Biomorph is a Soulslike Metroidvania about harnessing the forms and abilities of defeated monsters, pitched by developer Lucid Dreams Studio as "Hollow Knight meets Kirby" in a recent Reddit post.
This caught my eye for a few reasons: Hollow Knight is my favorite game, Metroidvanias are my jam, I've always found the Kirby mechanic interesting, and the main character of Biomorph kind of reminds me of a Ratchet and Clank Lombax. So I was eager to give its Steam demo a shot ahead of its to-be-announced 2023 launch on PC and Switch, and I'm pleased to report that it's pretty cool.
The demo is extremely short, only 10 to 15 minutes, but it's enough to give you a feel for some of the game's most important parts: movement, combat, and the Kirby-inspired doppelganger mechanic. I'm impressed by how fluidly the main character controls, honestly, and I'm a stickler for these things. You start off with the Metroidvania-mandated wall jump and dash, and both feel great to use. When you dash, you basically liquify yourself and slide behind enemies, under ledges, or across certain environmental features, and there's loads of design potential there.
Combat is a little barebones so far, but I gather I'm still missing several weapon options, and it's got enough punch for attacks to satisfy. For a Soulslike, the demo's also a brutally simple introduction to enemy attack patterns, ending with a big-ol' stationary boss that has exactly one, easy-to-dodge attack. But it is a demo, so I won't hold that against it. I also like that your weapons are talking, levitating, shapeshifting gauntlets who stand in for your seemingly severed arms, kind of like a grimdark reboot of Rayman.
The monster-mash mechanic is the kicker, and it's pretty sweet. I turned into two different monsters in the demo: one I can only describe as a unicorn from hell, and the other is a proper, punchy meat golem. You scan and replicate corpses to assume their form, and they, too, control remarkably well for how differently they're animated. Like with Kirby, the monsters feel like keys to specific locks – the unicorn charges through boxes, the golem punches stuff really hard – which seems like a good fit for Metroidvania flow and progression. I look forward to seeing how creative the monster abilities get in the full game.
I'd also like to learn more about the village of Blightmoor, which you can apparently rebuild and personalize as you adventure, as it doesn't come up in the demo. Anyway, a Metroidvania Soulslike splicing Hollow Knight with Kirby in a grisly universe is a tall order, but it feels like Biomorph might actually cash that check, and I'm into it.
Here's another one for your wishlist and mine: someone finally made the grappling hook Metroidvania of my dreams.
