The owner provides you with devil magic legs and many quick moves to enjoy
Blog Andrew Joseph 20 Jun , 2025 0
Since Developer Heart Machine broke into the scene with its super-level 2D Action Game Hyper Light Drifter, every effort at the studio has come with the promise of visual glory and intense gameplay, and Owner(S) is no exception.
If the Super Light Rafter is similar to Zelda, the owner(S) is what the team thinks of Metroidvania. Although their development team may be mad at me for calling me, they prefer the original genre term for “search action”. No matter which tag you prefer, you can find familiar logos for the type here. The owner places you in a large open map full of powerful demon enemies and branch paths that have not been opened to you yet.
Unlike the stylized games of Heart Machine in the past, but the masked or masked games are different, the Hero, Owner(s) is led by a series of beautifully hand-painted characters, and I was curious to learn more about the story. Players control a fictional Japanese-style city, who controls Luca, who survives the devastating apocalypse. But only forceful. She woke up and found that she had no legs, which was damaged in the attack. Fortunately (or not), she contacts a demon named Rehm, who offers her a classic devil bargain. She can restore her legs to its original state, but only if she helps him to avenge some unnamed but powerful demonic power.
Likewise, the owner(S) is inspired by the city fantasy anime. Shows like Jujutsu Kaisen quickly emerge in mind as Luca and Rehm explore a devastating Metropolitan City and fight against demonic everyday objects, such as ghost searchlights and demon refrigerators. This also extends to Luca. Although she is now powered by demonic magic legs, her weapons are also daily objects. She could wield a kitchen knife or even a computer mouse like a whip.
All of this combines a fast-paced action adventure. The battle feels fast, which is great because there are a lot of enemies to cut. It also feels fast and great to walk through devastating cities, or to jump around on obstacles, which is a plus because I feel like it's a big game. The part of the map I've played has already felt very big, and I only played for 20 minutes of the demo.
Mechanically, I wouldn't say that the owner(S) subverts the search genre, or at least not in the early part of the game I've seen. But, in narrative and design, I have more to learn more. The owner has the moment when the camera throws the camera into the city of destruction, highlighting the sense of movie scale that the Heart Machine has explored before games like Solar Ash. Even during my brief hands-on period, there were a lot of dialogue and fairs between Luka and Rem.
There may be more RPG elements that I haven't discovered yet. Luca's character menu seems to show various weapons and upgraded empty slots – more than I found in the demo. Only a glimpse of the map, which is mainly many abandoned and destroyed office buildings, obviously much more under the owner's hood than I've seen. I'll keep an eye on this.
Matt Kim is an advanced feature editor for IGN.