*MSRP: $TBA (Steam) – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1025410/Metamorphosis/
Metamorphosis is an action adventure game loosely inspired by Franz Kafka’s novella of the same title. You take on the role of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who has inexplicably turned into a bug. There’s a lot of questions, seemingly no answers, and a lot of surreal turn of events as you follow Gregor on his journey to return to human form.
The core game play loop is a mostly linear platformer focusing on immersive environments and light puzzle elements. The puzzles are fairly straight forward and mostly based on navigating the area correctly to reach the desired location. Most of them are not that difficult and the surrounding bugs will be more than willing to provide tips if you get lost on your way. You can also press Tab to view the map from an overhead point of view to see any possible points of interest you may have missed.
The environments are well designed, with attention to detail that is easy to miss if you are just zooming along. In the background of most areas are plenty of spoken lines of dialogue. They are incredibly well written and I have no idea if it is intentional satire or not, but the characters say a whole lot of words with no meaning behind them.
I am personally not familiar with the novel so I can’t say if the philosophical themes have fully translated into the game but there is enough of a undercurrent of some thought provoking themes tinting portions of the the game here and there.
Overall, Metamorphosis is a well produced and wonderfully surreal game. There is an incredible amount of detail to the level design, sound track, and ambient sounds. It manages to capture the same sense of absurdity, madness, and subtle humor of Alice in Wonderland. The game is like an action adventure game with platforming mechanics but it manages to stand out as an unique experience.
Ducky Obrien 