The Mobius Machine [Review]
Madruga Works’ The Mobius Machine is a great by-the-numbers metroidvania
Image credit: Madruga Works
I love metroidvanias. Growing up, some of my favorite games were Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Castlevania: Symphany of the Night, all among the games that obviously inspired the genre’s name. Madruga Works’ The Mobius Machine is one of the best recent games to carry that torch, with its masterful implementation of the genre’s tropes.
The story is straightforward and doesn’t figure much into the game. You play as an astronaut that crashes his ship on a planet when he responds to a distress signal. You must explore the planet’s abandoned colony to find the source of the signal and a way off the planet. The problem is that the colony is overrun by the planet’s flora and fauna, and all you’ve got is your standard-issue energy rifle.
Image credit: Madruga Works
The game feels great to play. Your little guy is much more agile than his design would have you believe with his precision jumping, multidirectional right thumbstick aiming, and short dash. Some of the movement upgrades feel even better to use. An early one gives you pickaxes to climb rock walls, another one gives you a jetboost that will launch you up when you climb ladders, and using them is incredibly fun. There are more besides those, as well.
The game’s map is a huge open world divided into several biomes. You can’t access much at first, as expected in this kind of game. As you earn new abilities, you’ll be able to explore more of the world. It was a highlight for me that almost all of the unreachable areas are accessed with physical upgrades instead of new weapons or keys. Switches are reserved for backtracking: the world is designed like a Souls game, where you’ll find gates locked from one side speed up returning to earlier areas. Each biome also has one fast travel point, the titular Mobius Machine. I think each area should have had two. When you enter a fresh area, you explore blindly until you find the area’s mapping module, a minor annoyance. I would have preferred if the game drew the map as you explored until you get to that point.
Image credit: Madruga Works
Instead of finding new weapons in the game, you find blueprints that you need to gather and take to the central fabrication machine. You upgrade your dash distance, health, energy, and weapon power this way, as well. The system is fine, but weapon strength scaling is too subtle. I never felt more powerful when I got an upgrade because it’s so incremental. The weapons themselves are also very similar to each other. They’re better described as new firing modes for your energy rifle; they change your shots to a short ranged shotgun blast, a longer range shot, or an overhead energy mortar shot.
The game’s art is gorgeous. Everything is in a photorealistic style but with cartoon proportions. The world feels very alive, as do the excellently animated creatures. The graphics give attention to lighting and shadow; the effect is that the 2D in 3D world feels like a living diorama. The Mobius Machine is a fantastic looking game.
I lost myself in the game because the world map is compelling to unravel and explore, and because it just feels so good to play. Though it doesn’t propel the genre forward, The Mobius Machine is a great indie metroidvania.
The Mobius Machine will launch March 1 on Steam for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Playstation 5. A demo is available now.
Overall Score: 8/10
Played on: PS5
