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A legendary harpoon
Olija seemed to be very ominous game at first. It got minimal pixelated visuals, but rich gameplay and movie-like sound design. Its melancholic vibe reminded me of a recent game I played Inmost. I love Japan and its mythological history and folktales, and Olija seems to dive into that realm. I knew where I was getting myself into, when I saw some early gameplay footage of it; fast-paced action, lots of gore, lore and the odd, gloomy atmosphere. I played this fully on PS5 console.
Gameplay, controls, graphics, weapons and sound
The game starts strongly; with a shipwreck and a man Lord Faraday, who gets stuck into a mysterious place called Terraphage. I found other castaways, a legendary harpoon and an actual place, that I could build up as I went on a journey. Everytime I got back from caves and dungeons, the place was more full of survivors I rescued along the way.
Olija is almost linear, mixed with some RPG elements, as I could buy health upgrades and craft various hats from materials, that gave extra protection or extra moves. I like the options and, obviously, I used all the help I could get. The game hides lots of secrets out of the boundary and I liked the satisfaction after trusting my guts and finding secret areas and items.
With my main weapon, a legendary harpoon, I also got new alternative weapons, as I progressed in the game. Unfortunately, I found it tedious and slow to change the alt-weapons. The gameplay is fast-paced and my inputs always felt too slow. Also the controls could need some tweaking, for example, adding secondary button for the alt-weapon, to scroll them to opposite direction. Definitely these little details were the biggest problem in Olija, everything else was just so enjoyable.
The detailed sound effects of enemies getting cut in pieces to enviromental audio was well-thought-out. What comes to the visuals and pixelated graphics. At times, I had to stand up and back away from my TV screen, to really see the whole picture clearly. It was rather diffcult to play on TV screen (55″), when so much was happening and all the pixels were so big.
The last words
Olija is beautiful, enjoyable and rare game, but the controls might need some fine-tuning. I enjoyed those insane fight scenes, puzzles I had to solve, the storytelling and dungeon bosses. I’m sure every hack&slash gamers will enjoy this. I did too, and I don’t usually play this type of games.
Olija is a great game, not too long, not too short, about 4 hours. I do recommend this, but if you still hesitate to buy it, there’s a free demo on Steam.
(Review copy kindly provided by the publisher)
SCORE:
4/5
Fast-paced action, lots of gore, lore and the odd, gloomy atmosphere”
One More Level 
Hello. I haven’t visited this blog in a while. I’ve noticed that you have been reviewing a lot more indie games and much fewer larger budget games. Do you have any plans to share your thoughts and opinions on some the larger games like Cyberpunk or Ghost of Tsushima? Aside from that I would like to encourage you to stay safe.
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Well hello there :]
Yes, the AAA titles suck, sometimes/mostly. I do like indie nowadays much more, they just do better overall work, but the games are smaller in scale. I’m more of quality over quantity. Indiedevs releases games from left and right. Honestly, there is no end of them :D
I was hopeful for Cyberpunk 2077, got the game on launch, but yeah. I’ll wait few years until it’s playable and review it then. I got PS5 and I’m kinda waiting for many PS4 games to get PS5 treatment until I want to play them. I never played Ghost of Tsushima and I don’t want to play it unpatched and then again when it possibly gets one.
I also try to do less reviews, for personal/health related reasons. My life is kinda tumultuous at the time. Thanks for writing and be safe as well :]
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I agree. Cyberpunk is a dumpster fire on current and last gen consoles. Only high end PCs have a passable experience. I too had high hopes for this game after playing Witcher 3. Beyond the glaring quality control issues there are a myriad of missing, promised features. I might skip this one or wait until it discounts below $20. As for Ghost of Tsushima and other large titles I am waiting for a sizable discount. I haven’t bought a full priced game in many years.
Congratulations on securing a PS5. I haven’t any interest in buying one (even if it was readily available for purchase) at the moment. I will wait for the coming revisions or pro versions. These consoles have too many issues right now. Also, there hasn’t been a game, so far, that has truly wowed me. Black Myth Wukong looks to be that game but that’s a ways off.
I really hope 2021 improves for you.
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I was expecting next gen games on launch. Nobody misses anything with not getting PS5 yet. Also, it’s not THAT amazing console, to be honest. It will need many updates and when that happens, the console is probably few years old already. The issues I have the most with PS5, is the unexpected crashes when playing PS4 games.
The Black Myth game looks insane, and I hope it won’t he Cyberpunk’d, tho.
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