Your two companions, Trin and the robot Gen, being the worst offenders in both categories. The characters themselves also have almost no character or personality to them, with almost all dialogue in the game being poorly written and voiced (aside from Mesmeroth) exposition. It might be their eyes or the way they animate during cutscenes, but something about them just looks wrong.

Character designs, aside from the Knight, just look off in one way or another. While Oceanhorn 2 may excel in its musical score and environmental design, those are unfortunately the only two things it stands out in.

The soundtrack is equally fantastic, with the overworld map theme being a highlight. Multiple times I stared at the screen wondering how all this was running on my phone, then I remembered it was draining my battery like crazy and making the device very hot – another reason to play with a controller. You’ll also want to see as much of the screen as possible because Oceanhorn 2’s environments are drop dead gorgeous. While you can play this way if you really want to, you’ll be covering up large portions of the screen with your fingers which can obscure vital information. Other actions, such as attacking or using items, are performed by pressing virtual buttons. You move by sliding your finger along the left side of the screen and control the camera using the right. While the game is currently only available on the iOS app store through Apple Arcade, I would highly recommend using a controller when playing as I found the touch controls to be cumbersome and awkward at best. There, you’ll learn to swing your sword, block attacks and push objects with your shield, shoot targets with your caster gun, as well as solve a few puzzles and fight a boss. He’s never given a name, and is only referred to using either pronouns or the titles you gain by leveling up, so we’ll just call him the Knight, since he becomes one after a short tutorial on Outlaw Island. Unfortunately, Oceanhorn 2 fails to live up to its inspirations in many ways. It’s pretty obvious: your first big task is to return three colored emblems to temples around the world, the opposite of what you do as young Link. If the original was influenced by Link to the Past, its prequel, Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, more so takes after Ocarina of Time. Oceanhorn has never hidden its inspiration from the Legend of Zelda.

Oceanhorn 2 xbox one