Biomorph

Game Title: Biomorph
Released: April 5, 2024
Game Length: 18 Hours
Grade: B

Town

Skills: The game begins by having you explore a tutorial area inside the Core before being dumped into an underdeveloped village. Your job is to collect blueprints to expand the town for a number of characters you rescue out in the world. These structures start simple to expand your skills and upgrade them. You will earn two different types of currency to upgrade your tools and your abilities. While you can only hold three chips at a time to use as weapons, your mementos limit can be expanded to hold a number of passive bonuses. 

Home: Your "apartment" is very underwhelming to the point I question why they made you buy little toys and decorations that get placed on the back wall. The only interactable object that you get later on tells you how much of the game you completed and the number of collectibles earned. Once you have recruited a second Architect, a new selection of cosmetics can be added into the background. They do not cost anything to build or change. You get three options in five different areas that include things like a couch, giant windmill, and fish tanks. 

Bar: Songs can be collected from different biomes and played inside the town on the jukebox. The songs play as you explore the town. The songs phase as you enter each of the buildings but do not reset from the beginning. However, you will have to choose a song each time you leave the game or travel to another biome. 

Cat Lady: An old lady who likes to hand you treats will let you know that she has lost 39 cats (one of them stuck around). These little guys called Scargato scattered across the entire map. Most will cry out when you get close to them, but they do require some careful navigation to retrieve from their little hidey-hole. The lady will reward you a small sum for each cat you find and the occasional other item after hitting a milestone. Each cat is uniquely designed and has a cute little description that appears on the screen when you save them.

Underground: There is a special vendor down below that will give you a number of utility upgrades in case you want a little more splatter when killing enemies or other things that manipulate your gameplay. However, there is also a digger that will move a little more each time you uncover a beacon. He does give you a reward if you pay him a visit each time, but his work won't be complete until you uncover all five beacons. This will ultimately give you the ability to pass through those nine blue barriers found throughout your playthrough. Until then, mark the barriers as you find them and then retrieve all the collectibles to unlock the True Ending. 

Exploration

Rooms: One thing that comes in real handy is the yellow border line that appears around a room on the map whenever you have obtained all the collectibles. It is very important to know that it only appears once you have: scanned all enemies by transforming them upon death, saved any cats, picked up any upgrades, completed challenges, and bought everything from any vendors. They still appear even if you haven't broken through all the shortcuts or unlocked any special doors. 

Biomes: There are 12 different sections in the game. Sometimes, these areas will look very similar with trash and broken parts everywhere after the huge disaster that happened in the story. However, each area is very distinct in style and color from each other. You will meet different types of characters, environmental obstacles, and enemies.

Save Points: There are markers that will show you whenever there is a nearby S.A.F.E that restores your health, replenishes your weapons, and saves your progress. Make sure to upgrade the station to fast travel between them on the map. You can manually do this at any time from the main menu instead of traveling all the way back. Any time you die, you will be returned to the last station you visited. Using one of these will also reset all the enemies and environmental encounters. In the late game, you will have the option to travel to one from anywhere. 

Quests: The game is very picky when it comes to the quest system. At certain points, you will not be able to make any progress until you have completed someone's quest. They will be marked on the map whether you have visited the biome or not. Other times, the game allows you to continue making progress in nearly any direction you want without requiring something beforehand. Rooms that are clearly designed for a boss fight or a discussion with a character will not trigger until you have completed a certain step in the questline. Unlocking features may require you to converse with a specific character after a quest is completed. 

Abilities: The game has some very interesting ways for you to make progress in the game. You will learn how to slide under small gaps and wall jump. There's an ability called Voltage Flow that lets you travel along voltage lines. Ferromagnetism lets you cling on the patches of white on walls. Freestyle swimming is required to merely touch water. The Jetrunner biomorph you find swimming upstream does not do that kind of liquid. Liquefaction Rush lets you dash in the air. Later in the game, you will be able to grow wings that will slow down your descent and fly up wind turbines.

Map: It takes some time to get used to what sort of markers appear on the map. Vendors are marked in purple and will be shown in a number of different areas. While the Cat Lady is marked in town, your apartment or other non-progressive characters will not be shown. Anything that relates to a quest will only be shown when you are on that particular step. Transitional points like save points, doors, the boat, dig machine, and gondola are marked in green. Pins can be added anywhere on the map, changed into 8 different colors, and removed. 

Transformation

Enemies: There are two types of enemies. The first are the blue ferrox that will splatter into blue ooze when you defeat them. Then there are the biomorphs that will create a carcass that you can scan. Every scan is important as it not only reveals the yellow border line around the room but also unlock your potential of that specific creature. They do not evolve with new abilities, but you will eventually be able to become that creature outside the room you find them. Keep scanning them to upgrade things like their attack or defense. Otherwise, you can only become the biomorph in the room you find them. Up to three different kinds can be selected from a saved point. Changing to your regular form will leave behind a marker to change back, but you can run back to where you originally defeated them to transform again. If you return to an area after saving the game, any previously scanned enemies will now be red and use both of their abilities.

Biomorphs: There are 21 different biomorphs. All of them have at least one attack and exclusive ability to travel through the region. Not every ability is listed below.

• Toroth and Aberror can smash large crates.
• Fubirang tosses a ball across the room that can hit levers.
• Scarbyttle can hover over spikes.
• Ombre Blanche is a ghost that can triple jump and phase objects.
• Oddwing can temporarily fly in the air for a few seconds and power devices.
• Klerek turns black crystals into light ones.
• Skrasos and Roltys can damage eyeball surveillance devices.
• Spyrux and Voice of Vision reveal hidden platforms.
• Sorios teleports through black dirt and Muttler digs through orange dirt.
• Jetrunner interacts with rushing liquid and Jawfish can swim deeper in water.
• Thogwar fools giant machines so they don't attack you.
• Parasling is tiny enough to get through small holes.
• Shroomo is a giant snail that is immune to lasers and pull giant crates around.
• The three Drakedust units can pass through security doors. 

Bosses: There is practically a boss in every biome. Their attacks are clearly telegraphed and easily countered with the right weapons. You do not have to use a biomorph. Some bosses can be temporarily bypassed by choosing another route until you are in a better position to fight them. 

 Summary

Review: I had a preconception before starting that gameplay would mainly focus on turning into a number of different animals to help solve puzzles and fight enemies. Instead, each transformation is rather localized inside the area you discover them, and there are more useful weapons in your arsenal to help defeat the more challenging encounters. The environment and setting is amazing. Each creature is passionately built with realistic movement and sounds effects. There are a few underwhelming and unusual features in town that could have been improved, but they are a welcome addition all the same to keep you entertained as you progress through the game. The game might not please those looking for a challenge, but there is enough substance to merit the price.