I do n’t begrudge anyone trying to make a great 2D puzzle platformer in 2025 . It ’s a very crowded genre , and sometimes it can feel like there are n’t many more ways to spin it into something new . game likeNevaandPlanet of Lanaare gorgeous , but neither breaks fresh gameplay ground . It ’s a mellow ceiling to reach if you ’re looking to do something novel , butBionic Baygets it done in impressive fashion .
At a glance , the new game from publisher Kepler Interactive checks a stack of loge . It ’s a moody tone piece that looks quite a bit likeLimbo . The risky venture require histrion through a gauntlet of 2D levels soak up in biomechanical secret . Levels are creepy and full of well - grade trap that lead to countless death . WhereBionic Baysets itself asunder from oodles of game with that verbal description , though , is a an cunning item swapping puzzler hook and a speedier pace that ’s usually reserved for speed - focused activity games . Those two pieces are enough to make it one of the besotted game of its kind I ’ve played so far in the 2020s .
LikeLimbo , Bionic Bayis minimalistic in its storytelling . All I really lie with is that I ’m a man in some form of factory . Is it a human one or am I on some sort of foreign major planet ? I have no idea , but what I do know is that I ’m surround by danger . Levels are benighted and morose , building off of the same tint that PlayDead pioneered in plot likeInside(and later bring in to new studio apartment withSomervilleandCocoon ) . Each stage feels daunting , with my miniscule grapheme climb on gargantuan machinery and silhouetted against by abrasive lighting . Every frame is a painting here , as developer Psychoflow Studios run into monochromous vista that finger both mechanically skillful and otherworldly .
Kepler Interactive
That ’s the “ easy ” part of making a mystifier platformer ( which is n’t very easy at all ) . The tougher challenge is making something that does n’t just play like everything else that paved the way for it . That ’s whereBionic Bayexcels . The bulk of it is built around a barter function . When I see an object , I can press a button to mark it . When I squeeze another push , I deepen position with it . It ’s a unproblematic thought , but one that Psychoflow Studios arrive a destiny of mileage out of . I can practice that power to get through a narrow-minded hallway by switch with the corner that ’s stymy it . It opens the threshold for purgative puzzles too , in which I launch an object up to a high platform and switch with it at its summit to get to where I necessitate to go . That idea makes for some good slapstick death too , as I often twist up squelch myself by swap underneath a settle tower of crates . It ’s a great idea that ’s always repeat as each level goes on , put it in the vein of something likePortalrather thanLimbo .
That is n’t the only caper in its playbook , either . Later , I get a time - slowing index that lets me safely move through flying move fan blades and buzzsaws . In a few level , I gain the power to smash target into the distance with an energy poke , something that combine with my other powers . Some standout puzzles have me slow up time , punching a sheet of metal , jump on it , and then riding it across a spread . Bionic Baycovers a lot of reason in around 10 hours , and that ’s a problematic thing for a minimalistic platformer like this to pull off .
What I appreciate even more than all that is the speed at which it all spread . Whereas games likeLimbotend to be boring and lurching , Bionic Bayhas an vigour closer toKatana Zero . In the former levels , I ’m running , strain dashing , and solving puzzles without stopping . I only come up myself slowing down once I get into the second half of it , as some puzzles become more complex . It ’s a great stride for a plot like this that gives player space to estimate out placement swop puzzles on the fly rather than rely on brainy set pieces that involve heedful spacial reasoning and experiment to collar .
That pace is intentional , as Psychoflow Studios advance role player to speed through it . Bionic Bayfeatures an online mode where players can cannonball along through levels and endeavor to set gamey mark on leaderboards . It ’s the sort of feature film that you normally would n’t find in something like this , accent how much it wants players to move and solve puzzles fluidly .
As someone who has grown a lilliputian tired of games like this , Bionic Bayrevitalizes my grasp of the2D puzzle platformer . It ’s familiar in quality and style , but I love the way that it turns brainy puzzle into something pulse - pounding . It feels like an action secret plan , even when I ’m just trade my position with a crate to avoid some lasers . A small twist like that is all the genre needs sometimes to experience raw again .
Bionic Baylaunches on April 17 for PS5 and PC .
