MIO: Memories in Orbit

 PC
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 48
  3. Negative: 0 out of 48
  1. The Wand Report
    Apr 15, 2026
    70
    MIO: Memories in Orbit is as beautiful as it is punishing. With an abundance of adventure, solid gameplay and music that’ll make your ears tingle, it’s an excellent addition to the Metroidvania genre, only the combat falls a little short.
  2. Console Creatures
    Jan 25, 2026
    70
    MIO: Memories in Orbit hits all the hallmarks of a Metroidvania. Through excellent visuals and setting, you explore a place that feels alive as you restore it to functionality. Even at its most aggravating, Mio is difficult to dismiss. The game's visual identity is striking, and the spacecraft's transformation as it comes alive is excellent. There's a great sense of atmosphere that's reinforced as you keep moving forward, that eventually gives out because of uneven and frankly, unnecessary combat.
  3. Gamer Escape
    Jan 20, 2026
    70
    MIO: Memories in Orbit is very much a release where ambiance and exploration are top dogs of the experience. Whether you’re in a more lax state of exploring the map or trying to surmount a challenging sequence of whirling saws and pitfalls, moving around MIO’s map is a great time thoroughly enhanced by the game’s impressive rendering of its world and an immersive soundtrack. Unfortunately, these successes overshadow the title’s combat and progression mechanics. There will be a lot of familiar elements to those with prior metroidvania experience, and while they’re all implemented serviceably, they simply don’t do as much heavy lifting as the platforming, world building, and music.
  5. GamingBolt
    Jan 20, 2026
    70
    A solid Metroidvania in its own right with a uniquely gorgeous aesthetic, MIO: Memories in Orbit is marked by bizarre design choices and a lack of variety to combat.
  6. Gamekult
    Jan 19, 2026
    70
    With its strong art direction, cohesive world, and well-balanced difficulty, MIO: Memories in Orbit proves to be a very satisfying experience. Its deliberately slow gameplay won't appeal to everyone, especially the combat, but it's justified and becomes quite engaging, making you want to invest the ten or so hours needed to complete it. It's a solid little Metroidvania that has a lot to offer, despite a few flaws and a finale that we had hoped would be more spectacular.
  7. Shacknews
    Jan 19, 2026
    60
    MIO: Memories in Orbit takes place in a fascinating world, and its story is often beautiful. If there was no combat, it would be a substantially better game. But there is, and it is not. Like all Metroidvanias, MIO: Memories in Orbit asks you to imagine the Vessel as a place that was once wondrous. But I could not imagine a world where I was happy to play in its ruins, no matter how beautiful what’s left of it was.
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  1. 3DJuegos
    Feb 23, 2026
    It does not change nothing in the genre but its a superb metroidvania charged with feelings. [Recommended]
  2. Kotaku
    Jan 21, 2026
    Mio is stylish and elegant to boot, but that and a decent grasp of the fundamentals are not enough to deepen my appreciation of what’s ultimately a pretty by-the-numbers Metroidvania. It’s an adherent to the form, but I rarely like the tune it sings, and don’t quite love it despite my efforts to.
  3. Polygon
    Jan 19, 2026
    Mio: Memories in Orbit brings that idea to the forefront in the kind of immaculately constructed 2D adventure that belongs on any Metroidvania Mount Rushmore. Not a single hair on its head is out of place. Every nook aboard The Vessel has its function, each one crucial to a delicately crafted ecosystem’s continued health. What a pleasure it is to really live in that space like that rather than conquer it for a change; for the corridors of a video game map to be etched into your skin like the lines on your palms, committed to memory like a map of your hometown.
  5. The Escapist
    Jan 19, 2026
    MIO: Memories in Orbit is a pretty game, the kind where you can get lost in its world. Unfortunately, MIO: Memories in Orbit is a video game, not a cartoon, and the gameplay is a little too mundane, and its pacing is a bit too all over the place. There are certainly worse Metroidvanias on the market, and MIO: Memories in Orbit can easily be recommended for people looking for something similar to Hollow Knight, but more forgiving. It’s more the Metroidvania diehards who will be wishing that there was more under the hood.