Reminiscences in Orbit’ Is a Metroidvania with Soul » PopMatters

Once I first noticed MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit at Summer season Sport Fest 2025, I assumed I knew what I used to be getting: one other Metroidvania in an already crowded style, most likely robots, and platforming that might scratch the Hole Knight itch whereas we anticipate Silksong. Possibly it will seize a few of the existential weight of 9 Sols, with its questions on consciousness and synthetic beings. I used to be improper—fantastically, splendidly improper.

What I found within the demo transcended its acquainted framework. MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit isn’t simply one other entry within the Metroidvania catalog; it’s a meditation on consciousness, identification, and what it means to exist in a world the place the road between natural and synthetic has blurred past recognition. If Hole Knight explores the load of obligation and sacrifice, and 9 Sols grapples with the worth of immortality and transcendence, then MIO asks maybe probably the most basic query of all: what makes a soul?

The Soul in MIO‘s Machine

MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit opens with one of the intriguing sequences I’ve skilled, bringing to thoughts 9 Sols’ daring narrative decisions. You begin as one thing—perhaps a soul, perhaps pure consciousness—floating in an ethereal house surrounded by cryptic symbols and ominous phrases. It’s intentionally unclear what you might be, and that ambiguity instantly units the tone for all the pieces that follows. Then, in a second that feels each violent and crucial, this entity is injected into MIO, a small robotic awakening aboard The Vessel.

Whereas 9 Sols explores the horror of synthetic immortality by its Taoist-cyberpunk lens, MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit approaches related themes in a different way. Each video games ask whether or not consciousness can really exist in synthetic types, however whereas 9 Sols paints that existence as a curse to be damaged, MIO appears extra curious about exploring what it means to be born into such a state. There’s one thing virtually hopeful in MIO‘s awakening in comparison with the existential dread that permeates RedCandleGames’ new recreation.

The Vessel isn’t only a spaceship; it’s a personality unto itself. This large technological ark homes various biomes that really feel alive: lush forests that pulse with otherworldly power, icy ruins that whisper of forgotten civilizations, and watery caverns that appear to breathe. What struck me wasn’t simply the environmental selection however how every space instructed a narrative of The Vessel’s mysterious breakdown and the AI caretakers who vanished with out clarification.

The Significant Dying of Your Avatar

What units MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit other than its contemporaries isn’t simply its attractive presentation; it’s how the sport makes each determination matter. The nacre system exemplifies this completely. This crystalline forex serves a number of functions: therapeutic, upgrades, and development, however right here’s the kicker: die, and also you lose all of it. Until you’ve taken the time to crystallize your nacre at particular machines, making it everlasting in your stock.

This creates a risk-reward rigidity that had me sweating throughout my first boss encounter, a sense that 9 Sols gamers will acknowledge. Each video games perceive that demise in video video games ought to have weight and that development ought to really feel earned slightly than inevitable. Nonetheless, the place 9 Sols makes use of its punishing problem to bolster themes in regards to the cyclical nature of struggling, MIO‘s penalties are about studying and progress.

This distinction is a subtly completely different strategy that makes every recreation’s problem serve its narrative in distinctive methods. Do I push ahead with my present stash of nacre, hoping to search out the following checkpoint? Or do I backtrack to security, crystallizing what I’ve however doubtlessly lacking out on larger rewards forward? It’s the sort of significant decision-making that’s change into uncommon in trendy recreation design, the place the demise of 1’s avatar is little greater than a minor inconvenience.

The modifier system amplifies this sense of consequence. These passive upgrades require slots in MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit‘s “Allocation Matrix”; you don’t have many early on. I deliberated whether or not to equip a easy well being bar show (since you don’t get enemy well being bars by default) or save that slot for one thing extra substantial later. Every improve is earned, and every determination carries weight.

The Message within the MIO Machine

Past its mechanical improvements, MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit tackles more and more related themes, and the comparability to 9 Sols turns into much more fascinating. What does it imply to have consciousness? How can we outline identification when natural and synthetic strains change into blurred? Whereas 9 Sols approaches these questions by the lens of Taoist philosophy and the horror of compelled transcendence, MIO is extra within the surprise and risk of synthetic consciousness.

