Ocean’s Heart

Ocean’s Heart is a game similar to The Legend of Zelda. The 2D top-down ones, not the 3D ones or the 2D sidescrolling one. That is to say, the game is a top-down action game where you explore and obtain new items in order to unlock abilities allowing you to get through more of the world. There are dungeons and bosses, and lots of optional places to explore. With a wide variety of tools, you have to help Tilia save the day.

Note that I don’t have any screenshots for the game, so all screenshots come from the official Steam store page.

Find it on Steam.

The story starts off with you, Tilia, inside a quaint little village. But a pirate attack leads to chaos. Your father goes off to save a kidnapped villager as well as stop the pirates, but when he doesn’t return, you set off as well. Starting off with just a sword, Tilia will get a lot of equipment over the course of the journey. There are bombs and boomerangs, and lots of other tools that will allow you to reach more of the map.

The world is a fun and interconnected one. It takes place on a series of islands, with a main island in the middle. There are swamps, mountains, and more interesting locations to visit. You’ll go to many towns as well, each one with its own charms and sidequests to complete. Talking to the villagers is fun. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, so the villagers have some humorous things to say. Some of them will give you hints to treasures or quests. There is a quest log, so you don’t have to remember too much. However the map doesn’t have any way to put markers down on it.

The game isn’t that difficult, especially once you start getting offense and defense upgrades. The monsters do get more challenging, but they only have a certain amount of mechanics. Later enemies will start combining multiple different styles of attacks together, but they’ll be recognizable as variations of things you have seen before. Still, with different graphics, it gives enemies enough character to be interesting. Resources will start off scarce, but you’ll have a good amount of stuff later. Enough that you could just take damage from most of the bosses attacks and heal through it. The dungeons are also more short and straightforward. There is an option for a harder mode though.

When I first started playing the game, I felt it controlled strange. Things felt jittery, and there was a slight input delay. It was a bit off-putting, but it didn’t take too long for me to get used to. The game is using the Solarus engine, which I haven’t heard of. Now I’m not blaming the engine, but it isn’t a widely used game engine. Also, you get blocked from moving if NPC’s happen to walk through you.

Ocean’s Heart is a charming top down action game that takes a lot of queues from The Legend of Zelda. With a fun plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously, have fun exploring the world. It is a nice set of islands with lots of secrets to discover.

Find it on Steam.