingredients, but some aspects make it somewhat distracting. Like going to a concert of your favourite artist, hearing some brilliant tunes, but the overwhelming fart clouds have interrupted those waves of endorphins with an unwanted lingering doom cloud.
The game’s identity is a peculiar one. We have a ronin-like owl hero that runs, rather than flies, through an Asian-fused cyberpunk world, accompanied by 80s synths. That skewed reality is also presented with the gumpf for the game ‘What if roguelites existed in 1991 for the Sega Dreamcast?’. Well… the wrong person has read this, as the Dreamcast is my favourite console, which I bought on launch. In 1998. This would be a more appropriate timeline for the Amiga, my favourite computer, and I would have to say that this is too pretty for the system.
Ok, so it’s hypothetical, but my point is there are so many ideas with Atomic Owl that for me, the good points are overpowered by the things I didn’t like, with one of the main issues being the platforming – key to the experience. As Hidalgo Bladewing, yes, you will be dashing through neon landscapes rescuing and chatting away to your fellow birds. Bear in mind that this is a rogue-lite, not an RPG, so having a chinwag isn’t mandatory, and before long, I was running past them. The same for most enemies.
Though it isn’t a dedicated speedrunner, that precision platforming aspect is crucial to the experience, and for the most part, the actual jumping is good. It’s all the things that go with it. From an agility point of view, basic jumping works well, as with bouncing off the walls. The first beef comes from the dash ability. In a straight line, it’s great, but you need to push up and dash for higher ledges, and Hidalgo will often miss the tip and will either keep rolling at a point mid-air, or will miss it entirely, falling to their death.
This happened far too much, where I would dash to a moving or deteriorating platform only to be hit by a projectile or flying enemy, then spamming the jump and dash desperately not to fall to my doom. Again. I found this frustrating very early on, as the flying enemies are relentless, and so are the projectiles. It’s far from a bullet hell, but you will almost inevitably be timing your jumps on a moving platform alongside dodging an incoming flying tengu, or being chased by a relatively slow-paced orb of sorts. Not fun, considering this urgency is juxtaposed with some rather chill 80s synths that are the polar opposite of danger.
Combat, then, is an interesting one. Hidalgo, the Atomic Owl, wields a sword but not in the conventional sense. A bit like the recent The Player Who Can’t Level Up, his weapons are a chatty bunch. From very early on, he has access to a short-ranged sword, a whip for longer distances, and a hammer. These do actually make a big difference to play as I’d use the hammer for enemies above or separated by a small gap, the whip to keep distance, but the sword was a bit rubbish. Charged attacks are decent, but the best thing is a long-ranged weapon that often takes out multiple enemies in one go, and is easily the best, with its limited uses. There are some skill upgrades available, too.
Like any common rogue-lite, your camp allows you to upgrade stats for more health and better attacks upon death, though during the game will be drops such as the triple jump, which is quite frankly, one of the best things in Atomic Owl as it’s the platforming that poses the biggest challenge. While it looked decent visually and is quite an ambitious idea, there are a handful of areas that were marred by the frustrating mechanics of juggling unnatural-feeling jumps with congested scenes. Arguably, that’s the point of a difficult game, but there has to be some rewards thrown in there, and from my experience, there wasn’t enough for me to have any more of an affinity with owls. Sorry, birdies, Atomic Owl hasn’t changed my view of you guys, though impressed at our vocabulary. Just use your wings.
