Following a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign back in February this year, Chris Stair and Trevor Youngquist's upcoming stunning Metroidvania Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus has gained a couple of notable names in the Metroid fan community.
Members of the team behind Another Metroid 2 Remake (AM2R) have joined this Japanese folklore-inspired search action game which the developers say takes a leaf out of Hollow Knight and Okami's books.
Stair and Youngquist were originally working on the project alone, but have now been joined by these three reputable names who know a thing or two about the Metroidvania genre — Milton Guasti (DoctorM64, Director of AM2R and level designer on Ori and the Will of the Wisps), Esteban Criado (DruidVorse, AM2R's Lead Playtester and Metroidvania speedrunner), and Robert Maloney (Sephazon, Producer of AM2R and Associate for Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions). The three of these will be working as Associate Designer, QA Lead, and Production and Publishing Lead on Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus, and what a team to bring on to this beautiful-looking project.
Using lovely hand-drawn aesthetics to create mesmerising levels, characters, and environments, Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus follows Bo, a celestial blossom who must overcome obstacles and fight dangerous enemies after uncovering the secrets behind the rise of a powerful shogun. Bo will use her staff to bounce around these Japanese watercolour worlds and you'll be treated to a feast for the eyes and a boatload of Japanese folklore.
Here are some more details on the game from its Steam page:
- A familiar 2D side-scrolling action-platformer that merges classic hand-drawn animation and scenery with new atmospheric bells and whistles that make the experience wondrously novel yet cozily familiar.
- Tight platforming controls. Bō feels amazing to control and players will feel great agency as they enter a flow state navigating the challenging platforming challenges.
- Explore a mysterious world! The world of Bō is open and interconnected. Explore everything from haunted bathhouses to a thriving Japanese-inspired metropolis. Find ways to travel back to areas that you thought you explored fully and unlock new paths and surprises.
- Unlock powerful new abilities! Brew and drink arcane teas to unlock Bō’s shapeshifting staff abilities. Including the Mochi Mallet, Blossom Dash and the Grappling Gun.
- Daruma doll Power-ups! Collect daruma dolls throughout your journey to tune your abilities and give you advantages (or even disadvantages) in unique ways. All daruma dolls begin with 1 eye filled in. They can be upgraded to a 2-eyed daruma that enhances the original daruma’s perk. These loveable daruma dolls will be by your side throughout your journey.
- A large cast of bizarre and adorable yokai (monsters from Japanese folklore) as well as original characters based on Japanese cultural archetypes. All of these characters and enemies are brought to life with traditional hand-drawn 2D frame-by-frame animation. Help them with their side quests or just stop by for a chat and a cup of tea.
- Epic Boss Battles! On your journey you will encounter many massive monsters from Japanese folklore. Use your gained knowledge and skill to vanquish them and advance further in your quest.
- Beautiful hand-drawn and immersive areas and landscapes with traditional Japanese-inspired trimmings.
- An absolutely gorgeous original score composed by Moises Carmago, that beautifully blends traditional Japanese instrumentation with modern orchestral music.
There is a dime a dozen Metroidvanias on the Switch, but with Bo's beautiful visuals and the pedigree behind it, we're extremely excited to see how this one turns out.
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus is out on Switch sometime next year, and we'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one. Check out last year's teaser trailer below and share your thoughts on the game with us in the comments!
Further reading
Comments (45)
This looks and sounds very promising.
Oh cool they are making their own game with their own IP; now I actually care about what they are doing. This game looks interesting. Will wait on reviews but this has my attention.
Metroidvania 🤭
Looks lovely, will keep an eye out for a physical
Looks pretty gorgeous although looks like it plays too much like Hollow Knight, like almost carbon copy of the movement.
HollOkami Knight
AM2R had a better art style
I guess they're used to copying what already exists out there. That character looks like a blatant ripoff of Hollow Knight. It does look quite good though
Seems to be heavily "inspired" by Hollow Knight ^^. Either way, I love Okami and they definitely nailed the aesthic of it so I will keep an eye out for it
I was excited until the word 'Metroidvania'. One of the most boring and overused genres out there
As others have said above, it seems a shame that the main character physically resembles the Hollow Knight character so much, because all the Japanese-inspired stuff looks lovely and deserves its own distinct identity, but the resemblance is going to be hard to shake.
it is trite and tedious by now, but i am recently getting bothered by the term Metroidvania. This has been gone over plenty, but it is really absurd that the 'vania' part is in there. Castlevanias didnt start doing the whole metroid backtracking item finding thing until the GBA castlevanias, where it basically implemented the Metroid model. it is just that the name works. Really it should be a Metroid-Zelda combo - but 'Zeldatroid', or 'Metelda' doesnt work too well....
Looks good but it’s got hollow knight written all over it. I tend to be less excited when games just feel like a retread of another game, even when they’re equal in quality. Ah well, we’ll see how it turns out.
Oh it's just another 2D side scroller...
The in-game difference in line thicknesses and overuse of gradients bothers me. And the main character that looks way too Hollow-Knightly. I wish everything looked more like that concept art image in terms of lines and colour palette.
