Mio: Memories In Orbit – Game Review

Mio: Memories In Orbit – For a genre already dominated by so many successful titles like Castlevania , Hollow Knight , Blasphemous, Ori, Dead Cells … it has left a huge shadow that is difficult to surpass.

However, what's remarkable is that most of the big names mentioned above originated from indie games, small developers with limited game development budgets, yet they achieved real success with great ideas, and this certainly inspires many other small developers who want to 'try their hand' in this genre.

Douze Dixièmes must have realized that, and the game Mio: Memories In Orbit has already made a strong impression on many fans of the genre, based on what was shown in the first trailers.

If you, the reader, thoroughly enjoyed Hollow Knight: Silksong last year and are excitedly searching for a similar new game, let tipsplay.net take a look at Mio: Memories In Orbit , which promises to be very exciting!

YOU WILL LIKE

A 'breath of fresh air' revitalizes an old genre.

Playing as a tiny robot named Mio, the player is awakened to a simple mission: to repair Mio's 'world': Memories In Orbit – a ship, but this ship is not like a machine: it has emotions, a heart, eyes, senses like a living body, and a long story waiting to be discovered.

Mio: Memories In Orbit doesn't heavily rely on familiar mechanics like double jumping, wall climbing/climbing, pogo, etc. These mechanics are still present in the game, but they aren't used very often. Instead, players need to combine them with new techniques that will be gradually unlocked during Mio's adventure.

Mio has a unique hairstyle that allows it to do many things, from 'fighting' to clinging to walls, to shooting out tentacles that help Mio move across various terrains with different characteristics.

At first glance, these mechanics don't seem 'new' in form, nor are they as complex as Hollow Knight: Silksong , but their implementation during movement and flight in the game brings about very clear differences.

In just one short movement sequence, the player needs to combine: jumping, aerial attacks, double jumps, slow landings, pogo, ceiling clings, hook shots, obstacle dodging, and landing correctly on the lever to continue coordinating the movement combo (as above) in the next segment, but in a different order and with varying speeds.

This mechanism is rather DIFFICULT: difficult to get used to, difficult to master, and the challenges the game presents are also difficult, especially towards the end. Not quite as challenging as Hollow Knight 's Path of Pain , but enough to make even experienced players feel the heat.

Even during combat, the movement mechanics in Mio: Memories In Orbit truly create a very different gameplay rhythm.

Mio doesn't deal damage when performing pogo (hopping over the enemy's head); it's just considered a normal jump. Instead, to sustain an aerial combo, players need to simultaneously jump and hit the target, similar to Devil May Cry (but slower), combined with launching a grappling hook at the opponent and then escaping by clinging to the ceiling. This truly creates a very different yet exciting and suspenseful combat rhythm!

Besides introducing a new movement mechanism based on Mio's hair, Mio: Memories In Orbit also quite thoroughly adopts the character upgrade mechanism using special 'charms' from Hollow Knight .

Instead of a linear power-up mechanism based on leveling up, weapon upgrades, or skill point allocation, Mio: Memories In Orbit introduces a Mod system. Each Mod in Mio: Memories In Orbit , depending on its effect, occupies a different number of slots. With the available slots, players need to carefully consider which upgrades are most suitable for each specific situation.

This means that even though Mio might remain a weak and fragile character towards the end of the game, she gains greater stamina, free healing, and more gold dropped by enemies. Alternatively, in boss fights, a 'Mod build' focused on high damage, continuous healing during combos, and the ability to read the opponent's health would be a sensible choice!

Moreover, not all bosses are dealt with in the same way, so finding Mods, upgrading the number of slots, and using these Mods in suitable build strategies requires players to invest time and effort, rather than simply stuffing everything that increases damage or health into their character.

And one 'revolutionary' mechanic that the writer should probably thank God for appearing in a Metroidvania game: enemies only deal damage to the player when they perform an attack!

It sounds ridiculous, but honestly, the fact that simply 'touching' an enemy, regardless of whether they're performing an attack or applying an effect, still results in damage, like in most Metroidvania games on the market, is frustrating. Especially with poorly designed bosses like Silksong . And Mio: Memories In Orbit has done something that other games in the genre should have done long ago.

You'll no longer have to fear encountering any enemy in Mio: Memories In Orbit when they're not in attack mode, thus greatly increasing your proactive approach to your target. Simply observing the enemy's attacks, learning their signals and moves, will give you the key to victory.

