Okko The Exiled Review

Okko The Exiled is a new game sprouted from a partnership between a one-man indie studio, Frozen Flame Interactive, the incredibly talented Chilean artist Timojim Ilufi, and the musician Daniel Lippert.

Having stumbled upon an announcement for the game earlier this year, this is one I've honestly been quite excited for; the game looks honestly gorgeous, the protagonist is simply adorable, and the action platformer gameplay looked incredibly tight and well-handled. It was probably the release I was most excited for this year.

But the question is, did it live up to my expectations? 

The Story:

 

The story of Okko The Exiled is relatively simple, but incredibly well-executed. Raised alongside Toro as his father, and his child, Gotto, as a stepbrother in the world of Kutala, Okko is finally allowed to explore the outside world after being confined to a single place for practically his entire life. Throughout his journey, he discovers more about himself and the world around him, ultimately embarking on a quest to save it.

Of course, this is a major oversimplification. The narrative is filled with plenty of twists and turns, and it is a story I find far too endearing to spoil. The characters are a treat to interact with, featuring dialogue that continuously intrigued me or brought a smile to my face. I even found Okko's speech quirk of swapping in the letter 'z' quite charming.

Speaking with characters around the hub area make up small side stories to follow, with their conversations updating after every boss you defeat.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative, but I will refrain from diving any deeper because it truly deserves to be experienced blind.

 

That said, I want to emphasize that every element surrounding the game—the character design, art style, music, sound design, and dialogue—is phenomenal. In fact, one of the stage themes is still playing in my head as I write this.

Gameplay:

 

Okko The Exiled  is a fairly traditional stage-based action-platformer. You have a small hub area to explore where you can talk to NPCs, purchase potions and upgrades using gems collected throughout the game, and tackle unlockable challenge stages. These stages feature a single screen of platforming hazards followed by a brief gauntlet of enemies. Exiting the hub will lead you to a world map, with up to six routes you can take, with each one unlocking one at a time.

The main routes on the map are pretty simple. They consist of two stages, each ending with a mini-boss, and then they come to an end with a boss stage. The levels are sprawling and can take quite a while to complete, and each have five demons to rescue and one hidden ingredient to discover. After a set number of demons are found, challenge stages are unlocked back at the hub, with a total of twenty stages in all. Forty-five out of the possible sixty scattered demons are required to unlock all of the challenge stages, and after completing all of them, a mystery reward is obtained. As for the ingredients, every three consecutively discovered will let you upgrade Okko's health, making them a vital resource for surviving the adventure. Stages are divided into groups of three, and only after getting all of the ingredients in a group, will you be able to upgrade Okko's health, adding one extra hit for each group completed.

The stages feature both destructible and fake walls throughout, and stumbling upon them will lead to hidden passages, extra collectibles, and more gems to collect. While the breakable walls can be pretty obvious if you pay attention, I found that a lot of the false ones were incredibly difficult to spot, with nothing to really make them stand out. Because of this, players need to search every inch of the stages, and throw themselves into walls using nothing but trial and error. Even then, don't expect it to be easy.

 

Throughout the stages, another thing you can discover is scrolls, which provide additional background for the story, world, and characters. While the world map shows what you collected in terms of demons and ingredients in each stage, it will not show you which stages have scrolls—something which left me quite annoyed when I only had one scroll left to find. Thankfully, however, when returning to previously cleared stages, collected items will be replaced with gems instead, making it much easier to farm them.

Okko himself is incredibly responsive to control, featuring very fluid movement. Equipped with a massive weapon, he can strike enemies, reflect incoming projectiles, and pogo off foes or stage objects. As you fight, a special meter fills up to unleash a devastating "Dragon Pact" attack, and Okko can also fire ranged projectiles when stocked. Players can carry up to two of each potion type—fully restoring health, projectiles, or Dragon Pact meter respectively. Finally, the game introduces a unique mechanic that truly sets it apart from others: Heartbeat Sync.

During gameplay, Okko has a red gauge positioned right between his health and Dragon Pact meters. As long as this bar isn't completely empty, Okko can activate Heartbeat Sync. This mechanic summons a ring around him featuring a black marker at the top and a smaller indicator orbiting its perimeter. Striking in rhythm as the moving indicator overlaps with the top marker lets Okko land an empowered attack, dealing significantly increased damage.

 

The gauge slowly drains while Heartbeat Sync is active, but it refills as Okko engages in standard combat. I really like this mechanic, as it adds a layer of depth without ever feeling intrusive or frustrating. The timing window is also fairly forgiving, making it accessible even for players who struggle with rhythm style mechanics. It did take me a little while to break the habit of associating a red bar with health, though!

Another thing Okko can do throughout the stages is break environmental objects, though I found this aspect to be somewhat hit-or-miss. It wasn't always clear what could be destroyed and what couldn't, leaving me confused at times. Certain bushes can be crushed while others are simply background decoration, and specific stones can be crushed while identical-looking ones cannot. I never felt like I knew for sure whether an object was destructible until I actually tried attacking it.

The enemies in this game are distinct, with hardly any simple palette swaps between areas. Each foe requires a different tactical approach and can easily give you a run for your money if you aren't careful. Every new stage forced me to relearn how to handle combat almost from scratch, as strategies that worked previously needed complete adjustments for new enemy types. Enemy variety is definitely a strong suit. Visually, the enemies always pop off the screen and remain clear—I never encountered a single opponent that blended into the background or was difficult to make out. 

However, despite Okko controlling very well, one qualm I did have with the controls is that fact you cannot look up or down. What you see on the screen is what you get, so leaps of faith are somewhat abundant. Don't be surprised if you jump into enemies or projectiles. The blind jumps are usually safe, but I would have liked to be able to look down before just going for it and hoping for the best. Thankfully, the only real punishment for death is losing an unrecoverable small percentage of gems and being sent to the last checkpoint, but dying without gems (which barely ever really happens) will send you back to the beginning of the stage.

 

My one other issue is that the stages are room-based. If you jump from a lower room to an upper room, your upward momentum practically vanishes, causing you to simply drop. Even after unlocking the double jump (which isn't a spoiler, as the game lists all unlockable abilities right from the start), the game doesn't allow you to use that second jump before falling.

I should also mention that the gameplay heavily relies on pogoing, so I strongly recommend playing with either a keyboard or a controller that features a good D-pad. You are definitely going to need it.

All that being said, Okko The Exiled is a fine action-platformer. While it isn't particularly long, it never overstays its welcome and left me wanting more. It is wonderfully reminiscent of classic platformers while offering a fresh, modern twist.

Should you play it?

 

Truly, Okko The Exiled is everything I hoped it would be.

It plays well, runs smoothly, features fun stages to explore, and centers on a genuinely delightful protagonist. In fact, my biggest complaint is simply that I wanted more of it.

I can't quite bring myself to give it an Essential rating—to me, that score is reserved for medium-defining games that even non-genre fans owe it to themselves to play, like Steins;Gate or The World Ends With You (which our very own Ben has previously reviewed). Still, Okko is one of those rare titles that makes me wish we had a score sitting right between Recommended and Essential.

If you miss the good old days when you could sit down with a solid game over a single weekend rather than turning it into a month-long chore—games that played well and left you wanting more rather than growing monotonous—Okko The Exiled will surely deliver.

VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PC
Review Copy was Provided

Available On: PC