REVIEW – “MIO: Memories In Orbit” is a punishing take on a Metroidvania that we still recommend

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a game that attempts to capture that feeling while also expressing it in the form of a Souls-like Metroidvania adventure game. Attempting to capture Melancholy in game form is nothing new (Quintet Co. famously built their entire brand around it), and especially not new when it comes to the world of indie game development.

Melancholy is one of those difficult things to describe. We’ve all felt it, we all know it when we see it, but when we try to put it into words, words escape us. Typically, many find themselves feeling it when confronted with some of life’s major questions: the vastness of the universe, the fleeting nature of life itself, etc.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a game that attempts to capture that feeling while also expressing it in the form of a Souls-like Metroidvania adventure game. Attempting to capture Melancholy in game form is nothing new (Quintet Co. famously built their entire brand around it), and especially not new when it comes to the world of indie game development.

So does MIO succeed in that endeavour? Mostly, but there’s a couple of hang-ups you’ll have to deal with first.

What Is It?

MIO: Memories In Orbit is a Metroidvania developed by French developer, Douze Dixièmes, and published by Focus Entertainment. Their debut title is a game that is swimming in the moody, colorful aesthetics of French science fiction comics and literature, often as existential as it can occasionally be comedic. This is combined with challenging gameplay that can be heady going for those not used to platformers (and even those who are, as will be discussed later).

The game itself takes place on The Vessel, an enormous colony ship floating through space. This ship was originally guided by humans, meant to deliver them to a new planet to take refuge on. You, the player, play the eponymous Mio, a small little robot that wakes up underneath a rusting workshop with a voice in your head telling you to find its owner. You will quickly discover that something has gone terribly wrong on The Vessel: the humans are nowhere to be found, the only inhabitants are other robots, and the ship’s various systems are going haywire. A poisonous liquid called gloomwater is slowly flooding the eastern half of the ship, while the western half is slowly being covered in glacial ice, and in every other part of the ship is a deadly crimson plant choking out various passageways and destroying anything that comes in contact with it.

But things get worse once you discover that the Pearls (the uploaded intelligences that help run the ship’s systems) are acting erratically, even psychotically, for reasons that are not readily apparent. The robot population is dwindling, the systems are fading out, and the ship is almost past the point of no return. It’s your job to confront these mysteries, destroy the dangerous machines, and ultimately try to re-right the ship.

No pressure, little robot.

Why Should I Care?

At its heart, Mio is very much a Metroidvania, but right off the bat, it does some things that your average Metroidvania doesn’t do (including several features more common with Souls-likes).

Let’s start with the character of Mio herself. Mio is a tiny armless robot whose primary actions all involve her powerful jumping legs and her multi-utility head tendrils. She has no projectile attacks, nor does she even have the ability to access an overworld map (at least not at first). When you first wake up, Mio’s actions are largely confined to jumping and attacking with her hair. Unlike most Metroidvanias, Mio can double jump from the very beginning (though you’ll find that there are many places you still won’t be able to access just yet).

As you explore The Vessel and meet other robots, you will gain modifications that will allow you to gain such abilities as gliding, stronger attacks, extra protection, etc. However, these have to be installed at special points in the game (more on that in a bit), and you have limited space for what you can and cannot install (you can grow that space, but there’s a trade-off involving your hit points). Later, she will gain the ability to walk and climb on walls and ceilings using her hair, and even be able to launch herself slingshot style to go over enormous gaps. All of these abilities are fueled by a stamina meter that either instantly depletes or slowly drains when you use these actions, so use them wisely.

Of course, what Metroidvania would be complete without enemies? You’ll meet several types during the game, from spiderbots that crawl on the ceiling, to levitating droids that produce intelligent bombs, to big bulky bruiser bots that can crush you between their limbs. You’ll also occasionally come across various bosses locked in their own personal rooms a la Mega Man, each requiring a degree of patience and study just like your average Souls-like. All of these supply you with ‘nacre’, the stuff used as currency throughout the entire game. This ‘nacre’ is lost when you die (speaking of Souls-likes) unless you manage to locate one of the specialty robots that can permanently crystalize them. Dying will also take you back to your last bonfire-style checkpoint, in this case taking the form of the ‘attuners’ that can be used to install mods (and later on, as a fast travel mechanic).

What Makes It Worth My Time And Money?

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: this game is challenging. Very challenging. Challenging in ways that made me question whether it was experimental design or just bad decisions.

Let’s start from the beginning. When you start the game, you have no access to a world map of any sort, and will not have one for much of the early game. Gaining this world map requires giving nacre (or losing it in death) to a character called Shii who is easy to miss until you make a point to actively seek her out. Once this is done, you do gain a map, however, this map only fills out as you explore The Vessel (and use the attuners) and for a good chunk of the early game you have only the one attuner. Furthermore, although these attuners can be used as warp points, this feature can only be accessed after having tracked down the Overseers (the vaguely Marian robots that resemble Shii).

That’s where the issues start. Other issues include the level design, where various locations are so intricate that it can be difficult to ascertain where one needs to go (can I crawl through that duct? What about those hanging tiles? Sometimes you can, other times, it’s just for show). Sometimes these locations will even commit the cardinal sin of modern video games: obstructed views from objects in the foreground (even in mid-battle).

Another major issue that needs to be brought up: I mentioned earlier about modifications and the space needed to install them. There are in fact modifications (roughly five of them) in the game that will increase the amount of space you can use, but this comes with a price: for every one of these modifications you install, you are deducted one hit point for the rest of the game. If you install all five of them, you will be reduced to only one hit point to play around with. This has the paradoxical quality of both giving your more abilities to use while giving you less health to endure the game’s challenges.

Then there’s the platforming, and the thing is the platforming is actually really great. But it will challenge you. This is not simply a matter of jumping from one ledge to another. Platforming in Mio involves using your abilities to slingshot across enormous gaps, gliding to a ledge, and in many instances hitting an enemy or other object on the way down in order to recharge your stamina bar so you can glide even farther. That’s not even mentioning the various hazards involving buzzsaws, the previously mentioned hazards of gloomwater and the red growth, and even lasers… all of which will instantly kill you and send you back to the closest walkable surface to try again. These digital obstacle courses can be long, elaborate, require pitch-perfect platforming, and can easily frustrate even the most seasoned platformer veteran.

That said, in spite of all of these caveats, I’m still going to recommend MIO. Do not get it twisted: this game is hard. It will challenge you, it will take your wits to the breaking point, and it will require navigating some design choices that seem absolutely insane. But once it finally clicks for you, it becomes one of the most addictive platformers you’ll ever play.

Just be prepared to die a lot. Because you will.