What is Ocean’s Heart and Should you Play it?
By: Mr Constantine
First things first, Ocean's Heart is an immense top-down action RPG in which you play as Tilia, a young woman who explores a breathtaking archipelago. In this game, you take on contracts to combat monsters, explore ancient dungeons, confront ominous opponents, and solve the Ocean's Heart mystery. The game has lovely, vivid pixel art and is one of the most artistically stunning games out there. The game was released earlier this year on February 10th of 2022 on Nintendo, and has already been released on PC since 2021.
This game was developed by a lone developer named Max Mraz who some people refer to as a creative genius. You may know him from his other game called Yarntown that was released on the 18th of July back in 2020. Four years ago, he stumbled across Solarus, an open-source game engine that was primarily designed to create games for Legend of Zelda fan projects. He was impressed with what he saw so he decided to create a game, which we now know as Ocean's Heart. he created the game's visuals, recorded the entire soundtrack...all by himself. This is incredibly impressive, but is the game any good?
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When we take a look at the gameplay of Ocean's Heart, it is a top-down adventure that shares a lot of similarities to "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past," but it's more focused on side quests and exploration. Because of the focus on exploration, you will be put in a really large world full of secret areas, and a lot of interesting places that you can visit. The game doesn't really have demanding combat so most of the fights that you will encounter will be very easy and boss fights would be easy enough for a nine-year-old to complete.
A lot of users on Steam say that this game is a masterpiece, and people also mentioned that the game is a lot less linear than you might think and there are a lot of secrets that are scattered throughout the story and world. It really adds to the replayability of the game as you might find out different secrets on every playthrough. In general, if you like Zelda games, you would likely enjoy playing Ocean's Heart. The game draws a lot of inspiration from Zelda and it does it well, Ocean's Heart manages to keep the formula of previous Zelda games without being an exact clone. The quest system, equipment upgrading and crafting mechanics are so unique that the game feels like its own rather than a reskin of past Zelda titles.
However, this doesn't mean that the gameplay is perfect or for everyone. Due to the less combat demand and game difficulty, if you are someone who prefers a game that has a bit of challenge and solid combat mechanics, this game isn't for you. But if you enjoy exploration, finding out mysteries and Zelda-like games, then maybe you should give Ocean's Heart a shot.
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When it comes to the game’s narrative, The plot of Ocean's Heart revolves around pirates capturing a little island where our main character Tilia lives. Tilia's best friend Hazel is kidnapped by pirates led by Blackbeard. And her father, a former volunteer navy man, gets on a mission to rescue Hazel and bring her back to the village. Tilia then wants to embark on a journey to find her family and chase down clues to Blackbeard's whereabouts after six months have passed. The game starts off with Tilia waking up, similar to Link in the Zelda games, and she encounters unique weapons, NPC’s and locations.
Completing Ocean's Heart's story and getting all of the achievements will take about 15 hours to complete or 8 to 10 hours for people who just want to complete the story. Overall, the main story of the game is quite simple and short, most of the narrative is a patch-work of small quests since the game focuses more on exploration and action outside of the story. One way to describe the game's story is that it is not as linear as other games where the main quest takes up most of the action, so for those of you who are not used to this formula storytelling, then this game may not be for you. But still, Ocean's Heart tells a very intriguing story and then again, if you are into the Zelda games and if you are also not bothered with a less linear narrative, the game is definitely worth playing.
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And finally, the last thing that we're going to discuss is the game's art style, Graphics and Design. Overall, the game's design and style is amazing, the game features detailed pixel art and a beautiful world that has a ton of secrets. A lot of players have mentioned that the art is really beautiful where it makes up for the janky controls and the less demanding combat.
In conclusion, whether or not you should play the game depends on your personal preference. If you're easily distracted by bugs and if you prefer a game that has challenging boss fights, then maybe you shouldn't play Ocean's Heart. But if you enjoy games that are "Zelda-like" and if you prefer games that put less of a focus on combat, then this game is DEFINITELY for you.