This feature/mechanism doesn't make the game easier; on the contrary, it allows players to boldly perform more dynamic movements in combat. In return, the difficulty of the battles is compensated by the design of the enemy's moves. 

In particular, the bosses in Douze Dixièmes are extremely well-made, very diverse in terms of appearance design, with many challenging moves and different combat stages that force players to 'learn' by trying and dying many times before they can overcome them.

The bosses in Douze Dixièmes are extremely well-made, very diverse in terms of appearance, and feature many challenging moves with various combat stages.

NATURAL BEAUTY

Mio: Memories In Orbit is beautiful, with magnificent, dreamy, and colorful scenes depicted like a comic book but colored with watercolors—both traditional and modern.

Douze Dixièmes doesn't attempt to create highly detailed models with millions of polygons or cram in heavy, flashy effects. Instead, it simply chooses a much more refined style, reminiscent of the famous Moebius painting style. The basic, simple yet symbolic designs serve the purpose of telling a story effectively through images and diverse colors, evoking indescribable emotions in the player each time they enter the game.

Players will undoubtedly be captivated by the dazzling colors of the 'Heaven' hanging gardens, and will experience a sense of 'innocence' when interacting with NPCs there. They will also surely be overwhelmed by the grandeur of Metropolis, a metropolis with modern skyscrapers that nonetheless evoke a feeling of loneliness, coldness, and remorse, as it is covered in icy snow.

Players will also feel the tension and suffocation as they gradually venture deeper into the world of Mio: Memories In Orbit, such as the poisonous swamps and the fiery factory, filled with red-hot steel and dozens of deadly traps.

The game also effectively captures the emotions of the adventure through a combination of graphics, game rhythm, and background music that evokes a sense of introspection, depth, and melancholy.

The world of Mio: Memories In Orbit is surprisingly well-crafted. It's not overly vibrant, but it's meticulously organized, with distinct zones playing different roles but complementing each other seamlessly in gameplay and map design. This forces players to constantly navigate these areas without getting lost, even without using location-based mods. And when the overall world is unlocked, new truths are revealed within the map itself.

The world of Mio: Memories In Orbit is surprisingly well-crafted. It's not overly vibrant, but it's very systematically organized.

NPCs in games also play a very important role, not only in storytelling but also as valuable guides, and they are naturally represented through their own stories, rather than being spoon-fed to the player.

When you solve the problem you're facing, it also concludes the story the NPC is referring to, even though they aren't actually the same story, and it also opens up a whole lot of other information to continue the story that took place in the world of Mio: Memories In Orbit .

YOU WILL HATE

FRESH, GOOD, BUT NOT OUTSTANDING ENOUGH!

Mio: Memories In Orbit is a game that surprised me with its quality, boasting eye-catching graphics, a thought-provoking storyline, great music, and many innovative gameplay improvements. However, there are still some flaws that cause the game to be underestimated compared to its potential.

Mio: Memories In Orbit has a very, very slow start. The game's pace is slow and uneventful, with little excitement in the first half. Players will feel very relaxed and… lack motivation to explore because the game offers few hints, and some designs are somewhat restrictive due to limitations in movement skills and the inability to teleport between save points.

The early game challenges are relatively easy, with few obstacles, giving the impression of a 'B-grade game'. Only in the latter half of the game does the difficulty suddenly increase with a very intense pace, especially in the constant chase sequences.

This design imbalance means that experienced players in the genre will find the game somewhat boring and lacking in challenge, even halfway through, and will soon… give up. Meanwhile, new Metroidvania players will be overwhelmed by the sudden increase in difficulty and will need a lot of perseverance to conquer it, dying and reviving many times.

Personally, I don't like the way the game uses hair in combat; it's a bit different from conventional fighting styles because players can't determine the distance Mio's hair attacks can reach.

For example, in a combo of three consecutive attacks, all three have different hit ranges. The first attack has a very long range, but the second is shorter, while the final attack has the same range as the first. Similarly, an upward jump attack has a different damage range than a downward pogo attack… And this is really frustrating in many cases when players are surrounded by a dozen enemies, or when jumping and flying requires combining attacks to regenerate energy.

Another shortcoming of Mio: Memories In Orbit is the animation, which lacks power and weight, making everything in the game feel light and lacking in decisiveness.

If you're a player who enjoys intense and decisive combat sequences, Mio: Memories In Orbit might not quite meet your expectations.

If you're a player who prefers intense and decisive combat sequences, Mio: Memories In Orbit might not quite meet your expectations.