It's 2026, and I'm still licking my wounds from Hollow Knight Silksong, questioning how a game so cute could be so cruel. This is the final straw, I vow. I cannot keep loving these Metroidvanias that do not love me back.
Then I hear a gentle knock against the door of defeat in my mind. In walks MIO: Memories in Orbit, politely offering to bandage every wound left by the savage games of last year.
MIO stands out like a soft glow in the dark, crowded room of Metroidvanias - not by being tougher than its peers, but by being subtler, stranger, and deeply human.
The beauty within
The latest project from French indie studio Douze Dixièmes, MIO's most obvious appeal comes from its gorgeous cel-shaded art style. Its biomes shift from pastel hues to icy blues and stark mechanical greys. Every area feels distinct, yet connected, unified by a watercolor-like palette that gives the impression of beauty slowly fraying at the edges.
But look beyond its gorgeous visuals and you will be rewarded with a story full of emotional depth. The game is set aboard The Vessel, a colossal ark of dysfunctional robots edging toward total shutdown. The Vessel isn't just an exquisite setting - it's a character in decline, a living structure whose failing systems mirror the quiet melancholy of its abandoned inhabitants. "Is your heart still beating? Or is it like mine?" asks Mio, offering me little alternative but to continue traversing platforms whilst blinded by tears. The dialogue in MIO may be sparse, but when characters speak – it feels like they are speaking directly to the most melancholy corners of my heart.
There's a genuine emotional pull in restoring The Vessel, not because the game demands it, but because the game's story makes it impossible not to care. The more you explore its world, the clearer it becomes that this delicate world is failing. Robots lay collapsed in heaps beyond repair but that fragility is exactly what makes MIO so compelling.
Movement is the game's defining joy, and from the outset it's clear that Douze Dixièmes has prioritized fluidity over friction. Mio is light, nimble, and wonderfully responsive, especially in the air. Most notably, Mio is able to double-jump from the very beginning, which is a small design choice that feels monumental. Finally, we have a Metroidvania where not every basic pleasure has to be earned.
While some may argue that easy modes defeat the purpose of the notoriously challenging Metroidvania genre, Douze Dixièmes have created flexible difficulty settings for MIO that ensure frustration never halts your momentum. Runbacks can feel long, with tricky vertical climbs through swarms of flying enemies, but there's a merciful settings option called Pacifist Mode. Switch to this and enemies will only attack you once provoked; which is perfect for saving your precious health while trekking back to a big boss.
There is also a setting called 'Eroded Bosses' which lowers a bosses health after each failed attempt. Personally, I did not resort to using this because I was having way too much fun learning the bosses as they are. Each boss tested me to stretch my acquired movement abilities to their full potential, continually teaching me new lessons in just how versatile Mio's skill set is.
Boss battles
MIO: Memories in Orbit is an unforgettable journey, a quietly confident reminder that sometimes the most powerful games aren't the ones you conquer – but the ones that conquer your heart
Simply put: the boss fights are delightful. Stroll into an arena and the regular choral music shifts to a groovy electronic score. I found myself timing my hits on Calderon Unyielding Furnace to the utterly hypnotic beat of the song. Some bosses in MIO are pretty challenging, but my smile never tenses into a grimace during the fight, because the overall vibes for each boss are so infectious. You'll gladly want to run back, again and again and again.
Mio's weapon is a simple hairpin that somewhat belies the flexibility of her toolkit. Grappling hooks, projectile orbs, decoy clones, and evasive hooks open up multiple approaches to encounters, while a mod system lets you fine-tune her abilities to suit specific challenges. Capacity limits mean you’re constantly making interesting trade-offs, building different versions of Mio rather than chasing a single optimal build.
There's a lot of excellent Metroidvanias out there, but MIO distinguishes itself by refusing to be grueling for the sake of it. Where some games in the genre feel like trials to be survived, MIO is an experience to be absorbed. It's a game that values mood, movement, and empathy over sheer difficulty.
Long after the final platforming puzzle is solved and the last boss defeated, its strange tubes, fading colors, and haunting Vessel lingers long in my mind. MIO: Memories in Orbit is an unforgettable journey, and a quietly confident reminder that sometimes the most powerful games aren't the ones you conquer – but the ones that conquer your heart.
MIO: Memories in Orbit is out now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Switch 2. For more recommendations, head on over to our Indie Spotlight series.
