MIO: Memories in Orbit

Indie gaming reached new heights last year with Hades 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 offering thrilling stories that take place in lovingly-crafted worlds for a reasonable price. That indie renaissance continues with MIO: Memories In Orbit, an intriguingly challenging 2D platformer which looks, sounds and handles just as well as the genre’s greatest hits.

Brutal and beautiful. Those are the two words that describe MIO: Memories in Orbit. The game offers a stunning world that’s matched by an equally gorgeous soundtrack, while the level design, enemies, and bosses force you to learn and adapt if you want to survive.

MIO: Memories in Orbit doesn’t reinvent the wheel, yet it stands out thanks to its rock-solid foundations, immaculate presentation, and a demanding, multifaceted gameplay loop. Its verbose navigation in the latter half and some steep difficulty spikes keep it from being a must-have for every metroidvania fan, but the most dedicated players will find a rewarding challenge and a truly memorable journey in this small French gem.

MIO: Memories in Orbit leaves a strong first impression and continues to deliver quality content throughout, despite a few questionable design choices here and there. Some clever level design, a fantastic soundtrack, and a gorgeous art style make the entire experience worthwhile.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a visually stunning Metroidvania that nails exploration, atmosphere, and that “one more room” feeling. The module-based progression keeps combat fresh, and the story has enough mystery and emotional weight to keep you pushing forward. But the game isn’t without issues, including unclear direction, overly punishing platforming sections, limited accessibility options, and a frustrating story moments that can remove hard-earned health upgrades. It’s a great experience overall, albeit with a few flaws.

Aesthetically, I really thought that MIO: Memories in Orbit was beautiful. The stunning visuals mixed with the vocals were super pleasing to experience. This element pulls me in as a player, and it grabs my attention from the very beginning. The developers did a fantastic job in this area. If you believe you are the right kind of player, then I happily recommend you pick this one up, just for the visuals alone.

MIO: Memories in Orbit takes place in a fascinating world, and its story is often beautiful. If there was no combat, it would be a substantially better game. But there is, and it is not. Like all Metroidvanias, MIO: Memories in Orbit asks you to imagine the Vessel as a place that was once wondrous. But I could not imagine a world where I was happy to play in its ruins, no matter how beautiful what’s left of it was.

Le meilleur metroidvania que j'ai fait de ma vie. Magnifique, agréable, équilibré. Et BO exceptionnelle !

À l’époque de la SNES, quand j’avais un jeu pour plusieurs mois, la difficulté parfois abusive et les points de contrôle rares ne me dérangeaient pas. On avait le temps de recommencer les sections difficiles : il n’y avait pas dix autres jeux qui attendaient derrière. Malgré des contrôles plus rigides qu’aujourd’hui, on acceptait plus facilement la frustration.Aujourd’hui, ce genre de jeu devient plus compliqué à apprécier quand tu as déjà 5 à 10 titres en attente. J’ai abandonné après 8 heures de jeu et 5 boss vaincus : je n’ai plus le temps de refaire sans cesse les mêmes sections, surtout quand les points de contrôle sont parfois loin des passages **** trouve des jeux comme Prince of Persia, Oddworld ou Shinobi plus équilibrés et plus satisfaisants à parcourir que ce Mio, qui manque de sensations et de nervosité. Le jeu est soigné, mais il souffre clairement d’un manque d’équilibre.

I truly want to love this game & put it up there with Hollow Knight, Blasphemous & other amazing Metroidvania games I played. This games excels at several aspects Metroidvania games known for, yet fumbles hard in other aspects. To make matters worse, there are some baffling design choices in this game. Let me start with the positives: 1- The exploration & level design are top notch! There are so many areas to explore & hidden secrets to find. The level design is majestic and extremely detailed! So many unique environments that makes you appreciate each biome. 2- The abilities you get in this game are very fun to use & put to good use in platforming segments & boss battles. There are so many creative platforming sections that makes you appreciate how cleverly designed they are how fun the abilities are to use. 3- The bosses in this game are fun overall. They all have unique patterns for you to adapt to & counter. There are many stand out bosses in this game & most of them will rely on you to use your abilities to perfection. 4- The music & story are overall pretty solid. Now the negatives: 1- The bosses are overall fun as I previously mentioned, but the combat in this game is so dull & monotonous. The most you can do is spam the attack button 3 times for a combo. You do not get any weapons or new offensive abilities a throughout the game, which makes enemy encounters feel redundant & boss battles feel repetitive. There are modifiers (Tools, charms, badges, etc…) that somewhat enhances your combat, but most of them just apply passive effects. 2- The backtracking in this game is horrendous. There are very few respawn points & the word for the most part is huge & empty. You will literally spend at minimum 1 minute backtracking through barren rooms just to retry a boss fight or worse, restart a very difficult platforming gauntlet. There are so many difficult platforming gauntlets in this game that makes backtracking so much worse. 3- The lack of healing & permanent loss of health. Throughout the game as you progress through the story, you will lose health. This is baffling as you will end the game with barely any health increase. Imagine wasting your time exploring and finding the items to increase your max health only to lose health as you progress. This makes combat & platforming so much worse since you can only mess up a few times against a boss or during a long & painful platforming segment before you are sent back to a respawn point. Which means now you have to suffer a long and barren backtracking segment. You can’t even heal mid-fight of mid-platforming in this game like in Hollow Knight or Blasphemous. 4- The map & modifiers interface face/select screens. I cannot understand how the developers fumbled this part so hard when older games perfected it. Imagine playing Hollow Knight or Blasphemous and pulling up your map only to see that there are no labels on the map or the charms/badges/items/tools all look the same. Well, this is MIO. The map has no labels, so you can tell which part of the map is “The Haven” or “The Vault” or “The Library.” You have to rely on sheer memory. Same thing with selecting modifiers. They all look the same. Imagine if all the charms or tools in Hollow Knight or Silksong looked exactly the same. You would struggle telling which is which. MIO does exactly that. Overall, this game excels at level design and exploration & many other factors, but fumbles so hard in many significant factors as well.

khó,điểm save thì xa, thời gian quay lại điểm chết chiếm hầu hết thời gian.

I was really looking forward to this game, and it couldn't have disappointed me more. Thankfully, I was able to try it without buying it thanks to Game Pass, because if I'd actually spent money on it, I would have lost it. The movement is awkward and slow. The lack of a map is incredibly annoying and torture if you're not good at spatial awareness. In the end, the increased difficulty feels artificial and gratuitous, perhaps to appease the most elite players, to try and achieve legendary status, or simply because it didn't have much else to offer. To say this game is reminiscent of Hollow Knight is an insult. I played it for an hour, and that was more than enough.