MIO: Memories in Orbit Review

A melancholic Metroidvania that carves out its own identity

Metroidvanias are everywhere right now. Some are exceptional, some forgettable, and many blur together into the same familiar experience. Ever since Hollow Knight: Silksong raised expectations sky-high after years of anticipation, countless developers have chased that same magic with mixed results.

So when Focus Entertainment announced MIO: Memories in Orbit, a bold new Metroidvania from a smaller studio, interest was immediate but so was caution. Big promises, a striking art style, and over 20 hours of content is a lot to live up to, especially from a publisher without a history in this space.

After nearly 30 hours inside its world, the question is simple:Is MIO a journey worth remembering or just another echo of what we’ve already played?

Story & Setting

MIO tells its story in a way that will feel instantly familiar to genre fans: minimal exposition, environmental storytelling, and deliberate ambiguity.

You play as MIO, a small but agile robot who awakens aboard a colossal structure known as the Vessel, an ancient technological ark drifting through space for centuries. Once maintained by AI caretakers called the Pearls, the Vessel has fallen into decay. The caretakers are gone, machines have turned hostile, nature has overtaken steel corridors, and entire systems are slowly shutting down.

Your goal is to restore the Vessel by reactivating key components named after parts of the human body - the Spine, the Eye, the Hand, and more. As you descend deeper, fragments of the Vessel’s past emerge, alongside unsettling hints about MIO’s own origins.

The narrative remains intentionally vague for much of the game. Lore is uncovered through scattered logs, environmental details, and brief conversations rather than lengthy cutscenes. It can be confusing at times, but when the story finally comes together, it explores themes of memory, identity, and purpose in a way that perfectly matches the game’s lonely, reflective tone.

Movement & Platforming

From the very first moments, MIO feels fantastic to control.

Movement is fast, fluid, and highly responsive, with traversal quickly becoming one of the game’s biggest strengths. You begin with simple abilities like a double jump and basic combo but new movement tools are introduced gradually and at fixed moments, ensuring pacing stays tight.

New abilities include:

• Grappling to distant points using MIO’s hair

• Spider-like wall clinging

• Enhanced air mobility and traversal upgrades

  
  

One of the smartest mechanics is the use of floating green crystals. Striking one mid-air grants an extra jump, forcing careful timing and rhythm. This system carries over beautifully into combat, allowing extended air time and rapid repositioning during fights.

Platforming isn’t perfect, though. Later sections can feel overly precise, especially near spike traps, with occasional moments where hit detection feels slightly off. These instances are rare, but noticeable in demanding sequences.

Even so, when everything clicks and you’re chaining movement abilities together, traversal feels incredible.

Progression & Mod System

Progression revolves around Nacre, a resource earned from enemies and exploration. Like many Metroidvanias, Nacre is dropped on death unless safely stored at crystallisation machines.

What sets MIO apart is its mod system.

You’re limited by mod slots, meaning you can’t equip everything at once. This forces meaningful decisions and experimentation. Some mods offer straightforward boosts, while others introduce clever trade-offs such as removing HUD elements for buffs, disabling healing pools to gain more mod capacity, or sacrificing convenience for power.

It’s a genuine risk-versus-reward system that prevents players from becoming absurdly overpowered, and it’s one of the game’s most confident design choices.

Combat & Enemy Design

Combat is fast, fluid, and heavily movement-driven. Standing still is rarely an option and you’re encouraged to dodge, reposition, and control space rather than trade hits.

MIO’s basic combo feels responsive, and as new abilities unlock, combat becomes more expressive. Aerial movement, grappling, and momentum-based attacks allow for stylish encounters once systems start to overlap.

Enemy variety, however, is where things falter. While enemies are threatening early on, their attack patterns are highly readable. Once you’ve learned how a specific enemy behaves, there’s little variation the next time you encounter it.

Each biome introduces only a handful of new enemy types, and frequent backtracking means you’ll often be clearing the same rooms repeatedly. Combat never becomes bad but it does become predictable. Given how imaginative the world is, more experimental enemy designs would have gone a long way.

Bosses

Boss encounters are where MIO truly shines.

These fights feel like genuine tests of everything you’ve learned from movement, timing, positioning, and build choices. Bosses aren’t simple damage sponges; each has a distinct identity, both mechanically and visually.

Some encounters focus on arena control, others emphasize vertical movement, and a few force you to rethink your entire approach. Even optional bosses feel carefully handcrafted rather than filler.

Best of all, these fights feel fair. Deaths rarely feel cheap, attack patterns are clearly communicated, and every loss feels like a lesson. The only drawback is pacing as bosses can be spaced a little too far apart but when they appear, they’re consistently memorable.

Accessibility Options

MIO is refreshingly welcoming.

Assist options include:

• Health regeneration when standing still

• Passive enemies unless attacked

• Bosses weakening slightly after repeated deaths

  
  

These settings don’t trivialise the experience but make it far more approachable, which is especially welcome in a genre that can often feel intimidating.

World Design & Exploration

Its cel-shaded art style gives everything a hand-drawn, etched look that feels both delicate and imposing. Each biome is visually and mechanically distinct with overgrown ruins, frozen zones with slippery terrain, vibrant gardens, and hostile mechanical corridors.

The Vessel feels cohesive and alive, like a single interconnected organism rather than a collection of levels. Exploration is consistently rewarding, with hidden upgrades, secret paths, and optional challenges scattered throughout.

Navigation can be frustrating at times. Visual clutter occasionally hides crucial traversal tools, and progression paths aren’t always clearly communicated. One particularly frustrating moment involved a jump pad concealed within dense foliage, halting progress for far longer than it should have.

Still, when exploration works and most of the time it does it’s deeply satisfying.

Performance

Performance is excellent across both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

Frame rates remain stable even in visually dense areas, controls are responsive, loading times are quick, and traversal always feels smooth. There were no crashes, no major bugs, and no noticeable technical issues throughout the entire playthrough.

For a smaller team, this level of polish at launch is genuinely impressive and a rarity in today’s market.

Final Verdict

Despite a few frustrations, MIO: Memories in Orbit is an outstanding Metroidvania.

Its movement is exhilarating, the world is beautiful, the boss fights are memorable, and the overall experience is far more confident than expected. Enemy variety and occasional navigation issues hold it back slightly, but they never overshadow what the game does right.

With a generous amount of content and availability on Game Pass, this is an easy recommendation. If you’re even remotely interested in Metroidvanias or looking for a strong entry point into the genre, MIO is absolutely worth your time.