Super Mario Odyssey Impressions

I’ll just come outright and say it; Super Mario Odyssey is wonderful. I still have a way to go before I beat it and collect everything, but from what I’ve seen so far, every minute of Odyssey has been a joy.

Having played Odyssey back at E3 2017, it’s interesting to see what has changed. Namely, the motion-controls when playing with two joycons feels smoother than they did at E3 (though the E3 demo also didn’t explain the motion-controls in full detail, so maybe I just know what I’m doing now). It’s wonderful how well the game controls. Here I thought I was going to prefer using the joycons docked in the controller, but I actually think I enjoy the motion-controls more. It all feels so fluid.

Then we have the capture abilities, which are constantly changing up the gameplay. It’s so much fun just to see how every last character and creature plays. So far, my favorites have been the Chomp, the T. Rex and the tank!

There’s just so much gameplay exuding from every corner of Odyssey, it’s astounding! And the whole game is riddled in little surprises in every detail. It’s very reminiscent of collecting the Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild, but even more playful with how it inspires curiosity in the player. It seems in every moment I’ve wanted to search every last corner of a stage to find secret moons!

It’s perhaps the level design that’s Odyssey’s biggest highlight, with ever level being vastly different than the one that came before. Not just in aesthetics and themes, but also the obstacles, capture abilities and, most importantly, ideas.

So far, there’s simply never been a dull moment in Super Mario Odyssey. It has that same level of polish and consistent inventiveness of the Galaxy games or Super Mario World. I still may have a way to go, but so far, Super Mario Odyssey has the potential to wrest Breath of the Wild’s crown for the title of best game of 2017.