Welcome to a retro platformer where you play as an owl with a samurai sword. The sword is possessed by a demon and constantly talks to you. Yes, this is the exact same game that was published on PC a year ago. We didn’t have the chance to check out the game back then, but we did play the recently released PS5 version.
Atomic Owl is a unique game right from the start, giving you the option to play it as a roguelite or as a more forgiving title without the roguelite mechanics. Whatever you decide, the lovely, colorful world will challenge your strategy, both when it comes to moving and fighting.
Hitting Birds with Hammers
Atomic Owl looks like a standard 2D roguelite. You run through a level until you eventually die, and then you wake up back at a hub tree called the Twilight Perch. Here, you spend your green Meza points to get a little bit more health, sigh heavily, and then try again.
During our runs, we weren’t always stuck with just the talking sword. We also came across a giant hammer and a whip. The highlight for us, though, was the throwing axes. Sometimes, we had to use a specific weapon just to break an enemy’s shield. The combat looks hard, but it really isn’t. We’ll go ahead and say that even the boss fights will not make you sweat a lot. To us, the fights seemed pretty easy to read. Even so, you do need good reflexes and quick thinking.
The platforming, on the other hand, is where the game actually gets tough, and it will make you pull your hair out in frustration. We felt like we were holding our breath even during the very first platforming area—which, to make matters crazier, was just the tutorial.
Moving around feels good, though—like Super Meat Boy good. You get these cool Wing Remnant drops that give you a triple jump or an extra dash just for that run. The best parts are the big, open sky levels where you just glide around. However, there are also a few frustrating sections where you get swarmed by enemies while trying to balance on tiny moving platforms.
The developers donated some of their own money to a real owl sanctuary in the UK called the SkyWatch Preserve.
The pixel art looks awesome. It has a ton of color, and the synthwave music is great. Unfortunately, the voice acting is inconsistent. Clearly, the developers created an intriguing story with a lot of dialogue. Sometimes the characters are talking and it is well-acted, but most of the lines are just text. Characters will stop talking completely, and the game switches to retro grunts and plain text boxes. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it did affect the way we followed the story. It’s just weird to have one line fully voiced while the next one is followed by grunts and sighs.
Roguelite or not, however you decide to play it, Atomic Owl is a fun and good-looking game. There were times when we just wanted to turn our brains off for a few hours, and this game did wonders for us. The platforming is solid, although painfully challenging, and the music rocks. It is a neat little game that’s perfect for Sony’s console, and we are glad to have experienced it there.
ID Card
- Developer: Monster Theater
- Publisher: EastAsiaSoft / Monster Theater
- Platforms: PC (Steam, GOG), PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: July 31, 2025 (PC) / May 20, 2026 (Consoles)
- Genre: Action Platformer / Roguelite
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