He airs his concerns about the nature of the pirate leadership and their recent actions, leaving Dirk to sneer and leave him to the mercy of Otus andВ Geddy. A fight ensues and, when both pirates are beaten, Alphonse makes clear his intention to surrender. While exploring the OwlВ Temple вЂ“ OwlboyвЂ™sВ first proper dungeon вЂ“ Otus andВ GeddyВ bump into Alphonse and his then-partner in crime, Dirk, as the robotic pair attempt to steal the mysterious artefact hidden within. The second friend that Otus makes is Alphonse вЂ“ an explosive-shotgun wielding pirate, whose first interaction with Otus is as enemies. The first of these companions isВ Geddy,В VellieвЂ™sВ engineer and OtusвЂ™s only true friend, who provides the most vanilla of gunfire. When off tackling dangerous temples, intimidating pirate airships and scary forests, Otus can summon and carry others who provide projectile attacks in combat, where Owlboy plays out like a lite bullet-hell shooter. One theme is allowed to grow, though, andВ isВ woven wonderfully into both OwlboyвЂ™s story and its core mechanics.В That theme is forgiveness. He never confronts his confidence issues, for the most part behaving as if he never had them by smiling his way through the adventure, while commentary on his disabilities is seldom drip-fed, and onlyВ when back inВ Vellie whereВ AsioВ blames him for everything. These threads are only really flirted with, however, rarely explored with any thoroughness outside of the opening.

It also crossed my mind that OwlboyВ might serve as a warning about the follies of ableism, asВ OtusВ isВ reminded of his lack of speech and clumsy aviation at every perceivedВ failure, yet continues (and ultimately succeeds) in his attempts to save the world in spite ofВ hisВ вЂshortfallsвЂ™, and the doubt placed on him because of them. ItвЂ™s a wonderfully relatable moment where we see how his confidence is eroded by the mere thought that he might let others down, and itвЂ™s here IВ thought that OwlboyВ might explore the subjects of self-doubt and imposter syndrome.

He is a constant disappointment to his mentor,В Asio, who believes him unable to perform his societal duties of protecting the floating village ofВ VellieВ from the frequent attacksВ byВ robotic sky-pirates,В and sticksВ with him solely out of devotion to their raceвЂ™s tradition.Дuring this demonstration of his social standing, we get a glimpse as to how badly Otus takes the words of others, underlinedВ inВ a short, dark scene where he not only internalises the criticism he has received but also imagines that which he hasnвЂ™t. He was born mute and unable to fly with the same grace and guile typical of his kind and is therefore seen as clumsy and stupid. Unfairly, the reasons for his being on the lower rungs of life are completely beyond his control. YouвЂ™re presented withВ a few thematic threads duringВ theВ openingВ of D-Pad StudioвЂ™s charming 2D adventure, Owlboy,В as protagonist OtusвЂ™sВ lowlyВ social-standingВ is established.В Despite beingВ one of the few surviving members ofВ a proudВ andВ ancientВ race, he isВ continuallyВ scorned by hisВ superiors,В bullied by his peers andВ is,В at best, deemed insignificant by even those that like him.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, itвЂ™s some spoilers forВ Owlboy.

Alphonse owlboy