If it isn’t already present to you, I’ve talked a lot already about the upcoming platformers coming from this year’s PAX East in Boston, and I will continue to cover the genre once again with Ovid Works’ Metamorphosis. Rather than what we’ve already seen before with 2D-focused platform titles like previous, this title already holds its own uniqueness for being a 3-dimensional game over its 2D counterparts.
You play as Gregor who’ve soon transforms into a bug following uncertain events. As the world starts to grow bigger the smaller you get, Ovidworks uses this to push player’s curiosity and to truly explore what is at hand with something ordinary become monumental rather it being a office or the innards of an printing press, they create a new perspective that has yet to be explored.
Studio PR & Marketing Chief Yashar Dehaghani shares that the developer wants those who play to pursue not only the intended story path, but also to traverse the open world that is in your view. With your new insect stature, you can reach spots that you weren’t able think possible and scale objects more nimble-like since you are much smaller than most games offer. This concept then opens ideas to more ways on how the game can be played Dehaghani adds to the discussion.
One feature that is present in the demo on the show floor that players might not even find is the feature to use liquids that the bug can use towards their advantage. Since the bug already can mantle large obstacles much more easily by jumping higher and having a shorter loftiness, it is still limited to skyscraping objects boxes or thousand-paged books. But with liquids that is said to more accessible in the full game, you can spit it on any surface assisting you to climb up anything.
What really pushed my curiosity was the choice to use a bug as the main gameplay mechanic for the game, asking Dehaghani the reason behind it he answered that the idea was spawned by writings of Franz Kafka. Specifically his novel “The Metamorphosis” where the main character that shares the same name as the game’s transforms into a large insect. Those working on the game at the Polish studio are fans of the author and were interested in the mentioned story along many of others from him.
Another influence behind the developers came from experimenting with the mechanic playing as an insect. When playing as the smaller-sized bug, it sparked interest into pursuing a full game on top of their love for Kafka’s work. Other influencers being the diversity of the game and the challenges they faced for creating a truly unique title that isn’t currently on the market.
One thing that’s really impressive is how well refined the current build of the pre-alpha demo. From the sound design of running on different materials to the overall look with realistic lighting and atmospheric effects just pushes the immersion to being as small as an insect.
For when the title is set to release, Dehaghani said that Metamorphosis is expected to drop for Steam, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch this Fall. You can add the game to you Steam Wishlist here.