Another really talented team that's afraid to be different.
I might give it a try if it turns out to be fun to play.
@smithyo I feel the same every time I hear that word! They're all just Metroidlikes
AM2R is a godtier fangame, being more than match even to the official Metroid titles. And I'd love to support such talent.
However, thematically and aesthetically this one just does nothing for me. I wish the devs all the luck though.
@Expa0 indeed. Nintendo should have licenses AM2R. the mercurysteams are OK, but they are not proper Metroid's.
As long as it's inspired by Okami and not actually using those characters, this is what they should have done from the start — use their talents to make their own game.
Looks decent to be honest, but gotta keep in mind that this is pre-alpha-footage. Nothing wrong with a good Metroidvania. As long as they don‘t take the "the more, the better" approach, I‘m happy.
Absolutely gorgeous art style.
Ok. I’m piqued and intrigued. Love games with this cel-shaded art style and Okami & Hollow Knight are two of my favourite games of all-time.
This one's definitely going on the wishlist. Looks very awesome and I loved the music in the trailer as well
Three Hollow Knight games on Switch? I'm sold!
@Pigeon I've grown to love the genre but...yeah, agreed. I can see it becoming stereotyped for this kind of thing before long.
@Spoony_Tech it's not a ripoff
@smithyo you do realize the term started back when Castlevania Symphony of the Night was released on ps1 in 1997, years before the gameboy advance was released. The term was started because it was the first Castlevania game to use the Metroid map/backtracking elements but still in the Castlevania universe with all of its story and characters. Castlevania had the same style 2d side scrolling as Metroid did but without the back tracking. Symphony of the Night was only released a few years after Super Metroid. It wasn’t just called a metroidvania because it sounded good. It was called that because it was a mashup of the two.
@ewrhiowe Yeah like Platformer, Shooters, Adventure, Action, and Open World.
So many overused genres! Stop making them developers that enjoy making these types of games, make what I enjoy, me!
@Spoony_Tech The design of Bō is based on kitsune masks in Japan, as well as flower petals. Although we were brought onto the project after the initial concept and fundamentals were established, we're excited to have the opportunity to work on something that we can bring our own ideas into as well. We endeavor to create a unique experience that is not an effortless imitation of something else.
Using their own characters and original idea, as it should be. Looks really cool, art style is great.
Hollow Knight is an amazing game so any other game that wants to bring some more of that to the table is a welcome addition in my book
I'll keep an eye on this one.
Everything is ripping everything off these days, or so it seems. But metroidvania is my #1 favourite genre, and if this one's good I'll happily buy it, rip off or not.
Definitely interested in this!!
Edit: reading all the hate, i just have to say i absolutely LOVE this style, & so very happy the devs went this direction. Love the genre, love Okami art style, love everything about this game so far. So, if made as well as hollow knight, i could see it becoming my favorite in the genre. Keep up the great work. There are many fans, but only complainers take the time to post, so don't let it dissuade u.
@1UpMushrm and it should just be "Metroid -like". The copy shouldn't get credit for the original concept.
@twztid13
I sort of agree, though Symphony of The Night is just spectacular. It also overlooks the early innovators like the Dragon Slayer / Xanadu series and Blaster Master series, arguably even Section Z with Capcom.
I just don't think they've come up with a better word for the type of game yet. Metroid and Castlevania were just well known for bringing the style to the forefront.
I used to hold a bit of a grievance against the Castlevania series for borrowing so heavily from Metroid...but, they just did it so well.
So they can actually come up with their own “original” ideas, amazing.
@daveMcFlave I know so many YouTube channels that try and make their own names for Metroidvanias like Plat-Tracker or Search Action and they just don’t fit as well.
It looks like a fine game but they’ll have to content with a lot of other games that are vying for my attention. Even now I have a backlog of the Megaman Classic collection, Sonic Mania, Celeste, Kero Blaster, Freedom Planet, Yooka Laylee ATIL, Guacamelee, etc. I hope that this game has something spectacular that lets it stand out from the rest of the pack. The art is a good start though.
UK gaming fans who are old enough might chuckle at the thought of this game having a name Craig David would approve of - The Crowd Say Bo Selecta!
Seriously though, this is incredibly exciting as I'm a huge fan of Okami, Metroid and Hollow Knight. Great the talented AM2R folks are using their talents in a new IP
The term ‘metroidvania’ irks me, mainly because I’ve never played a Metroid game nor a Castlevania one. But I know what a 2D side-scrolling game is. I played the fabulous Pitfall back in 1982, so I’ll refer to this genre as Pitfall-like (or Monty on the Run-esque, or…)
@SteamEngenius I thought the same but that doesn’t bother me to be honest. However The animations are looking a little rigid somehow. Can’t put my finger on it. That bothers me more. Hopefully it is ironed out.
Must say I'm surprised to read so much negativity in the comments, this looks amazing and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Definitely scratching that weeb itch of mine 😅
instant purchase!!
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