MIO: Memories in Orbit was first announced at an edition of Nintendo Direct way back in 2024, with an initial release window merely slated as “2025”. Despite being picked up by a bigger label, the game took its time to come out, and for a simple reason: it was an artistic-driven metroidvania being released in the same period as, well, the most anticipated metroidvania of all time, Hollow Knight: Silksong. Being one of the first games of the genre to come out after that massive juggernaut, it’s almost impossible not to think about it whilst playing MIO. And that’s not a particularly good or fair comparison, even if, for all intents and purposes, MIO is far from being a bad game.

I swear I saw this in Guardians of the Galaxy.

On the contrary, there’s a lot to like in it. This is a game clearly wanting to evoke feelings from its players right from the getgo, all thanks to its impactful (but admittedly bait-ish) soundtrack and great visuals. The game features unique post-apocalyptic sci-fi designs thrown into a colorful, cel-shaded world, all topped up by some fluid animations. It revolves around the titular MIO, a small robot exploring a derelict ark spaceship called The Vessel, with the objective of restoring its power and memories before the ship shuts down for good, alongside all of the robots (friends and foes) inside of it.

The gameplay is equal parts excellent and frustrating. It depends on what you’re analyzing. When it comes to venturing through the ship, even though you don’t have an initial access to the map, moving MIO around is delightful. Even the initial set of a mere double jump is already augmented by lots of ramps that let you build momentum, as well as crystals which, when hit, grant you an additional jump. More movements are acquired throughout the run, as per metroidvania rules. But then there’s the frustrating aspects of the gameplay, namely the combat and upgrade system.

A motivating line of dialogue to start the year off.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t call the combat “bad” per se – it’s not entirely its fault, but the fact that your initial health bar is minuscule, enemies are everywhere, and your initial attacks are quite weak. You will die a bit, and that’s a nuisance as checkpoints are poorly scattered through the map. You will have to backtrack quite often as a result. Things do improve after a while, once you start acquiring more attacks, and after upgrading MIO through the game’s interesting, but ultimately faulty perk system, which forces you to spend an ungodly amount of points on each upgrade. MIO: Memories in Orbit is the kind of game that feels frustratingly unfair at first, to the point of annoying players, but one that also gets a lot better if you decide to stick to it. It all depends on how patient you are.

I cherished each and every single ramp that gave me momentum.

Ultimately, what hurts MIO: Memories in Orbit the most is the fact it’s yet another artsy metroidvania in a sea of very similar and (unfortunately for it) better titles. There aren’t that many elements in it that make it stand out from the competition, even though it is, once more, a pretty decent game with great visuals and movement, albeit frustrating when it comes to its combat and progression. Die-hard fans of the genre will easily have a blast with it, but otherwise, this is a game released at a very unfortunate time.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch, and Switch 2

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of MIO: Memories in Orbit was provided by the publisher.