I’m over 40 hours deep, have about 90% of the achievements, got enough hats to fill a swimming pool, and have traversed every inch of the map enough times to complete a round trip to the Sun. The main story is done, about every side quest I can see, and still there are at least 3 hidden achievements that I can’t even fathom. It’s a pretty good game. Or at least it knows exactly how to get it’s hooks into me.
Ogu and the Secret Forest is a ZeldaLike, a slightly loose but growing category of games based around exploration, puzzles, and dungeons with combat. If you’re only interested in the main quest, stock up on healing items, buy some carefully chosen hats, learn to dodge well, and you can probably charge through it in less than 15 hours. If like me you want to eat up every last bit of content, you’re gonna want to at least double that.
Little Ogu is transported to a world in trouble. The gods have screwed up, an evil power is taking control, and they need a kid to save everything. Standard stuff with a coat of excessively cute things. The game structure revolves around collecting new powers and sigils from each of the themed regions (ocean, snow, jungle, desert, etc) and using them to open up access to new areas and finally a confrontation with the big bad.
Exploration is the key aspect of gameplay and where the game really delivers. It’s been a joy to search every part of the world. I especially liked the side quest hunting for hidden artifacts. Most of what can be found is connected to characters with adorable art, like the village of otters, and has a mix of serious and frivolous stories. Despite the end of times plot it’s mostly light hearted. Exemplified by the hilarious tangent into the shrews mech suit battles. Although I do have to point out that the mech suit rocket punch is useless. It’s still a fun mini game but not exactly deep combat.
There are a lot of mini games of different types throughout. Nothing too challenging. Some more essential than others. The fishing seemed tricky at first until I learned to react to the sound correctly. After which it was mostly a breeze. Cooking was my nemesis because I suck at rhythm games. However there were ways around doing it and I hardly used it at all. There’s a tennis match that is essentially pong, some basic stealth, a restaurant game that was surprisingly fun and a good source of cash. Plus some reaction time checks for resources like gems, ore, and of all things – pottery. Was there ever any real use for the pottery? I forget. To be fair I never bothered to decorated my home. Completely skipped that sideline, that could easily eat up a dozen hours of crafting and arranging. I did grow some plants purely to help finish the museum quest. Yes, there is a museum collection quest. Ever since Stardew it seems there is always a museum collection in a certain subset of games. And as a collect ’em up fan I’m not even tired of it yet.
Basic resources are generally easy to get. Completing puzzles and finding secret areas will yield extra hearts to fill the health bar and new hats with special powers. The puzzles and riddles are logical with a mix of simply okay ones and some that have smart ideas or test knowledge of the world, nothing scary but satisfying.
Bosses are very varied and I like a lot of the creativity that’s gone into them. Encountering one earlier than the design expects can feel like a big spike in difficulty. There are some well thought out patterns and dynamics, however most can be defeated without too much trouble by upgrading the health bar and stocking up on healing items. A little tanking goes a long way and for some bosses going full tank is the only way. In this respect combat feels quite old school and underlines the general mood that even though the enemies are appealing and creative, combat itself comes second to the other aspects of the game, namely exploration. In the event of having trouble with something like a boss, there is probably a hat for that, go find it.
Ogu is not without it’s flaws. There’s a lot of running too and fro, as would be expected. There is a fast travel system but the back and forth is still a little more noticeable than I’d like. The over-world enemies are very easy. There’s no real danger there. Some bosses feel a bit too chaotic. The RNG for collectibles like butterflies and gems can make collecting them take too long. I got a bit bored of searching for gems for the museum collection. The museum also doesn’t have a check list. Lastly, the menu system is kinda big, with a lot of layers and sections. It can be cumbersome to navigate and select things.
Overall the flaws are easily outweighed by the pros. It’s a big juicy game with a lovely all ages mood. Giving the opportunity to fast track the plot or eat up all the side missions and even decorate. This is a family friendly game with an optional easy difficulty that essentially makes Ogu invincible. That’s the context in which it should be judged and also enjoyed. The presentation is about perfect for me and it plays just right on the controller. There are lots of little details in the animation, like when Ogu removes their hat to draw, not to mention all the dancing to heal up, that make the whole game visually pleasing, cute and fun. A memorable adventure to get lost in.
macOS • Windows • Switch • Android • iOS • iPadOS • visionOS
Available from Steam, Epic, console and mobile stores.
mishmash 