Outbuddies DX Gameplay Preview – Homage to Classic Metroid

Outbuddies DX is a very thoughtful homage to the classic Metroid game originally released on the NES.

Everything about the game pays respects to Metroid. The art style and level design, even down to the color palette is reminiscent of that game. The sound track has a very similar feel as well.

The game play is sort of close to the original but the controls do feel a bit more loose, especially on keyboard. Thankfully they added in a lot of modern mechanics and quality of life changes to make the game more accessible. For some examples, you start out with a wall jump so you can climb higher. You can scan the map for clues and move blocks to create pathways with your robot buddy. When you die, you simply respawn at the start of that specific room.

As the game progresses, you unlock very familiar upgrades such as deployable bombs, rockets, charge shots, and so on. There are more upgrades related to your robot buddy in addition to the standard weapon unlocks so look forward to that as well.

Overall, Outbuddies DX is a pretty solid tribute to Metroid. It captures the essence of the original game while adding in some new mechanics. There’s plenty of content as well and it should take roughly ten hours or so to beat the game on your first attempt, give or take a few hours depending on your skill level.