Months after “Hollow Knight: Silksong” made waves in the gaming sphere, “MIO: Memories in Orbit” is leaving its own impact in the same genre.
“MIO: Memories in Orbit” was published Tuesday by Focus Interactive to general praise and a 87% positive rating on Steam.
The game takes place in the Vessel, a spaceship drifting through space for unknown reasons. You play as the android MIO as you explore the Vessel and encounter the rogue androids within it. You also have to deal with the mesmerizing and deadly overgrowths taking over the ship.
It’s hard not to compare “Memories in Orbit” to “Hollow Knight: Silksong,” as both games occupy the same genre and cost $20. Both games are Metroidvanias, which involve heavy backtracking to previous areas and varied upgrade progression, but “Memories in Orbit” handles things differently.
The game starts off by giving a player a limited double jump whereas most Metroidvanias don’t reward the player with that courtesy until the second act of the game. The double jump in “Memories in Orbit” is a generic tool that interacts with upgrades, but in other games it is the upgrade.
Even with a double jump, the beginning of “Memories in Orbit” is a slog. The movement feels sluggish and, though responsive, like you’re moving through water rather than air. The combat works off of a tiny moveset, with one three-hit-forward-attack-combo and a miniscule up-attack being your only sources of damage. The down attack that most Metroidvanias see as integral to gameplay cannot deal damage and is only useful for platforming.
Early boss fights are generic, but not a detractor from the game. You don’t replace a staple crop if it grows well every time, and you don’t need to replace the bosses if they fulfill their function of teaching the player how to interact with the game they’re playing.
The game begins to deviate from the Metroidvania crowd through its upgrades, with them being pretty unusual for the genre. At a stage where most games would offer a projectile, “Memories in Orbit” gives the player a grappling hook.
The Hairpin upgrade allows the tendrils protruding from the MIO’s head to latch onto energy sources and launch toward them. These energy sources can be seen placed around levels to create platforming puzzles, but are also most of the enemies you’ll run into, which adds intrigue to an otherwise matte combat system.
Tethers and grappling hooks aren’t untreaded ground for a Metroidvania, but they typically rear their heads later into the game than in “Memories in Orbit.” The more unique addition “Memories in Orbit” gives you is a dodge.
Dodging is an integral part of video game combat. You want to hit them more often than they hit you, but the way you go about dodging varies. The “Dark Souls” series is renowned for the generous amounts of invincibility they give to the dodge-rolls whereas the “Metroid” series prefers to have you solve your problems by jumping.
“Memories in Orbit’s” stationary dodge gives you a brief period of safety to dodge a hit and then retaliate or reposition. The dodge enables capable players to be more aggressive and gives players newer to the genre a potential saving grace in the face of a giant android trying to crush you. The dodge is incredibly short, however, and many bosses have a feint or delay that require care or memorization to take care of. Mistiming the dodge and getting hit disables the ability to dodge for a short period after.
In the vein of breaking the norm, one of the first areas encountered in the game heavily uses ice physics for its platforming, which is a bold choice to make as a game developer. Ice physics can infuriate a player through slippery steps and sliding stops that complicate precise jumps. Slippery physics are seen as enough of a challenge that they are even seen in some challenge modes, such as in “New Super Mario Bros. U.”
“Memories in Orbit” manages to make the ice a fun gameplay element by utilizing it sparsely in complicated sections. It mostly keeps the chilly challenge over long flat areas, where it can be used to make longer jumps possible through additional speed and momentum and well-placed ramps.
The biggest difference between “Memories in Orbit” from other similar games is the difficulty settings. The game offers three different ways to make the game easier that can be toggled on and off at any time in the settings, rather than a strict easy, normal or hard mode.
“MIO: Memories in Orbit” manages to stay within a Metroidvanian comfort zone while still providing additional and varied mechanics and progression to create a unique and interesting experience. The game is unable to stand up to the titan of “Hollow Knight: Silksong,” but this game is a worthwhile pick up for fans of the genre.