Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas Demo

So, after seeing some screenshots on the eShop and immediately getting Zelda vibes from it, I decided, why not? So I downloaded the demo and learned that this game was originally a mobile game that was eventually ported, and apparently has a sequel in development, and it's got pretty high scores, so that's already a great indication right there. Also, as of October 2016, it'd sold over a million copies across all platforms, that's also pretty great for what started as a mobile game that came out a few years ago.

The demo is pretty short, once you get a grip on the simple controls, you can probably finish the demo in about 15-30 minutes, depending on how quickly you'll run through it. As I said, the Zelda likeness is pretty thick, but it's still enjoyable. You start off with a stick, but near the end of the demo you receive a sword and shield, using ZR to use your shield. It's a little hard to get used to hitting Y for my sword, as every Zelda game typically has it with the B button (Unless it's Wii Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword, but you get the picture), so I sometimes hit B just by instinct alone, but you get used to it quickly, as on the screen, you'll always see your A, B, Y, X, and ZR buttons and what's on them. Meanwhile, A acts as your all-purpose action button, having you talk and interact with things, as well as doing a quick dash that depletes some auto-replenishing stamina.

You can also find, you guessed it, Heart Pieces in chests, and when you get 4 you gain another heart. You start off with 4 hearts, so that's pretty nice. The whole game has a somewhat isometric look, where you'll be moving in diagonals more than you'll be moving in solid up, down, left, or right directions. There's also a bit of voice-acting in cutscenes, and it sounds pretty nice. The music also sounds really nice as well, with some tracks being done by the legendary Kenji Ito and Nobuo Uematsu themselves. That's some high quality there.

The demo ends when you're about to venture out into the ocean for the first time to search for ancient medallions, so, as I said, pretty short, but it's still enough to give you a taste of what to expect from it. I enjoyed it a lot. If you like Zelda, this game is worth a look if you have a Switch, PS4, or Xbox One, or even a mobile platform. Even if you only try the demo, it's worth a look, at the very least.

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