Animorphtroid
HIGH Unique creatures to transform into!
LOW The backtracking feels like it only exists to pad the playtime.
WTF A Dark Souls-esque currency-dropped-on-death system that can be turned off anyway.
For years, the so-called metroidvania subgenre has been a favorite for many indie developers. Biomorph is Lucid Dream Studio’s crack at the classic formula, and they deliver a satisfying and modern experience that many fans will appreciate.
The adventure begins with an animated cutscene, whose art style (along with the art direction for the humanoid characters) is reminiscent of 2012’s Dust: An Elysian Tail. Characters offer an interesting blend of animal characteristics without necessarily drawing to mind any specific animals — instead of a generic cat girl, a character may have cat-like ears but a reptilian face, or wing-like arms.
The monster designs are where the team’s creativity shines, as they manage to be unique and monstrous — even disturbing — while still fitting into the more ‘cartoony’ world, which is especially important as one of the main character’s signature powers is transforming into enemies they have defeated. After besting enough of an enemy type, that type can be morphed into at any time, each coming with their own movesets and movement options to solve puzzles or offer advantages in combat. One monster let me hover past spike pits that would otherwise kill me; a majestic elk-looking monster offered little in terms of traversal options but did have great kill power.
The base character has a variety of attack and action options, thanks to a system of ‘chips’ which can be swapped out and upgraded. One chip offers standard directional melee punches, while another may offer ranged options, or a shield that can block an enemy’s attack.
Movement is basic and somewhat limited. Jump height can be adjusted by how long the button is held, and there’s a short ‘slide’ the player can perform to get through tight spaces or dodge high-aiming attacks. Platforming can be somewhat dull due to these limited options, although some enemy forms offer other options to navigate certain rooms, and I would say this is fairly standard for the subgenre.
Exploration in Biomorph is fairly standard for metroidvanias, with backtracking encouraged when new powers are gained, and a map that’s easily readable and allows for the placing of various pins to notate areas that need to be revisited. There main and side quests that are generally marked on the map and are rarely if ever confusing to follow.
However, there are occasions where back-and-forth travel required by missions serves no purpose other than wasting time. For example, several missions required meeting a character in the main town after finding them elsewhere in the world. Then that character makes the player walk across town to ‘submit a form’ so they can establish a business, and then they return to the same spot. Why not just have the character set up shop as soon as they return to town?
It’s worth noting that by default, Biomorph has a souls-esque system of making the character drop all currency when they get killed, before immediately auto-saving. However, if the currency is lost in a boss room, the pile will spawn outside, which is great. With that said, there’s an option in the menu to simply turn this soulslike mechanic off entirely, which was a good move as it felt tacked on as a nod to FromSoftware, rather than a thoughtful inclusion to their own work.
In terms of bosses, Biomorph‘s are scattered throughout the world, and they offer a different experience from the usual platforming and basic puzzle-solving. These bosses are, for the most part, not particularly difficult and tend to devolve into jumping around until they offer an opening to get some hits in. Simply rinse and repeat until they explode into a gory mess. They serve their purpose but ultimately weren’t memorable.
Ultimately, Biomorph is a serviceable addition to the metroidvania subgenre that I think most fans of the content will enjoy thanks to the appealing look of its graphics and the novelty of the main character’s ability to transform. It might not break much new ground, but a solid experience doesn’t necessarily have to.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Buy Biomorph – PC– PS – XB – SW
Disclosures: This game was developed and published by Lucid Dreams Studio. It is currently available on Switch, PS5, XBO/X/S, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch OLED. Approximately 12 hours were devoted to the game, and it was not completed. This is a single-player-only title.
Parents: This game has received a T rating from the ESRB and contains Blood and Violence. While none of the characters players fight are human, monsters do explode in messes of gore and viscera when defeated. Fighting these monsters is frequent and encouraged via gameplay.
Colorblind modes: There are no colorblind modes.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue is written and no gameplay segments encountered required sound cues. This game is fully accessible.
Controls: The controls are fully remappable.
As a lover of portable gaming, he plays on his Switch when he can and alternates between older handhelds when it suits his mood. He also enjoys playing a wide variety of games on PC, in particular strategy games like Victoria II. His favorite game is TWEWY (The World Ends With You) and he owns a copy of every version to prove it.
The humble Ohioan hopes to develop his writing and analysis through his work at GameCritics in his spare time, and also mess around with music production and maybe invent a new subgenre.
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