![]() ![]() We wouldn’t normally question a game’s length, as some of the best experiences are limited, but Olija feels cut short in a variety of ways.Īt roughly the halfway point of the already short Olija, you will have exhausted all of the unlocks. There’s probably four hours of gameplay here. It was always going to be a challenge for Skeleton Crew Studios to maintain its authored feel for long something was going to give, and it happens to be Olija’s play time. Ultimately, the flaws of Olija lie in its length. Another takes the form of three separate characters: knowing which one to take down first is half the challenge. One revels in quiet, giving you periods where you’re not doing anything and instead wonder where the next attack will come from. It’s this tag team with the environment that makes Olija greatly satisfying.īosses aren’t the high point, but they don’t let the side down either. With the spikes revealed, we used the harpoon to yank the other enemies into the pit and, voila, the room was cleared. We jumped across and sent a skittish enemy running, but pulled a lever to send it falling into spikes. One was standing on a cage suspended by a rope, so we cut the rope and sent the enemy clattering to the floor. In one sequence, we arrived in a room with four enemies. Combat, too, gains a whole new layer when you can catapult yourself around by chucking a harpoon into an enemy.Īlso enhancing the combat are the levels, which take joy in physics and cause-and-effect. Some of the best moments in Olija come from chucking the harpoon out of hope, only to find a completely new path. Since the harpoon only lodges in organic matter, you’re constantly on the lookout for fleshy bits and bobs to hook the harpoon into, flinging yourself across chasms, up into other rooms and whatnot, taking you further into the level. The game has a whale of a time with the harpoon, and it levels up both the combat and the exploration. You gain it within the first hour of play, and you can launch it at enemies and then pull the harpoon back to you, or launch yourself at the harpoon. You can flick between an increasing number of secondary weapons, like crossbows and a gun, there are numerous combos that use the game’s two attack buttons, and you can dodge. The combat stops short of being as intricate and kickass as a Dead Cells or Foregone, but there’s still a lot of strategy and flow here. In terms of what you actually do, it’s an even spread between combat, some light puzzling, platforming and general exploration, as you try to find a path that you haven’t taken yet. It’s all so orchestrated, and you never get to fall into the safety net of a video game’s repetitions. The same goes for the level design: in a section that’s full of mysterious ‘wreathers’, creatures move around in the background and distance, and hanging figures begin appearing more and more. As you move through an area, the audio shifts as a hidden composer points you to secrets, foreshadows a boss or ally, or adds a creeping dread that’s released by an upcoming event. It may skirt on the edge of pretentious, but Olija can feel like you’re part of an experience more than a game. But while Shogun’s John Blackthorne fought samurai, Faraday seems to descend through the circles of hell. While Terraphage is clearly an invented world, there are heavy Japanese influences here, and both Olija and Shogun centre on a castaway Western captain who finds himself becoming a predestined hero in Eastern lands. Olija isn’t too far removed from James Clavell’s Shogun, if you’ve read or watched it. ![]() The destiny is intertwined with that of a woman called Olija, who is treated like royalty by the people of Terraphage, moving from island to island in an ornate boat. He agrees to ferry you to land, where a series of events make it clear that you are a warrior of destiny someone who is foretold to wield a fabled harpoon and claim Terraphage back. He tells you that you’re in a land called Terraphage, which has become overrun by hellish, Lovecraftian beasts. You wake to find your crew and ship gone, and the only person about is a ferryman. Olija casts you as Faraday, a privateer who is castaway with his crew. ![]()
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