Biomorph is a Soulslike Metroidvania about harnessing the forms and abilities of defeated monsters, featured by developer Lucid Dreams Studio as “Hollow Knight meets Kirby” in a recent Reddit post (opens in a new tab).
This caught my eye for several reasons: Hollow Knight is my favorite game, Metroidvanias is my jam, I’ve always found Kirby’s mechanics interesting, and Biomorph’s main character reminds me of Ratchet and Clank Lombax. So I was eager to try out its Steam demo (opens in a new tab) ahead of its announced 2023 release on PC and Switch, and I’m happy to report that it’s pretty good.
the proof is extremely In short, only 10-15 minutes, but that’s enough to give you an idea of some of the most important parts of the game: the movement, the combat, and the Kirby-inspired dual mechanics. I’m impressed with how fluidly the main character controls, honestly, and I’m a fan of those things. You start with Metroidvania’s obligatory wall jump and dash, and both are fun to use. As you run, you liquefy and slide behind enemies, under ledges, or through certain environmental features, and there’s a lot of design potential there.
The combat is a bit basic so far, but I guess I’m still missing several weapon options, and it packs enough punch to satisfy attacks. For a Soulslike, the demo is also a brutally simple introduction to enemy attack patterns, ending with a large stationary boss that has exactly one attack that’s easy to dodge. But it’s a demo, so I won’t hold it against you. I also love that your weapons talk, levitate, and shape-shift to replace your seemingly severed arms, like a sinister Rayman reboot.
(Image credit: Lucid Dream Studio)
The monster-mash mechanic does the trick, and it’s pretty cool. I became two different monsters in the demo: one that I can only describe as a unicorn from hell, and the other is an actual blunt meat golem. You scan and replicate corpses to take their shape, and they too control how they are animated remarkably well. As with Kirby, the monsters feel like keys to specific locks – the unicorn charges through crates, the golem punches really hard – which seems to fit well with Metroidvania’s flow and progression. I can’t wait to see how creative monster abilities turn out in the full game.
I’d also like to know more about the town of Blightmoor, which you can apparently rebuild and customize as you adventure, as it doesn’t appear in the demo. Still, a Soulslike splice Metroidvania Hollow Knight meets Kirby in a spooky universe is a tall order, but it looks like Biomorph could really cash that check, and here I am.
Here’s another one for your wishlist and mine: Someone finally made the Metroidvania grappling hook of my dreams.