Owl Lights Review (PC)

We’ve all been there, in that unnerving position where our primal instincts take flight and our minds begin to question the fibers of our not-so-ordinary homes. I could think of a dozen or more occasions where I, too, had to feel alone at a relatively young age. At first, it’s a cloud nine feeling—the realization that you can do almost anything without the watchful gaze of your parents hawking over you. But after a short while, the world doesn’t feel quite so normal, and the concerns over your safety soon become disturbingly apparent. Owl Lights captures that feeling—the same sensation that comes with being isolated after hours, without the comfort of kin, and with heightened awareness of the dangers that cloak the otherwise harmless family heirlooms.

Owl Light is a first-person psychological horror that centers its premise around adolescent discovery, self-contained questions of a pathological nature, and the lulls of an individual who yearns for familiar truths in unprecedented times. With that, it spins a relatable yarn—a story about a young teenage boy who, in the aftermath of his parent’s recent departure, finds himself alone and without the comfort of a communal spirit. Isolated, the protagonist makes the decision to take his bicycle out to unravel the secrets pertaining to the sudden disappearance of the local townsfolk and the eerie ambiance that shrouds the neighborhood and the place he calls home.

The journey begins with a simple question for you to ponder: what is happening in town, and why are you suddenly finding small but seemingly meaningful breadcrumbs in the atmosphere? Are you really as alone as you think you are, are is there a malicious presence looming in the distance?

In the Spirit of Isolation

Owl Light puts us in the shoes of Paul, a sixteen-year-old boy who, in the aftermath of his parents’ decision to take a vacation out of town, finds himself alone and in the midst of an unsettling situation: the neighborly spirit of the world has grown dark and somewhat tainted, leaving little more than a thin veil of mystery and an enshrouding sense that something, somewhere is amiss. With this doubt in our minds, we begin our journey into the dainty corridors of the suburbs—a small area of misty cul-de-sacs and barren streets—hell-bent on unraveling the peculiarities that orbit the town.

Owl Light transpires over an evening of nocturnal happenings and unsettling affairs. As Paul, we have the task of navigating the inner quarters of the gloomy home and the surrounding suburban areas and, with little more than the bare necessities to back us, threading the needle in an attempt to make sense of the ominous reality of the situation. There are streets to explore, unusual characters to meet, and a small collection of nooks and crannies to scrub through, whether it’s for the sake of lathering context over the predicament or adding weight to an evolving climax.

Gameplay-wise, there’s just enough for you to sink your teeth into to warrant the price tag. It isn’t a huge game by any stretch, and it doesn’t feature anything particularly new as far as mechanics go. That said, it does offer a couple of alternate endings and a good amount of opportunities to flex the finale, so to speak. But at the core of all of this is a textbook indie horror, which more or less means that if you have played one home-hovering corridor hopper before, then you’ll probably have a rough idea of how Owl Light plays its hand. This one just happens to foster an owl. Go figure.

When the Sun Goes Down

In the short journey that you take in Owl Light, you have a handful of things to complete, including a short bike trip around the suburbs, a tour around a thread of dimly lit buildings, and a phishing expedition into the peculiarities surrounding potential cult activity in the town. There are a few tropes to pick at here, with the bulk of the experience mostly leaning towards tasks that include tiptoeing through dark corridors, unraveling small dialogue passages, and finding small but important objects to help usher the narrative in the right direction. Not a lot to talk about here, to be fair. Sure enough, it’s a pretty common blueprint. The question is, does it do it well?

While I wouldn’t say that Owl Light is a memorable game, it is one that harbors some clean details—the graffiti not being one of them, mind you. The dialogue is, eh — it’s passable, though I wouldn’t say that it’s deserving of a standing ovation. But these are minor issues that I can overlook, because frankly, Owl Light has a ton of genuinely interesting features to carve away at. The ambiance, for example, has a lot of great dark undertones and stomach-turning shifts that  make the act of exploring the world surprisingly tense. The dated yet apt visuals, too, contribute a lot to the general aesthetic that the game tries oh-so hard to capture. I can vouch for all of that, even though it isn’t always perfect or graphically accurate.

Verdict

Owl Light gets a lot of things right, but also gets just as many things wrong, weirdly. It’s the little things that make it worthwhile—the intricate details that pay homage to the golden age of retro gaming, like the arcade installations and the grainy visual aesthetic, for example. It also captures a pretty decent ambiance, with its somewhat dated yet universally accepted palette of disturbing effects and frequent crescendos providing a solid backdrop for an otherwise textbook narrative of woe and wonder. A few great teeth to pluck at, all things considered. But, that isn’t to say that it’s all sunshine and rainbows.

From a technical standpoint, there are still several things that could really make this world pop, such as smoother animations, better dialogue, and a general spit shine on the gameplay mechanics as a whole. It isn’t the least bit terrible, though a little extra polish and time in the oven would’ve definitely helped with its overall composition.

In light of the few minor downfalls, I will stand by my word and say that Owl Lights is still a quality indie horror with a great deal of potential to its name. It isn’t the most enticing corridor romper on the current market, but for the relatively low asking price I’d say that it’s worth the investment. You can take that with a pinch of salt, though.