Biomass is a roller coaster of ups and downs. Parts of it are a masterpiece, parts of it feel amateur, and parts of it are just baffling. I've mainly seen it mainly labeled as a MetroidVania but it's more of a Souls-like blended with an old cinematic platformer (e.g. Flashback, Another World) with some MV sprinkled on top, so only play this if you're a souls fan.
Biomass isBiomass is a roller coaster of ups and downs. Parts of it are a masterpiece, parts of it feel amateur, and parts of it are just baffling. I've mainly seen it mainly labeled as a MetroidVania but it's more of a Souls-like blended with an old cinematic platformer (e.g. Flashback, Another World) with some MV sprinkled on top, so only play this if you're a souls fan.
Biomass is aesthetically jaw-dropping. Its low-bit pixel art, striking colors, ambient soundtrack, and cyber-punk setting all combine perfectly. The story is abstract and hard to understand but I didn't care because of how sucked into the world I felt. There are countless moments of raw beauty that will stick with me. The level design is pretty good too. Some areas are overly repetitive but it has a great sense of geography, and locations feel like actual places rather than a collection of video game rooms, which is rare for a 2D game. The MetroidVania mechanics are interesting but fade into the background after a few hours, as the game becomes more linear. All this mean that Biomass succeeds as an adventure game with flying colors. It's a captivating and immersive journey like few other 2D games I've played.
Tragically, this is where my praise for the game mostly ends. Its Souls mechanics are very flawed and its cycle mechanic is more of a head-scratcher than a selling point.
The souls mechanics are simply not balanced well at all and endless problems will slowly nag you into liking the game less. The largest problem is how quickly you die. The mechanics are slow and clunky as you'd expect from a Souls-like but most enemies move quickly and can kill you in an instant. Leveling up your health barely increases it and you'll never have enough health. Next, the estus flask sucks. The game has a combo meter you can use to heal, which is a great mechanic but the estus flask charges the meter instead of healing you. To fully heal, you have to use 2 estus flasks and THEN press heal. This is often impossible in the heat of the moment. There are actual potions but they're consumable and expensive.
The leveling system is problematic too. My main frustration was how difficult it was to level up. I'm a huge defender of corpse running but I despise it in this game. There are lots of points-of-no-return, your corpse often won't spawn because of a bug (this happens a LOT), enemies don't respawn when you rest at a bonfire, XP requirements scale exponentially but enemy XP barely increases, some bosses don't give XP, etc. Add to that the fact that you can die in an instant and lose all your XP and it's often impossible to level up. I was only level 20 after 3 playthroughs, which feels absurd for an action-RPG, and can be a large problem if you don't allocate your stat points properly.
I had a host of smaller problems too. The Distorted Man boss fight is one of the most insane difficulty spikes I've ever seen. Healing and interact are the same button, which is obviously a bad idea. Some of the bonfires are poorly placed, with several minute long run-backs. Bonfires automatically restock your estus but you have to do an additional action to get your health back. The combo meter doesn't distinguish between 40% and 50%, which is where you can heal. All these problems with the Souls elements make the game feel amateur and diminish its other great attributes.
Lastly, is the cycle mechanic. Minor spoiler but eventually you get sent back to the start of the game, kind of like ng+. There are 3 primary paths through the game, unlocked by new abilities. I was worried I'd have to replay large sections of the game and need a guide to figure out the alternate paths. Thankfully, all 3 paths branch from the first level. You'll play most levels twice but they're heavily altered and feel fresh. You won't need a guide for the 2nd path, it's fairly obvious, but the 3rd was a bit harder to find, and you have to perform some odd actions to get the real ending. I was only able to get it thanks to a Steam forum post by the game's developer... The system is interesting but ultimately feels like a lazy way to reuse content. The 2nd path was awesome but the 3rd felt like the game was out of gas. None of my 3 runs ended in a boss either, making all of them anticlimactic.
As you can tell, I have a lot of problems with Biomass, in spite of adoring it as a beautiful adventure. I think if the game had just been a tad easier, most of these problems wouldn't be a big deal but because the game pushes so hard with its difficulty, they all stick out so much. I eventually figured out an equipment combination that trivialized the difficulty but I'd imagine most will have so much frustration here that it's very hard to recommend. Play it if you're as intrigued by the pixel art as I was and love Souls-likes but keep your distance otherwise. Maybe just watch a playthrough on YouTube and enjoy the aesthetics.… Expand
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