Ocean’s Heart stars a young female adventurer, Tilia, who is searching for her father. The game opens with Tilia going to a secret stash for a villager. When she comes back the village has been ransacked by pirates and her father disappeared after them. Six months pass before Tilia finally decides to make the journey herself.
Can she find her father and stop the pirates from whatever it is they're doing to rules the seas? It's time to get adventuring in Ocean’s Heart to find out. There is a lot to this indie game inspired by The Legend of Zelda, but hopefully, these tips will help make the journey's start a pleasant one.
7 Before You Leave Your Island
There is an important quest players should tackle before leaving their home island. After the six-month time skip, head to the northwest corner of the starting area map. There are ruins there that have opened up because of the bombing raid. Inside these ruins is a health upgrade.
It will be a huge advantage for players to begin their real adventure with four hearts rather than three. If players do leave without it don’t worry. It will be waiting there whenever players unlock fast travel.
6 Talk To Everyone In Goatshead Harbor
The first area players will visit after their leave is Goatshead Harbor. For a small game like Ocean’s Heart, there is a lot to see from the get-go. Talk to everyone in town to get a few quests. One of the essential quests can be acquired in the bar to the northwest corner of town.
Some workers want players to dive into a dungeon to remove their spider problem. Inside these tunnels is a pack of ten bombs. These items can open up hidden pathways just like the bombs in The Legend of Zelda series. Do not leave town without them.
5 How To Unlock Fast Travel
After acquiring the bombs, another good early quest to tackle involves unlocking fast travel. Exit to the left, or west, of Goatshead Harbor. Players will now enter the Forest of Tides. At the bottom of this first screen is a girl named Lily who is being attacked by monsters. For saving her, Lily will let players use her boat to fast travel to any unlocked harbor in the game. This will make getting around in the mini open-world much easier and the earlier this is unlocked, the better.
4 How To Earn Money Fast
After Lily, take the exit in the bottom corner. On this next screen, head down to about the middle bottom of the map. Players will find a sign warning them that some monsters are too strong early on like the White Mandrake. While this creature can kill players in one hit, it can be easily defeated in the cheapest way possible.
Hit it through the top of the stone fence. It cannot damage players at all. The White Mandrake will drop a root that will sell for 40 Crowns, which is the money of Ocean’s Heart. Exit the screen to the cave just behind this fence and return multiple times to get as many roots as possible to sell. It is almost too easy.
3 How Upgrading Works
Ocean’s Heart is more of an RPG than most games in The Legend of Zelda series. Players will not gain experience points and level up like a traditional RPG. There are stats that are matched to the player’s weapons and armor.
Players can increase their sword or bow attack power by giving a blacksmith coral and money. Armor can be upgraded simply by finding or buying new pieces. They all look the same though. Imagine someone wearing ten suits of the same armor.
2 How Saving And Checkpointing Work
Ocean’s Heart starts off on what could be considered easy mode. Some enemies will knock players down in a few hits, but thankfully death doesn’t take anything away from players. Except for major dungeons, players will respawn where they last entered with health regenerated.
For healing purposes, it might be a better idea to die on a screen if players are having trouble. This will save on healing items like berries or potions. Players can also save wherever they want and then restart where they last left off. Ocean’s Heart puts the player first which is an admirable thing.
1 You Can Make The Game Harder
If players find the game too easy then there is good news. There is not an adjustable difficulty menu in the options like most games. However, there is a place in the world that can give players a reverse set of assist options. From Goatshead Harbor, take the right, or northeast, exit out of town.
On the next screen, head north to about the middle of the map. There is a set of ruins here and players will have to fight a boss inside. After that, they can get cursed by a god. This opens up a variety of shrines that can increase enemy damage or reduce the power of healing items as just two examples. It would be more convenient to have these settings in a menu but it is still appreciated all the same.
Ocean’s Heart was released on February 10, 2022, for the Switch. It is also available on PC.