Biomorph [Review]
Biomorph is an interesting title following the protagonist of Harlo, An alien creature who was stuck in stasis for an undisclosed amount of time in an unknown laboratory. Across from Harlo is a screen depicting a person reaching out to her on a screen. Without much knowledge of them, Harlo wants to save them. Biomorph is published and developed by Lucid Dreams Studio. While this game uses a plot point I am not fond of, memory loss, Biomorph is a unique concept. The character Harlo has no arms and instead has two seemingly robotic hands that will act as regular arms and hands. The two are named Zeki and Eny and might be something only Harlo can hear, as no one acknowledges them, and they speak to Harlo like they are her voices of reason or like the devil and angel, so to speak.
The character design is thorough and somewhat unique. It reminded me of Rayman, and along with the beautiful hand-drawn animations, this game looks nice. I love this game's art style, and watching the cutscenes is like watching a Saturday Morning cartoon. As for its story, it unfortunately falls under a common trope that’s unfortunately popular in most games nowadays. The main character has memory loss. They don’t know what’s happening or who the person is they are trying to save. This forces the game into a bit of a mystery, and you get pieces by exploring the game and watching Harlo’s memories. This isn’t the only mystery going on in this game. When you escape the laboratory, you meet more people who speak of a world-ending disaster that happened so long ago that no one remembers how the world ended. There are conspiracies and opinions, and the game encourages you to create your own theory while giving you more and more hints and context for this world.
The gameplay itself is just as unique and mysterious. Harlo can transform into the creatures that they kill. Then use their new abilities to do things like wall destruction, climbing on spikes, or even just being strong enough to fight a boss. Harlo is unaware of why they have these abilities. As you play, you are greeted with a classical-sounding soundtrack that helps the game feel eerie. It brings home how strange and surreal this world seems to be.
The game feels very nice to control. Harlo has a slide that can act as a dash/dodge, helpful for fighting or just getting around. You can collect modules that can determine your move set. You have three spaces (for the three unused buttons) that allow you to use things like a shield or a melee attack. So, there is a bit of customization when it comes to the moveset.
Like other metroidvanias, this game has a large map. Luckily, you can fill out a map while going through the game, and any mission you have can be checked and show where you still need to go for that mission. You are also allowed to teleport through save (S.A.F.E., as they call them) points. You have to upgrade them to be able to, but the items to upgrade them are given to you early in the game after a few necessary missions. The S.A.F.E. points also act as areas to adjust your loadout and equip new modules.
Biomorph is a complex story that is beautifully illustrated, and I am very excited to decipher it as I play through it. It’s fun to play through, and I like the combat system along with the unique loadouts you can make. This game deserves an 8/10. It is currently available on Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and series S and X, and Steam.
