Wandering by way of Bionic Bay’s darkish alien world is unsettling and awe-inspiring. There are huge buildings with no clear objective and autonomous factories full of whirring noticed blades and devastating lasers. It’s grim and unforgiving, with little gentle and harsh shadows that give every little thing a sinister tone. However then you definately step on a bomb and your character bounces off of partitions like a pinball, and also you notice it’s a recreation of contrasts.
Bionic Bay is a curious mix of two very totally different genres. On the one hand, it’s an atmospheric side-scrolling journey within the mildew of Inside and Limbo, full of disturbingly beautiful environments to discover. On the similar time, it’s a hard-as-nails platformer like Tremendous Meat Boy, with elaborate physics that can have you ever dying repeatedly whereas looking for the most effective route by way of lethal obstacles. By some means, the disparate vibes come collectively surprisingly properly.
What first drew me to Bionic Bay was that darkish world. It’s mysterious to the purpose that I nonetheless don’t truly know what it’s you’re doing or why. However that thriller is a big a part of the attraction. As you make your manner by way of its ranges, you’re topic to some unimaginable and intimidating environments, and it’s largely as much as you to determine what story the world is attempting to inform. There are fiery factories, inexperienced areas the place natural life merges with expertise and structure in disturbing methods, and dank sewers lit up by dripping bioluminescent goo. All of those areas make you’re feeling minuscule compared. It’s the form of recreation the place nearly each second makes for a terrific screenshot.
In an effort to see all of it, although, it’s a must to take care of a really powerful recreation. Whereas there may be some comparatively easy platforming at first, you’re quickly introduced with seemingly insurmountable duties, like a collection of spinning noticed blades that require exacting jumps to get by way of. However it’s not as exact as it could appear. One of many extra distinctive components of Bionic Bay is its physics; the little man you management may be very sturdy and may survive being bounced round, so you possibly can generally flop your manner by way of trickier areas.
Bionic Bay can be one thing of a puzzle recreation. You may have entry to a number of powers, like the flexibility to swap locations with an inanimate object or decelerate time (although you possibly can solely actively be utilizing one). Mix these instruments with the floppy physics and there are quite a lot of artistic methods to get by way of the sport.
Key to that is that Bionic Bay encourages experimentation. You’ll die loads, however as a result of the sport has such a forgiving checkpoint system, there’s hardly ever a lot punishment for failure. Having the ability to rapidly retry a leap retains the sport from being too irritating whereas additionally making it simpler to discover a route that truly works. And you probably have a wild thought about, say, driving on the again of a rocket to keep away from killer laser beams, there’s no hurt in attempting.
The sport isn’t straightforward. I’ve discovered myself caught on a couple of events. And whereas I want the sport centered a bit of extra on exploration, the bizarre and unforgiving world can be what helped me persevere by way of the trickier challenges. I simply needed to see what was subsequent.
For those who’re a fan of sci-fi works like Blame! or Dune, with their spectacular sense of scale, Bionic Bay affords one thing very related. You simply should work onerous to see all of it.
Bionic Bay is out now on the PS5 and PC.