Adventure Gamers - Forums

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

My review is up, and can be read here: https://adventuregamehotspot.com/2023/01/30/beyond-the-edge-of-owlsgard-a-hoot-of-a-pixel-art-animal-adventure/

(Please forgive a couple of misplaced/absent commas. Like Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard itself, I’m very good, but also not perfect.)

Managed to finish Owlsguard, and I still can’t learn the game’s name. I think I enjoyed all chapters equally. Even during the last chapter the gameplay successfully balanced between a darker, lonelier experience and a lighthearted comedy without losing its wits and charms. Smart use of environments was very satisfying, returning to the previously explored areas in order to perform other tasks never felt forced or exhausting, unlike in many other modern adventure games that tried to emulate the classics.

I do agree about that particular design choice mentioned by Karlok and Blubba (add to this finding the right pile of bones — both puzzles stumped me for a good while), but the game’s so rich in interactions that it feels like nitpicking. Owlsward inspires exploration, trying out different things which is the heart and soul of a true adventure. I punched the poor mummified horse a good dozen of times just for the sake of its reaction There were plenty of those moments.

Good storytelling, even when the old “good vs. evil” formula hits, nice ending, a bit over-the-top — which is, again, fine by me. Nothing is out of place here, the production quality is top notch up till the credits stop rolling. Can’t help but compare Oswald to Hob’s Barrow, also a one-man creation which, despite all of its highlights, felt less polished and just less playworthy to me, with gaps left here and there. This one is pretty much gapless, it leaves you in this sad-happy state, not wanting to quit. Easily my favourite ag of 2022, although I’m unsure whether it belongs there or in 2023.

Fair enough, although I don’t recall any time puzzles in Oilsgard… There is one pseudo-arcade mini-game, but a very easy one, and it awards you with a hilarious death scene in case you fail. Finding important objects, on the other hand, might be a problem. Still not so bad as in the games like Deponia or The Book of Unwritten Tales.

Doom - 07 February 2023 02:47 PM

Fair enough, although I don’t recall any time puzzles in Oilsgard…

I hate it when people can’t remember simple things, like name of the city. The city is called Assguard.

There are a couple of timing puzzles that I remember offhand. I don’t believe my very vague descriptions will spoil them.

In one, you are falling and need to click on something before something bad happens. This is more a matter of knowing *what* to do than being able to do it fast enough, and the same is true of the other timing puzzles in the game. You are always warned with a big fat SAVE YOUR GAME icon before anything dangerous happens, so it’s no big deal to die, load, die load, until you figure these out.

The only timed puzzle that might be truly frustrating for some people is later in the game. In this puzzle, once again, knowing is more than half the battle. In this one, though, even if you know what to do, the pathfinding in the room is a little clunky, so it might take a few tries to get Finn to be where he has to be, when he has to be there.

The pixel hunting was never anywhere near Gabriel Knight snake scale awful. The main problem is the way the world might contain a dozen identical objects (rocks, bones, etc) and you have to click on them all in case one of them elicits a unique response and is key to solving a puzzle.

I thought the game was worth $25. Actually, I didn’t pay for it, but I would gladly have paid that price for it.

diego - 07 February 2023 02:55 PM

I hate it when people can’t remember simple things, like name of the city. The city is called Assguard.

My bad! It will be known as Arseguard from now on.

Jdawg445 - 07 February 2023 02:56 PM

It was at the beach scene, above the pile of dirt there is an object called beam, and I swear to God every other time I passed over, the object still said house.

They probably fixed it in the full game, I’m sure I recognised the object as soon as I saw it and kept it in mind, because I was certain it would be used to solve a puzzle sooner or later.

If you want to see some bad timing puzzle design, check out crowns and pawns, especially if your playing with a laptop mouse pad and not an actual mouse plugged in.

Argh… Now I’m even less enthusiastic about trying out that game. Never planned tbh, the graphics and those annoying ads at adventure forums kept me away from it.

Baron_Blubba - 07 February 2023 04:13 PM

In one, you are falling and need to click on something before something bad happens.

Oh yes, I remember now. But, as you said, I knew what to do in advance and had no trouble with it. In fact I learned about the death scene only from the video I posted above (and it’s another cool one, not to be missed).

In this puzzle, once again, knowing is more than half the battle. In this one, though, even if you know what to do, the pathfinding in the room is a little clunky, so it might take a few tries to get Finn to be where he has to be, when he has to be there.

Do you mean the part with the railway, where all four cells have to be occupied in order for it to operate? I also found it easy, even if you have to move fast. I agree about

The pixel hunting was never anywhere near Gabriel Knight snake scale awful. The main problem is the way the world might contain a dozen identical objects (rocks, bones, etc) and you have to click on them all in case one of them elicits a unique response and is key to solving a puzzle.

but, as I wrote, it happened to me only twice during the whole game. Same with Gabriel

Yes, Doom, that’s the latter-game puzzle I was referring to. It took me a few tries.

Long for a game like this. I’d say 8 hours at least.

I’d say you can count on a playtime of at least 10 hours. I finished it after roughly 15 hours. But I’m not your average player, I’m slow with puzzles and I take my time exploring everything. This game has great voice acting, so I didn’t interrupt the characters. (If I don’t like the voices I shut them up as soon as I’ve read their lines, like many players do.)

Yes, the price is too high. The dev wrote in reply to someone at Steam that he sucks at marketing. That may have something to do with it.

EDIT: Heh, I noticed the Baron’s 8 hours after I posted my reply. I stick with 10.