Highlights
- Biomorph leans toward accessibility, offering challenge without overwhelming difficulty like traditional Soulslike games.
- Bosses in Biomorph are pattern-based, allowing players to strategize and learn their moves for a satisfying victory.
- The game’s flexibility with weapons and transformations allows players to tailor their playstyle for different challenges.
As the genre’s name suggests, Metroidvanias like Biomorph are largely descended from two games: Metroid and Castlevania. In recent years, however, games from the genre have increasingly taken inspiration from FromSoftware’s iconic Souls games, particularly regarding difficulty and death mechanics. In fact, games like Hollow Knight and Salt and Sanctuary are filed under the Soulslike category just as often as Metroidvania. Even Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has benefited by blending Metroidvania staples such as ability gating alongside a Souls-style combat system.
In an interview with Game Rant, Lucid Dreams’ co-founders Maxime Grégoire and Francis Lapierre spoke about this trend and how it applied to Biomorph‘s development. Although Biomorph certainly has its challenging moments and features a few Soulslike elements, Lucid Dreams ultimately wanted to lean toward accessibility rather than adhering to the “git gud” philosophy of game mechanics.
Biomorph: How To Heal
Players will need to keep Harlo alive if they are to have any chance of uncovering the truth in Biomorph. This guide will explain how to heal.
Biomorph Wanted To Be More Accessible Than Most Soulslikes
There’s a reason why the best Soulslike games are so well-regarded: it’s immensely satisfying to overcome brutal challenges after repeated failed attempts, and players seeking out that punishing experience can assuredly find it in Soulslike games. On the other hand, not everyone is in the mood to get beaten down constantly. When it comes to Metroidvanias, some players simply enjoy how exploration is handled and are looking forward to the next secret room, ability unlock, or lore drop.
I think it goes with the trend that we see in the current way players like their Metroidvanias. We saw it with some games that came out like a year ago that were super hard. We played these games and we were into the communities of these games, and we saw the player saying, “It’s too hard, the boss fights are terrible. I can’t get past it.” We didn’t want that because we prefer that more people can play the game. We don’t want to make it super easy we don’t want people to get stuck on a boss and can’t progress further.
Biomorph may not have set out to be one of the hardest games ever made, but it’s no pushover either. However, the immense flexibility afforded to Harlo by his arsenal of weapons and transformations means that players can probably find a loadout that suits their playstyle and effectively counters whatever challenge they’re hung up on. Bosses might not reach the infuriating difficulty levels of Elden Ring‘s Malenia, but it’ll probably take a few tries before toppling even the early-game opponents.
Biomorph’s Bosses Still Scratch the Soulslike Itch
On that subject, Biomorph does feature some Soulslike boss designs, mostly in the way that they are pattern-based. Even the deadliest soulslike bosses can eventually be broken down into predictable patterns, and the way to victory is usually through baiting out desirable combos from bosses. Early game bosses like the Gorgerzer are quite devastating during the initial encounter, but it doesn’t take long before players master the rhythm.
All bosses in the game are pattern-based. What we like with pattern-based bosses is that you can learn the boss so they won’t pull up something random and then you just get destroyed because you’re not lucky on the random pattern. So it’s really pattern-based. You just take your time and you can always dodge and you have some mementos like there’s a shield that you can equip that can tank one hit for free. We wanted to make a game that is not too hard. It’s still a challenge but we really wanted to make a game where you feel you’ll be able to finish it.
That rhythmic approach to boss fights is satisfying in its own way, and gamers who enjoy learning a boss as if it’s a Guitar Hero song will probably enjoy tackling the bigger challenges in Biomorph. For players who are more drawn to the other aspects of Metroidvania, these fights are thankfully designed to not be hard blocks on the way to enjoying the rest of the game.
Biomorph
Lucid Dreams Studio’s Biomorph is a Metroidvania with puzzles, platforming, and combat. In Biomorph, the protagonist can take on the shape of enemies, allowing them to use their skills against other monsters.
