FARADAY AND THE CURSE, THE COMBAT, THE CASTAWAYS, THE CLANS, THE CAVES, THE CARTOGRAPHY AND THE CAPS.
Get it? The seven “Cs”.
The joke makes a bit more sense when I explain that Faraday is the main character in Olija. He and his crew have been shipwrecked, and Faraday’s goal is to save his fellow survivors and escape the land of Terraphage. That’s the basic gist of the plot, and for the most part it’s all I need for a game, but what I think Olija lacks in story is made up for by the way it is told and the mystery it never fully explains.
On the surface Olija looks like cinematic platformers like Prince of Persia and Out of This World (Another World) because the way the characters move looks like the old rotoscoping techniques used in those games, but Olija decides to be a combat focused platforming game. Sometimes the story takes front and center with dialogue delivered in a seemingly nonsense language with subtitles (similar to the works of Team Ico) but for the most part fast paced combat and platforming is Olija’s bread and butter. That being said, some of the best moments in Olija are its storytelling with no dialog and just gameplay. One felt like two characters dancing with each other while another felt like a nightmare as enemies swarmed. I like seeing video games explore narrative through gameplay rather than words.
PLATFORMS: PC, SWITCH, PS4, XB1
MSRP: $14.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $14.99
Speaking of gameplay, the cursed spear is what separates Olija from other combat focused platforming games. Both used for mobility and offense, the spear allows the player to warp to it once it has found its way into an enemy or certain obstacles. I really enjoyed the spear because being able to throw it at an enemy and then deal with another using the secondary weapon like the rapier was pretty neat, but doing some of the platforming sections without hitting the ground or quickly avoiding death from a well timed throw just made me feel like I was way more skilled than I actually am. I think Skeleton Crew Studio realized they had something interesting with the spear because a later item sort of does the same thing but instead of throwing it Faraday sticks it in the ground and can warp back to it. It opened up some neat ideas for puzzles, but sadly I think it was under utilized.
Generally, the pace of Olija is start in the main survivor village, go to a new area, get an item, go back to the survivor village, repeat. I say this because I think anyone who sees the map screen may think this game is non-linear or like a Metroidvania which it really isn’t. Returning to completed areas is a choice but the only reasons would be to find collectibles or farm materials and money. Money is needed to upgrade Faraday’s health, and both money and materials are needed to buy hats. Hats give Faraday certain buffs and are worth getting (at least some of them, but once I had the cap that let me leech life off enemies I never looked back) but I had all of the hats by the time I finished and I never once felt the need to farm for materials.
Back to the art, I want to say that not only is the sprite work great but the entire world of Olija is beautiful. It’s a shame that a lot of the game is spent in caves because the outdoor areas have these wonderful backgrounds that paint the image that the land of Terraphage is built off of the ruins of various cultures. That also comes through in the music, which mixes different real world cultures that made me second guess myself on whether or not these characters were supposed to be castaways from different parts of the world. Clearly different groups of people live in Terraphage, but the game remains cryptic on whether they too are castaways or not. I think it’s more interesting to not have the answers to those questions.
Before I sum up there’s a few things I feel like I should mention. At one point I got stuck inside a room. I am unsure how I got in there, but I could not get out until I exited the game and reloaded it. Clearly the room needs to be entered to get all the collectibles but I could not exit it. (Life tip: any room you can enter but can’t leave is bad news.) It was a minor incident however. The second is that this isn’t Skeleton Crew Studio’s first game, which I discovered while getting some extra info for this review. Their previous game is called BackSlash, and it is very similar to Olija in visuals but it is a same screen multiplayer fighting game. They seem unrelated outside of the art style, but it is interesting to see their culture blend in there as well.
Overall Olija is a good game. I just wish it was longer. I finished a fair portion of the game in around 5 hours and I can’t imagine I would have spent much longer had I decided to get all the collectibles. However, I think $15 is the perfect price for Olija; I much rather have a short good game than a long mediocre one and being left wanting more is a much better problem to have than never wanting to touch a game again. Just know that Olija is a concise but strong experience and a great way to start off 2021.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
