Biomorph – sci-fi horror Kirby

The second release from Lucid Dream Studio takes me back to cartoons from the early 2000s. Biomorph’s style reminds me of Invader Zim or Powerpuff Girls – just dark. Hell yeah! The game impresses me in almost all other respects too.

Kirby meets Metroidvania

At the start, I wake up as protagonist Harlo in a run-down, extraterrestrial facility. My two arms are the talking weapons Eny and Zeki. None of us know exactly who we are or what we’re doing here. So I set off to explore the facility.

Initially, I can only jump and dodge. During the opening sequence, I learn the melee attack with Eny and discover Mementos – equippable upgrades that provide various effects. I then get to know the main mechanic of the game – morphing.

After dismantling an opponent into individual parts, I can transform into it and control it, similar to the Kirby platformers. If I morph into an enemy type often enough, I gain the ability to transform permanently. By repeating the process, I improve my skills or gain new ones.

And I need them too. Typical for the Metroidvania genre, certain areas can only be reached with specific skills. I can get to many of them using the skills of enemies I morph into. Later in the game, I also have to combine some enemy abilities. However, the only drawback of this gameplay element is what makes the Kirby games so great – morphs are mainly relevant for exploring. In Kirby, you use enemy powers for exploring AND fighting. Here, I prefer using Harlo’s normal form for battles. Slaying enemies is fun in this shape. The bosses should be a little more difficult, however. Their movesets are small and easy to figure out.

Wonderful presentation

As it turns out after the opening, the plot revolves around an alien invasion and its impact on a nearby city. The story is nothing groundbreaking, but still okay. Lively, lovingly animated characters really help in this respect. But if you’re looking for storytelling on the level of Hollow Knight or Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, you’re in the wrong place. Still, numerous cutscenes, superbly animated for a small studio, sweeten the gaming experience.

In addition to the main quest, you can complete numerous side missions. Among other things, these have an influence on the hub city of Blightmoor. On certain missions, you can find construction plans and build new structures based on them. This gives you access to new stores, unlocking new upgrades. The fact that the town also changes visually is an additional incentive to complete side missions.

At first glance, the world of Biomorph appears monotonous, mainly due to the dark colour scheme. As it turns out, the different areas are extremely varied. At certain points, the camera zooms out and you grasp the true size of the game world.

Compared to the size of the world, the soundtrack is rather modest. I like it as well as the sound design, but there should be more tracks.

Quality of Life features such as a minimap, which shows whether an area still hides secrets, and fast travel make the genre-typical backtracking pleasant. However, I’m missing an option to quickly return to my last save point.

Absolutely recommended

Biomorph is a great Metroidvania that captivated me from the very first frame with its fantastic presentation. The gameplay element of morphing into enemies is well integrated into the game and provides a breath of fresh air to the Metroidvania genre.

It’s just a shame that morphs aren’t really suitable for fighting, that’s why I prefer using my normal form for this. The rather easy difficulty level should also be raised. But these are my only major points of criticism.

If you like Metroidvanias, I can warmly recommend Biomorph – especially as the game is relatively cheap at around 20 francs/euros.

Biomorph has been available on Steam since 5 April 2024.