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Owlboy [Steam, GOG, Humble Store, Official Site], the popular 2D adventure game from D-Pad Studio is now officially available on Linux.

I personally tested it during a small closed beta before release and thoroughly loved what I played of it! It's quite an amazing experience and nothing like what I expected from it at all.

I tested it with a Steam Controller and it was perfection. I didn't need to adjust anything or mess about with Steam's annoying Big Picture mode. It just worked.

You are Otus, an Owlboy, a mute and you seem to struggle with a great many things others see as simple tasks. You're not all that well liked it seems, but you do have a few friends along the way.

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The intro section was strikingly well done. It goes from cheery to painful rather quickly, but it's done so well with such fantastic writing it really hooked me in. I started to feel really quite bad for Otus, so it tells you how good the writing is for me to really feel for this little 2D Owlboy.

The art, my word, where do I begin? It has some of the best pixel art I think I've ever experienced in a game. Everything is lush and the way it's animated really brings the world to life. I can't honestly think of a game that can top it for the pixel art right now, it's that lush.

The start is a bit on the slow side, but I personally found the build-up to be great. I was enjoying the banter between the characters and exploring the world for myself. It is a bit odd having a character that can only pull faces or nod their head, but it really works thanks to the writing.

At one point I accidentally dropped a character I was carrying and they vanished. I thought it was a bug, but then, to my surprise, I had found a hidden area! Lots of things like that kept me entertained it's just wonderful.

The boss battles are also a high point for the game. They are well designed for the fight mechanics, but the boss designs are amazing too. The first boss battle was surprisingly fun and the two stages to it where the boss goes through a change in the middle of the battle was genius.

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It does have puzzles to solve as well as combat, but the puzzles aren't all that difficult. No puzzle has taken me more than 2-3 minutes to solve so far. This is again a strong point for me, as it has good puzzle design allowing you to enjoy it without it becoming frustrating to play.

I showed a little bit of the Linux beta in a recent livestream and it ran really well. Seems like a lot of people love the style as much as I do.

I have yet to finish it, sadly, as my time slot for that the other night was swept away by fixing issues in GOL's code. Never fear though, as it will return for tonight's livestream thanks to that. Be sure to follow us on Twitch to see it tonight.

Honestly, just go buy it and love it like I do. The game has constantly surprised me at every turn with its charm and rather engrossing gameplay. A fantastic game to have on Linux! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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Avehicle7887 Jan 30, 2017
To anyone wondering how does the Linux port performs, it's wonderful. Tested the game on a low-end laptop with N2840 CPU (it's weaker than an i3 CPU) and the game still runs in the 50-60fps range.

Definitely a must buy game.
Shmerl Feb 1, 2017
Just bought this game. It's very good, and soundtrack is amazing.

https://jonathangeer.bandcamp.com/album/owlboy-ost

View video on youtube.com
Shmerl Feb 17, 2017
Man, Drik battle is crazy hard, it's worse even than the blob robot and bombs shaft which are were hardest parts of the game so far. I wonder if I should get a controller - seems it could help in this case.


Last edited by Shmerl on 17 February 2017 at 2:46 am UTC
Shmerl Feb 17, 2017
OK, I did it. Just had to come up with proper dodging strategy. This game is hard!
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