Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm

Oceanhorn 2 is a delightful and friendly Zelda-like open-world adventure game that focuses on exploration, discovery, and secrets.

The story is not especially original, but it's compelling and at times thrilling, taking you and your small party of characters to many diverse locations that are packed with things to do. There are cities, towns, dungeons, boats, airships, underwater levels, and everyone's favorite game device: a grappling hook. Wee!

You don't have to play the first game to enjoy this one. Actually, the story here takes place before the story there. But if you have played the first one, you should be delighted by the improvements to almost everything here. We're now in true third-person 3D, which is put to good use in the verticality of level design. Animations were clunky in the first game, but are pretty good here. The English dialog was quite bad in the first game, but it's mostly fine here, and the voice acting is often quite good. Except that here and there actors pronounce names differently... Sigh, can't win 'em all. Most importantly, the world is bigger and more expansive, though at the cost of some frustration when having to trek through some large empty areas while running out of stamina. Finally, the music is excellent and quite catchy. I've been humming the theme all day.

Combat is very easy and your rare deaths will be only minor inconveniences. Even the bosses, which are cool, won't give you much trouble once you figure out their shtick. This is a game that wants you to keep playing and progressing. It's not an Elden Ring. It's not even a Breath of the Wild. That said, it can be challenging to find some of the secrets—challenging and fun if you enjoy combing through areas and levels. I do.

There's even a trading card game-within-a-game that is easy to learn and yet has room for some strategy. I'm usually meh about these but quite enjoyed this one. If you lose there is no punishment, just try again.

It's so great to see how the devs have matured since the first Oceanhorn game. I can't wait for an Oceanhorn 3.