MIO: Memories In Orbit Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, & PC)

The Ori series had such a unique color palette, I wasn’t sure any game could match its grandeur. But I stand corrected after laying my eyes on MIO: Memories In Orbit. At first glance, the striking watercolor art style takes your breath away. Before you dig deeper into its mechanics and platforming physics, the visuals make a home in your heart, mind, and soul. But there remain many platforming Metroidvanias that have skyrocketed in fame these past few years. 

Recently, Hollow Knight stole gamers’ hearts, along with its Silksong sequel. Its competence and shocking stature as an indie earned it several revered awards, including Game of the Year 2025 Steam award, and the “Best Game You Suck At.” Dare I say MIO: Memories In Orbit might be coming for the latter, for anyone looking to indulge their mastery of precision platforming and brutal combat. 

How do you say it, “a game of many layers?” One that sneaks its charm and propensity for emotional intrigue on you. Buckle up, you’re in for a wild ride right after you’ve had a side of our MIO: Memories In Orbit review below.

Page Turner

Rather than Hollow Knight’s tiny insectoid warrior, MIO: Memories In Orbit chooses to structure its story around a tiny robot, instead. Wires stick out of your tiny head, looking like hairs that help you move and fight bad guys. You’re the titular MIO and have no recollection of the past, but the present is clear. The spaceship, called The Vessel, you’ve woken up in, is on the brink of destruction. It floats aimlessly in space, its occupant robots gone rogue. 

A few friendly NPCs reveal just how devastating the times are: the despair that has worn out hearts and minds, and left the guardians of The Vessel, called Pearls, unable to steer The Vessel to its intended destination. Perhaps if you find these Pearl creatures, you might unearth what exactly happened here, and how you might fix it. You just might save The Vessel along with the AI, who call this place home. 

Despair proves adamant in the dialogue you come by, and texts you examine, dispersed around The Vessel. Little slivers of hope as well, but dangerously wearing thin. Decay isn’t just written in the story bits you uncover, but in the environment you explore. Hostile flora and fauna intertwine with the metallic architecture and sci-fi, rundown technology of The Vessel. The juxtaposition of the organic and industrial is surreal, creating a unique backdrop, made more so by the art design.

Emotional Backdrop

MIO: Memories In Orbit uses vibrant colors and design to illustrate its environments, which is starkly different from the story told. In places, slow, melancholic music accompanies your exploration. And the reality of the decay around you is never too far away from thought. But also, striking artistic choices inspired by paintings mellows the heart and soul with joy and wonder. It’s almost like overwhelming hope in what can be seen, but clearly very much different from what is experienced by the people here. Sounds familiar? 

I’ll say, prepare yourself to be taken on a rollercoaster ride. More so by the audio-visual aspect of MIO: Memories In Orbit. It truly outdoes itself, looking gorgeous in the unique biomes you visit, and the emotional music that swells during intense enemy encounters. 

A lot of the story is told via the environment, and through curious exploration of your own. You might have to go out of your way to unearth secrets and hidden pathways, as Metroidvanias often demand. While only a few environments are available to you, unlocking new abilities and upgrades opens up new environments. And over time, new areas interconnect with older ones to create a seamless mosaic of shortcuts, allure, and art. 

Moving with Grace

At first, you get a single basic attack and a double jump. Onward, you unlock new combat and traversal abilities. It’s all very standard. That way, anyone with experience with Metroidvanias can easily jump in. The platforming is pretty precise. You won’t get away with slight mistakes. Even incorrectly timing your jumps will cost you. It’s all well and good when a game can back it up with clever design. MIO: Memories In Orbit constantly refreshes its horizontal and vertical platforms, introducing fun designs, like a literal spine. 

These aren’t just boxed rooms, but actual, interconnected, unique biomes flourishing with vegetation, distant animals, robots, and layers of static and moving platforms. Since movement is seamless and fluid, you’ll enjoy platforming. And later on, advanced platforming techniques unlock. Aerial mobility becomes more strategic and fun. Grappling gets quite handy in evading pesky hazards and obstacles. Perhaps the pacing might feel slow. Some traversal abilities might be locked away for too long. And by then, you’ll have grown accustomed to your initial moves. But overall, platforming feels pretty good to pull off, especially in tricky areas.

The Cleanse

Combat, on the other hand, should be simple enough to learn. Mastery, though, can be a little tricky for beginners, especially against bosses. Anyway, the robotic enemies you’ll fight are varied enough. It only takes a few hits to defeat them. But some can be annoying, especially the aerial ones, and can sometimes feel more rampant than others. Still, they put up fair fights and reward you for your trouble with in-game currency and buffs. 

Buffs will depend on your selected modifiers, which are the upgrades for MIO: Memories In Orbit. They’re pretty versatile, from the traditional buffing of your health and damage to more nuanced upgrades like getting rid of the UI for better viewing of the screen. Note, though, that modifiers have limits. You can only equip a certain number of them, depending on your current level. And this can have its pros and cons. For one, it helps you be more strategic in allocating upgrades in line with your play style. But it can feel limiting, as intended, locking you out of genuinely cool options.

Bossy

With your basic combo, you should fair on pretty well. And mix in aerial combat, downward, and upward slashes, and you’ll be well on your way to defeating the rogue AI of The Vessel. The challenge comes in during boss encounters. Stunning designs and appearances aside, some of them can be a pain in the ass. They can have you chipping away at their health bars for hours, and still fail several times, testing your patience to eventually give in and rage-quit. But because it still feels so smooth and fluid, and drawing steps closer to finally taking down a boss has its weird, ecstatic feeling, you keep going. You keep memorizing those telegraphed attack patterns until finally you nail the timing and precision. And the consequent joy and celebration are well worth it. 

Tough Nut to Crack

I’m just unsure whether games of all types will share the same sentiment. I imagine beginners will be infuriated, trying to beat a single boss over and over. And having to respawn at checkpoints that aren’t overly generous. Some checkpoints are hard to miss. And so, you might find yourself taken all the way back to another biome. MIO: Memories In Orbit is definitely on the tough side. And it might even feel intentionally made for Metroidvania veterans.

There are a few olive branches for newcomers, though. Bosses can get weaker up to 25% of their health, the more you fail to defeat them. Some buffs can also give you sweet advantages, like gaining damage boosts, but some at the expense of stamina. Meanwhile, you might choose to make rogue AI neutral to your presence. Still, I’d say roll your sleeves up before heading into MIO: Memories In Orbit.

Verdict

Indies have done it again. Perhaps not on the same level as Hollow Knight. But who’s comparing? MIO: Memories In Orbit is its own knight. It cashes in on its gorgeous art style. Vibrant colors and paint-like strokes that evoke emotion and a desire to explore its world. A spaceship-world aimlessly floating in space and whose hope lies in a tiny robot. Despite how fascinating the world looks, it’s on the brink of destruction and despair. It’s still very much a game of urgency. 

Yet in the same vein, a game of persistence. You’ll face enemies, some easier than others. They look fantastic, and are varied enough to keep encounters exciting. Platforming and combat feel smooth. But the bosses, those might just test your sanity, depending on your experience with Metroidvanias. And for beginners, some platforming sections demand tight gameplay with precision and accurate timing. Overall, MIO: Memories In Orbit is still very much a challenging game. It just does so with grace and beauty, almost a little too effortlessly.