On the 8th of June 2020, Oceanhorn developers announced the release of what they dubbed to be the greatest overhaul of all the Oceanhorn series they’ve ever released. This was the Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm Golden Edition. This update aimed majorly at improving the player’s quality of life and adapting the game such that people who are just encountering the Oceahorn game series will not be lost as the game’s storyline develops. Of course, other features typical of updates were added: fixing bugs, better mechanics, better graphics, and overall touch-ups. 

In this, Apple Arcade game, you play as an intending knight who is laden with the responsibility of uniting Gaia’s forces against a common enemy, the demon Mesmeroth and his robotic armies. However, unlike in previous editions, you get some other game characters who you have a level of control over by placing them anywhere you want on the board. Their duty is to assist you as you take on opposing forces and creatures. Now, let us look at some of the updates the developers’ have added to this Golden Editions.

As earlier mentioned, the first and most prominent update is the quality of life update, which abound throughout the game. The game was adapted to suit players using high-resolution devices. From a previous 30 FPS (Frames Per Second), the new edition boasts a 60 FPS, making it suitable for play using a Mac. This new frame rate update can be activated or deactivated from the game Menu. Thus, making the game suitable for even devices that cannot support higher frame rates, such as people with Macs with a weak graphics card, can still enjoy the game. Although, when playing, you may notice a slight drop in the frame rate, but this slight change is not very rampant, and the impact on your gaming is not so grave. 

Also, the developers have brought in a cleaner and clearer menu than in previous versions, making it easier for the player to assign Shards and makes for better accessibility. 

Another great addition is the Shield of Chronos and the side objective for Criminal hunts expansion. The Shield of Chronos is a special shield found at the end of a new dungeon within the Grand Core in the White City. The purpose of the Shield is to deflect blaster fire shots at you quickly. With this shield, fighting becomes easier and more fun as you don’t need to dodge and roll away from attacks, you can simply block. The Criminal hunt expansion, on the other hand, is a series of side missions where you find notorious enemies to capture and arrest. You would be given hints on how to get to their locations through Knight boards within the White City. Each of these super enemies stays in their dungeons, an operational base of sorts. When you defeat them, they are stripped of these dungeons and sent to live in prison.

There have also been some remarkable updates in gameplay and game mechanics. Also, the XP system, loading time, and combat have all been improved. They have also added over one hundred voice-overs to introduce more character personality to the game. The developers also included a water stimulation, which gives the game a better touch of realism. Even though the scenes were not changed, the game got a broader and more comprehensive ending; the new ending gives us insight into the character’s destiny.

These updates: the criminal bosses, the shield, new and unexplored dungeons all act as an incentive to make old players revisit already explored areas. In other words, the new content has brought new challenges, spicing up the game in the process. However, with this new challenge comes a new realization – that the combat is monotonous with minimal skill sets available. It also came to my attention that most times, enemies telegraph their attacks so much that it becomes very predictable. This doesn’t really take the fun of the game though, considering that it was initially designed as a smartphone game.

It is amazing to think of the great lengths the developers must have gone through to adapt the Nintendo Zelda series into a game playable on smartphones and other similar devices. They succeeded in translating the Zelda series’ core features and themes and included other necessary features such as an XP system to make it more suitable for phones. Although unlike its Nintendo predecessor, this edition tends to have more content on the puzzle side than on the combat side. I find the puzzles and the exploration of the map generally more captivating than the combat centered sections.

One major drawback for me is how very easily it reminds me of the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It isn’t just about the gameplay and the graphics, it is that Oceanhorn adopts the central themes of the Zelda series without attempting to bring anything of its own to the table. I hope that in subsequent editions, we can have something that brings a bit of originality to the table.