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Previously, we reported on the announcement of the console releases of Atomic Owl, a new retro-style roguelite hack and slash platformer, and we’ve not had the chance to get our wings on the Xbox version of the game to let you know our thoughts on it.
In Atomic Owl you assume the role of a samurai owl named Hidalgo Bladewing, and you take on his journey to rescue his captured companions. The game excels t telling the stoey of Hidalgi sand his friends, so if you enjoy a good story, then Atomic Owl has one for you. However, you prefer to get stuck right into the action, it’s easy to skip through the story should you prefer to.
Drawing inspiration from Japanese mythology, albeit with a futuristic technological twist, and with an emphasis on precision platforming, dashing, wall-0juming and combat, as well as its roguelite structure, Atomic Owl plays not unlike an avian cyberpunk twist on the recent Rogue Prince of Persia, and fans of that game will certainly enjoy Atomic Owl.
As we suggested earlier, Atomic Owl’s setting is a beguiling blend of the historical and futuristic, with a tory steeped in mythology meshed with retro-futuristic technology, underscored by its 80s-inspired neon visuals and 80s-style electro soundtrack.
Atomic Owl’s visuals make particularly effective use of color, with different planes of existence seemingly represented by different color palettes. The only minor negative point regarding the game’s visuals id that the neon palette combined with the game’s tiny sprites can sometime make it a bit difficult to follow what’s going on on-screen.
While Atomic Owl is intended to be played as a rouguelite, with respawning enemies and an upgradable protagonist, it the developers have also included a mode where you can experience the game without its roguelike elements, so you can still enjoy Atomic Owl even if you’re feeling jaded by the abundance of roguelites out there, though you can only have one saved game at a time, so if you begin the game on one mode, you can’t then play the other without losing your save data.
At its core, Atomic Owl is a challenging action platformer, where making some of the trickier jumps imbues you with a surprising sense of satisfaction.
As for how Atomic Owl plays, the retro influence is strong, with the game’s simple controls but slick gameplay bringing the NES to mind, and the combat, while simple, offers you multiple weapons from the get-go, and switching between them is intuitive.
Overall, Atomic Owl is a well-designed roguelite action platformer whose anthropomorphized birds and contrasting neo-futuristic and classical elements create a unique and interesting game world for this enjoyable game, and while the game is perhaps on the short side, with eight levels to leap and fight your way through, Atomic Owl’s high difficulty levels ensure that it will keep you playing for a good while.
Priced at just US$12.99 / €12.99, Atomic Owl is firmly in the budget game category, albeit towards the higher end of the budget price range. However, the game’s slick gameplay and its adaptability to ensure that you enjoy a gaming experience that suits you mean that it’s more than worthy of this price point.
Atomic Owl has been developed by Monster Theater and it was published by Eastasiasoft on PlayStation 4&5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S today *May 20 2026), having previously been released on PC last year.
