Baldo: The Guardian Owls

About

"Baldo: The Guardian Owls" is an action-adventure game with puzzle-solving elements. The player controls Baldo, a young boy chosen by destiny to gather the legendary elemental spirits and prevent an ancient prophecy from coming true. With its charming art style and immersive world-building, players will explore a vast open world, meet memorable characters, and uncover the mysteries of the land.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

57%

Audience ScoreBased on 68 reviews

story6 positive mentions

gameplay4 negative mentions

The game features a beautiful art style reminiscent of Studio Ghibli and offers a nostalgic Zelda-like experience with engaging puzzles and exploration.
The developers have shown dedication by fixing many bugs since launch and providing free DLC expansions, significantly improving the overall gameplay experience.
The game offers a vast world filled with secrets and challenges, providing a lengthy adventure that can take over 60 hours to complete.

The game suffers from clunky controls, frustrating combat mechanics, and a lack of intuitive design, making navigation and puzzle-solving unnecessarily difficult.
Many players have reported performance issues, including bugs that can hinder progress, and a lack of quality-of-life features such as customizable controls and graphical settings.
Some puzzles are overly obscure or arbitrary, leading to confusion and frustration, which can detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.

story
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
72%
9%
The game's story is expansive and engaging, with a main quest that can take over 60 hours to complete, but many players find the lack of guidance and frustrating mechanics detract from the experience. While the art and soundtrack are praised, the narrative feels incomplete, with ongoing DLC adding to the story, yet some side quests are seen as redundant or poorly designed. Overall, the game offers a rich world to explore, but players may struggle with unclear objectives and challenging puzzles.
- “It's a very lengthy game and the developers are working on their last DLC to fully complete its story, which is mind-boggling that they’re still adding to it.”
- “Everything is so finely curated, great art and soundtrack, nice storyline (which is huge), the combats are all different and the puzzles are all diverse and interesting.”
- “Baldo the Guardian Owl is fantastic so far, no handholding, nice graphics, and filled to the brim with charm. I can't wait to dig deeper into the game, and by the look of the world map, there will be plenty to explore.”
- “But unfortunately, so much of the content and the story is partially finished and very frustrating.”
- “The quests are anyone's guess since they rarely give any hints as to what to do, and the only way you can even get a hint is through the library option in Rodia town, and you have to pay for those hints. Since getting money in this game can be tediously long, good luck with that.”
- “It's hard (the main quest, not the DLC), but it's so rewarding in my opinion.”
graphics
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
48%
10%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful, Studio Ghibli-inspired art style, which enhances the overall aesthetic and charm. However, many users express frustration over the lack of graphical options and settings in the PC port, which limits customization despite the visuals being well-rendered and appealing. Overall, while the graphics are a standout feature, they are somewhat overshadowed by gameplay issues and the absence of quality-of-life settings.
- “It's basically a 3D-rendered, cell-shaded top-down Zelda, skewed 45 degrees to an isometric view, à la Tunic or Death's Door... with a Studio Ghibli aesthetic.”
- “The art style is amazing and yes, it takes inspiration from Studio Ghibli.”
- “Graphics are nice and feel really fantasy/movie-like; I keep wanting to take screenshots.”
- “But it has some shortcomings, such as no graphical configuration in the PC version, menus and gameplay a little stuck.”
- “Graphics settings, resolution settings, keybinding settings, and any other quality of life settings required for a PC port are missing.”
- “Also, everyone is complaining there are no graphical options; the game is a Switch port, it maxes out to the highest possible resolution and settings, and a potato can run it.”
music
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
77%
9%
14%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many players praising its nostalgic and enjoyable quality, often highlighting it as one of the game's strongest aspects. However, some users noted issues with sound balancing, where sound effects overshadow the music, and a few found the music to be overly repetitive or mismatched with the game's pace. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a significant positive, complementing the game's charming art style and engaging exploration.
- “You play this game for the music, to explore the environment and to discover the secrets.”
- “The music is great and feels nostalgic.”
- “Puzzles are not obvious and will challenge you at times, music is by far some of the best I've heard in this genre.”
- “The sound had some really weird bugs; every animal makes constant animal sound effects that are louder than the music.”
- “The sound effects were louder than the music, which is too bad because the music is good.”
- “I truly want to love this game; the graphics are cute, the music catches the ear, but the last few dungeons are absolutely awful, with constant backtracking and lacking a clear goal.”
gameplay
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
53%
27%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players highlighting frustrating mechanics, poorly designed puzzles, and resource balancing issues that detract from the overall experience. While some appreciate the game's length and its Zelda-like mechanics, others find it unpolished and lacking in engaging elements, suggesting that significant quality-of-life improvements are needed for a better experience. Despite its beautiful art style and enjoyable story, the gameplay often feels mediocre or cheap, leaving players divided on its overall quality.
- “The gameplay has improved a lot.”
- “This game will scratch that Zelda itch you have as it borrows mechanics from it.”
- “Because this game is great as an indie game, it has long gameplay and you will not get bored as long as you want to take up this challenge.”
- “I stayed away from it until recently due to its bad mechanics and optimization.”
- “Annoying dungeons with puzzles that have arbitrary requirements, frustrating game mechanics, terrible resource balancing, and so much more do not balance out the beautiful art style, fun story, and enjoyable music.”
- “Its puzzles are bad and gameplay is atrocious.”
optimization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
45%
27%
Overall, opinions on the game's optimization are mixed. While some players report smooth performance and no issues, particularly on high-end hardware, others highlight significant performance problems and bugs, suggesting that the game may not run well on all setups. The disparity in experiences indicates that optimization may vary widely depending on the player's system.
- “I bought it under the impression that everything had been fixed and balanced, and now the game would run smoothly. Plus, with the additional content, I was stoked that the developers had continued to support the game so well.”
- “The performance is great; you can unlock the 30fps/hz lock by forcing higher fps in the NVIDIA control panel.”
- “Personally, I've experienced no performance problems or bugs, and I'm having a great time playing the game.”
- “I stayed away from it until recently due to its bad mechanics and optimization.”
- “This is from me as a non-Switch player; it also has a lot of performance issues.”
- “Performance leaves a lot to be desired.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
Overall, the game's stability has significantly improved since launch, with major bugs resolved and smooth performance reported even on lower-end systems. However, some minor glitches persist, particularly with puzzles and character attributes, suggesting players should make backups to avoid potential issues.
- “All of the major bugs from launch were fixed, so the game itself works and runs great now.”
- “To be honest, the game runs great even on low-end systems.”
- “Unfortunately, the game is still a bit buggy in places, with a few puzzles sometimes glitching out and character attributes/items resetting. Make backups!”
- “The stability issues are frustrating, as I frequently encounter crashes that disrupt my gameplay experience.”
- “I often experience lag and freezing, which makes it difficult to enjoy the game fully.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game frustrating due to a lack of clear quest guidance, requiring them to pay for hints that are difficult to obtain. This leads to prolonged periods of aimless exploration and tedious slow-paced puzzles, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- “The quests are anyone's guess since they rarely give any hints as to what to do. The only way you can even get a hint is through the library option in Rodia town, and you have to pay for those hints. Since getting money in this game can be tediously long, good luck with that.”
- “No sense of direction on where to go can lead to hours of pointless exploration, which isn't fun, and is filled with tedious slow walking puzzles.”