The Mobius Machine

an intense and thrilling game for those who truly want to challenge themselves

graphics are impressive. gameplay is smooth. recommanded

Pretty nice and fitting soundtrack with nice graphics, but game and level design is just far too repetitive.

very good

+ Schöner 2D Sidescroller + Liebevoll gestaltete Welt und Feinde + Angenehm nicht-linear – man muss selbst erkunden und den Weg finden

I really, really, reaaaaally wanted to give this a positive review... And it is crazy how most of the negative reviews start just like this, sadly. The graphics are gorgeous and very original. 10/10, love it. The controls are snappy and well done. 10/10. The game in general is definitely very polished, and you can tell it was made with love for genre classics like Metroid. Overall, the game would be a 10/10, sitting right up there with the biggest titles in the genre... That is, if it were not for the design choices. The level design is awful, very boring and repetitive, more like a walking simulator. The enemies are, for the most part, damage sponges and not fun to fight at all. Even the bosses are like: "Okay, you have to repeat this pattern over and over, and we will make it harder as you lower the boss's health. But not with a second phase or anything, screw that. He will just shoot more often or spawn more normal enemies. Oh, and you will have to do this for like 5 or 10 minutes because this will be the biggest damage sponge ever." And you better repeat that pattern perfectly, because if you make a mistake when you are about to finish, you are likely to lose half your HP or die and have to start again. On the same note, the bosses I have encountered so far are very forgettable... Most of the game is, because there seems to be no story at all. There is no guidance or clear objective. Do not get me wrong, I enjoy having the freedom to explore, but with how horrible the level design is here, you might end up traveling for 15 minutes before reaching a dead end and having to walk all the way back. There are multiple ways to reach the same point, but not in a good way. I mean that you have to go through the same paths multiple times, back and forth, if you want to explore the entire map. And to make it worse, most of the one way paths close behind you for some reason. I did not see anyone credited for level or game design, which speaks volumes. I only hope the same team works on a new game, but this time they should find someone with experience in that field. Then they could create a true gem.