If there’s one thing to know about me at the start of this review, it is that Metroidvanias are my favourite gaming genre. So I walked into Mio: Memories in Orbit with the knowledge that as long as nothing drastic is wrong with the game, I’ll most probably have a great time, which I did, but although MIO comes with much promise, it’s been built up over the months as one to watch, and there are some underlying issues that made the game less than what it could have achieved.
The basic premise of the game is that you take control of a keeper robot called MIO, who is thrown into the role of saving the vessel that they and a huge robot population live on. These robots were created by the travellers, who were on a mission to find a new home since they had successfully used up all the resources and damaged their planet to an unlivable state. The travellers have gone; the robots and the vessel are rotting from the inside, and it’s MIO’s task to find the pearls of the vessel, save their voices and deliver them to the heart of the ship to save them all.
The vessel itself is a huge monstrous spaceship that allows for some truly fun and experimental exploration. The developers have done some great work in the level design, implementing a complex system of paths, shortcuts and seemingly unreachable areas all enveloped in different themes to give each part of the vessel a personality of its own. The true heart of any good Metroidvania is present, as without fun exploration, the game truly would sink into the ether.
One other part of a good Metroidvania is its upgrades, which are managed here in the traditional sense by gaining upgrades you find after defeating bosses. You start the game with a double jump, but soon you’re equipped with some familiar upgrades and some that won’t be. I appreciated the simplistic, visually different training areas MIO is whisked away to after each upgrade, especially as it’s not made clear what it is you’ve actually gained. The little vignettes of story told through these moments were a nice touch too, though some were lost to me as I was concentrating too much on the actual platforming.
The last key ingredient is a robust map system. A Metroidvania can live or die if the right or wrong designs are implemented in its map, but thankfully we have a good one here. Easy to understand, pins available from the get-go, it evolves as you explore, and it’s clear where you haven’t been and which doors are still locked. The only downside is that the map only updates at save stations, which did lead to some frustration when I wanted to check a new area I was exploring, but on the other hand, it was quite satisfying to see all the new areas being revealed after I had saved.
The toughest part in MIO is in its combat and the sporadic tricky platforming sections. The combat itself was fine; it felt a little heavy at times, but it still led to some satisfying encounters. The varied standard enemies were never too much of an issue, but the real meat came from the many bosses you’ll encounter. The hard work put into their designs and movements is clear to see, as I found them all to be a great showcase. Of course, they hit hard, and when you die, you’ll be shipped back to the nearest save point, which did lead to some runbacks, but thankfully these were never as frustrating as the ones experienced in Hollow Knight: Silksong.
The challenging platforming mostly involves you avoiding red poisonous bushes or machinery that utilises all the skills you’ve gained and makes for what I found to be some well-designed challenges. The best thing I could ask for, which is present here, is that you will respawn from the last ground surface you touched, so it helped immensely in keeping my frustration at bay.
Luckily there is help available to alleviate the difficulty through some unique accessibility options and modifications. The mods are scattered all over the map and can really turn the game into your style of play. One modification helps you see enemies’ health, one can give you more strength but diminish your energy, one can make enemies drop more currency at the cost of one health and so on. Customising MIO to my play style and preferences made for a much more pleasurable experience, taking a lot of annoyance out of the gameplay, especially when encountering later bosses.
Also on offer to give you a helping hand are the game’s accessibility options. The developers have approached this in an original way, as you won’t find the typical choices. The Pacifist mode will stop all enemies (bar bosses) from attacking you until you attack them; Ground Healing will give you an extra health point that will auto-generate while you are on the ground (which came in extremely handy through the platforming); and my favourite, Eroded Bosses, will chip away at a boss’s strength every time you die battling one.
This last one blew me away and left me wondering why this hasn’t been used before. It made me feel like I had still succeeded when I defeated the boss, as many assists just feel like I’m cheating. But here it totally twisted that around. It’s a small decrease too, as there were instances where I still struggled against a boss for quite some time before I finally put the last nail in its coffin. A truly revelation-worthy addition which I hope to see in more games in the future.
Throughout my time with MIO: Memories in Orbit, one thing stuck out the entire time: its world-building. It frankly was a fascinating and memorable component of my experience with the game. The environments and backdrops were oozing in a decaying world, with crumbled, cracked walls, technology once useful no longer needed, and decayed robots lying around in random metallic heaps. Robots that were still working would fill you in on small details, and logs and notes you find filled in more important blanks in why this robot civilisation was created and how they got into this mess. The decay ravaging them all (including MIO) plays a huge part in this narrative, and it was always a highlight to find out more on this world.
All this was heightened by the game’s gorgeous watercolour-style visuals, helping to really bring out the details in just about everything, including the well-designed character models, and the incredible soundtrack just brought everything together to create a memorable and intriguing world and atmosphere.
My biggest gripe with MIO is that it does feel like a mostly generic Metroidvania. There’s plenty here we’ve all seen before, and I appreciate the developers tried to mix things up with the modifiers and upgrades, but it didn’t help to take it to the next level. I’ve mentioned this already, but Hollow Knight: Silksong has raised the bar so highly it’s now the go-to comparison. And it isn’t fair to compare it to such a game, but it’s hard not to, especially where MIO shares some similar gameplay in its bosses, runbacks, tough platforming and how it deals with its currency.
But when I shake that feeling away, I realise that there is a robust, polished and smooth game here, filled to the brim with an incredibly gorgeous world to learn and explore, fun and interesting upgrades to gain and a unique set of mechanics that will keep you coming back for more, and at the end of the day, isn’t that what we all want from a game?
