There is also a small dash that can be performed with or without a companion in tow. He can fly the fastest without his companions, and can use a short spin attack to stun most enemies, and kill a small number. You play as Otus, but true to the game’s story, he’s not good for much on his own. Instead, it allows you to focus on switching out characters for different situations, positioning, movement, dodging, and any special actions you might have to do for a specific fight. As long as you shoot in the general direction of an enemy, your character will fire at it, but this does far from take the challenge away. In order to not die, constant movement while shooting is absolutely key. There will be times when up to six enemies will all be coming at you, their projectiles and/or themselves being thrown at you at all times.
Regardless of how diligent you are with clearing out enemies, it is likely to sooner or later become almost a bullet-hell, especially in boss fights. This is because the screen transitions are purely aesthetic, with no lag between one screen and the other, and enemies are just as capable as you to tail you across large distances if you don’t dispose of them properly. In dungeons especially, the area is littered with enemies, and dashing past them is a surefire way to get a ticket straight to the Game Over screen. If you’re anything like me, you will die multiple times in the later stages before trying a different strategy and finally figuring out a way to move on. Owlboy does not mess around when it comes to difficulty. There are book entries and optional holograms to find that flesh out this backstory, but I was personally satisfied by the base explanation given to motivate these characters to continue onwards, whom I found far more interesting than the backstory itself. The gist is that there used to be an advanced ancient civilization of owls that has mysteriously disappeared. If you look at the internet forums, you will find that there are certainly people who love to dig into this game’s backstory, but I personally didn’t find it all that interesting.