Each video games function protagonists awakening into synthetic our bodies with fragmented reminiscences, however their journeys are basically completely different. 9 Sols‘ Yi is burdened by the load of his previous and the horror of what he’s change into. In contrast, MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit represents potential: a contemporary consciousness exploring what it means to exist. As architect and thinker Buckminster Fuller wrote, “I’m not a thing-a noun. I appear to be a verb, an evolutionary course of – an integral perform of the universe.” That completely captures what makes MIO‘s journey so compelling. There’s an optimism buried in MIO’s narrative DNA that makes it a captivating companion piece to 9 Sols’ darker exploration of comparable themes.

The few snippets of dialogue and environmental storytelling counsel a story depth that goes properly past “robotic saves spaceship”. It’s haunting, exploring The Vessel’s deserted corridors, seeing proof of civilizations that when thrived. It’s like one of the best science fiction, utilizing fantastical settings to discover basically human questions. Who have been these beings? What occurred to them? Most unsettling of all: might the identical destiny await us?

MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit doesn’t present simple solutions, and I think the total recreation received’t both. That’s what I would like from science fiction video video games: tales that make me suppose whereas they entertain.

MIO’s Visible Magnificence

Screenshots don’t do the visuals on this recreation justice. Each body of MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit seems hand-crafted, like watching a transferring portray unfold. Shadows dance throughout surfaces, and environmental particulars breathe with their inside life. This visible artistry had me stopping the sport mid-jump to admire a specific lighting impact or texture.

MIO isn’t just fairly to take a look at. The visible design serves the gameplay in delicate, clever methods. Environmental storytelling occurs by visible cues slightly than exposition dumps. A tilted doorframe right here, scattered particles there—every tells a part of The Vessel’s story with out dialogue.

MIO‘s audio design deserves equal reward. The soundtrack rigorously distinguishes between melancholy and hope, creating a comfortable but alien environment. Throughout boss fights, the music swells with dramatic vocal tracks that remodel the encounters from mere mechanical challenges into emotional crescendos. The result’s the distinction between combating a boss and experiencing a boss.

MIO‘s Glitch: The Hairpin Downside

Nothing’s good, and MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit has one obvious, irritating glitch: the Hairpin potential. This grappling hook mechanic must be the ticket to reaching new areas and executing trendy aerial maneuvers. As a substitute, it’s inconsistent and infrequently unfair.

Generally the hook grabs crystals from inconceivable angles. Different instances, it refuses to attach regardless of good positioning. Since your avatar can’t use Hairpin twice whereas airborne—that you must contact floor and anticipate recharge—failed connections usually imply plummeting to your demise or lacking essential platforming sequences.

This would possibly appear to be a minor criticism, however it highlights one thing vital about recreation design. When a core mechanic isn’t dependable, it breaks the belief between participant and recreation. I discovered myself second-guessing each grapple try, which reworked what ought to have been moments of move and mastery into workouts in frustration.

The builders want to repair this earlier than the total launch. This flaw constantly pulled me out of an in any other case chic expertise.

Considerate Science Fiction

MIO: Reminiscences in Orbit isn’t simply one other Metroidvania—it’s proof that acquainted formulation can nonetheless shock us when dealt with with real artistry and care. Whereas comparisons to Hole Knight are inevitable (and apt—each video games share that sense of melancholic magnificence), I discovered myself pondering extra about 9 Sols. Each video games discover what it means to exist in synthetic types, each grapple with questions of consciousness and identification, and each refuse to offer simple solutions to complicated philosophical questions.

Nonetheless, the place 9 Sols is about breaking free from cycles of struggling and synthetic existence, MIO is a narrative about embracing what you might be and discovering that means in that existence. It’s the distinction between asking “How do I escape this synthetic type?” and “What can I change into inside it?” Each are legitimate questions, however they result in basically completely different narratives.

The demo left me hungry for extra. I need to discover each nook of The Vessel, uncover its mysteries, and see how MIO’s journey unfolds. Extra importantly, I need to see whether or not the builders can preserve this creative imaginative and prescient and mechanical innovation degree all through a full-length expertise.

If in case you have any curiosity in Metroidvanias, lovely video games, or considerate science fiction, obtain the demo. It’s free on Steam, and it’d simply restore your religion in what this style can accomplish when builders purpose for one thing greater than “Hole Knight, however with robots”.