HANDS ON - Atomic Owl is a pacy side scroller with a lovely eye for detail
Singing the bird song.
By Jonathan Garrett
20/10/25
Previewed on PC.
Access via purchased retail copy.
Atomic Owl is an enticing proposition that presents itself at first glance as being lean and accessible. It doesn’t take long to realise that there’s plenty of depth beneath the surface and a challenge that escalates with just the right cadence. There are plenty of pinch points where the difficulty ramps up, and some appreciated cinematic flourishes that will likely exceed expectations going in. Developer Monster Theatre have created quite the pleasant surprise.
It also appears in places to stretch beyond what one would expect an indie budgeted title to deliver; the use of voice acting elevates it above many of its contemporaries. There is an over reliance on top loaded narrative context, which affects pacing in the early moments. Given how slick the movement feels, there is a sense of wanting to get to the action. Perhaps these character beats would have better served alongside gameplay? In any case, there has been a clear effort made to contextualise proceedings, and it’s appreciated.
Weapon swapping and upgrades play their part, with zippy movement going hand in hand with the “just one more run” vibe. It’s all packaged with intricately detailed pixel art visuals with nice layering. You’ll often be rewarded for poking around, with appropriate use of environmental cues to indicate secrets lurking in the background.
Traversal can occasionally cause frustration at times, but in fairness, that’s often down to poorly timed player input. If you’re willing to accept an element of trial and error, you’ll quickly push through. There’s something to be said for a game that doesn’t try to hand hold, and while for some that can be perceived as a negative, our experience with Atomic Owl was one that left us grateful for the room to stretch ones legs.
We had the pleasure of playing the opening moments of Atomic Owl alongside developer Eldar Quest. This written Hands On coverage is just one part of Burly Bird Media’s “Hotspot” press run, in partnership with Indieformer. You can check out their fantastic deep dive interview right here.
This key art is RAD.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
