A Sci-Fi, 2D Platformer, Shooter, Taking Us Back To The 90s in This Mystery Metroidvania
A Sci-Fi, 2D Platformer, Shooter, Taking Us Back To The 90s in This Mystery Metroidvania
Publisher: JanduSoft
Developer: Evan Tor Games
Genre:
PEGI:
Comments:
Developed by Evan Tor Games and published by JanduSoft, this is a Sci-Fi mystery shooter that everyone has to try. Rebel Transmute is the Metroid of our year. It is a take on a classic Metroidvania with a kick of colors and extreme exploration. While it is revolutionized, I think that the graphics and audio really kicks us off back into the feel of the 90s, giving both old and new gamers something to enjoy.
The Story:
You play Moon Mikono, a moon scrapper. You start off the game flying in a spaceship, on a mission to find your missing mother. A disturbance nearby causes you to fly toward a planet that is extremely dangerous making your spaceship malfunction andd causing you to crash into this unknown location. You start the game being revived in a stasis pod, learning that you have been asleep for years, due to the extremely life threatening crash. You have lost precious time in finding the truth out about your missing mother, all while confronting dangerous enemies and battling your way out of the mess you are in. As you explore this planet, you meet various friendly robot NPC characters and this game began to give me major Haiku, the Robot vibes and this made my soul happy.
Metroid? Or Metroidvania?
As some of you might know by now, I am not a Metroid fan of the Metroidvania genre. This is because I have never been much into the Sci-Fi portion, plus the shooter aspect of the game. I am not saying that all Metroid games are only this, the Metroid genre is a lot greater than this. I find the Metroid part of Metroidvanias to mean a more fast-paced gameplay, with strong elements of exploration and puzzle solving to advance into the next portion of the map. This just so happens to be that a majority of Metroid games end up having shmup elements and a Sci-Fi environment.
When I first tried Rebel Transmute I had already requested to review this game, without even knowing what I was getting myself into. To be frank, I like to get my hands on all Metroidvanias, because at this point, this is what I want to be known for, “Alie and her metroidvanias”, but of course, I never want to admit, that not all Metroidvanias are my cup of tea. This is because Metroidvanias these days are so diverse, that not all the elements included in every Metroidvania would be something that interests all of us, and that’s okay. We should have different tastes when it comes to games. Anyway, enough rambling about me, let me get to the point: When Metroidvania Fusion happened a few weeks back, I streamed the demo to Rebel Transmute, I was stuck at this small area where an influx of enemies were attacking me and I would just die over and over again. I got so scared that I wouldn’t end up liking the game that I almost wanted to forfeit the opportunity of reviewing the game, but boy, am I glad I didn’t. This game really captured my attention, I was mesmerized by the exploration of the game and just everything about this game was perfect.
The Gameplay:
The gameplay of Rebel Transmute is very self-explanatory. You explore the map uncovering hidden secrets and walls along the way, and do a lot of backtracking, all while utilizing a gun to shoot at the enemies. The only drawback is that you are only able to shoot in four different directions. Better weapons are available later in the game but until you find them, you’re stuck with a very basic weapon from the starting point. The uniqueness of the gameplay lies within the augments that you collect along the way. Equipping these augmentations allows you to have various different abilities, such as longer a shooting range or explosive attacks with multiple enemies on screen. While I loved the ability to be able to equip these augmentations, I was very frustrated that the amount of space given was really small in the beginning, but that’s a “me” problem, haha.
The Audio and Graphics:
Graphics take me back to the 90s of gaming and while it has that retro look, it still brings out the modern pixelated 2D graphics we all have grown to love over the years. The environment, the choice of atmosphere, the enemies and even the NPC characters all fit so well into the vision and lore of Rebel Transmute. The soundtrack of the game fits so well, incorporating different tunes to their specific corresponding events to really grasp emotion in the player.
Steam Deck Compatibility:
This game works flawlessly at 60 FPS on the Steam Deck. The load time between areas was great, there were no issues and during combat there were no delays or glitches. It’s definitely a game I can see myself playing handheld so if you’re a handheld gamer like me, this game is a great choice for the deck.
Conclusion:
I think this is a solid Metroidvania that offers every player the pleasure of experiencing a very metroid-esque title but with its own unique story and lore. The game offers a pleasurable environment full of deep exploration. One of the things that most captivated me about this game was how I got lost in the exploration of the map, having a strong desire to unlock every secret and every corner that I left unexplored. It’s a good thing you can purchase map markers eventually, or I would not remember everything I had to go back to. The game was released on March 11, 2024 and a demo is available to try so that if you’re still unsure if this game is for you then try it for yourself. Just be warned, the demo was a bit more challenging than I thought and it almost made me back out of the game, so take the demo with a grain of salt and instead buy the full game and dive right in!
Thank you to JanduSoft and Evan Tor Games for providing a review key.