MO:Astray Review Summary

Challenging, creative boss fights, gorgeous pixel art, a superb soundtrack and clever puzzles shine despite poor keyboard and mouse controls and boss difficulty that often feels unfair.

Challenging and creative boss fights: Boss battles are highlighted as challenging, inventive, and epic, with unique attack patterns and satisfying difficulty, often praised for their creative use of gameplay mechanics.

Beautiful pixel art and animation: The pixel art and animations are frequently commended as gorgeous, detailed, and charming, with a refined style that creates a vivid world.

Excellent soundtrack and music: Reviewers consistently praise the music and soundtrack as enjoyable, fantastic, and perfectly complementing the atmosphere, adding depth and emotion to the experience.

Clever and varied puzzles: The puzzles are described as imaginative, unique, and well thought out, with a huge variety that challenges players to think creatively.

Solid and fun platforming: Platforming sections are well made, smooth, and satisfying, with mechanics like wall-sticking and double jump that build progressively and remain enjoyable.

Poor keyboard and mouse controls: Many reviewers report that keyboard and mouse controls feel bad, uncomfortable, and lower effective actions per second compared to a controller. A controller is strongly recommended, and playing without one is described as painful.

High difficulty and unfair bosses: Even on low difficulty the game can be hard, with action sections being particularly challenging. Some boss fights feature insta-kill moves or feel unfair and protracted, leading to frustration.

Predictable and cliché story: Reviewers consistently describe the story as ordinary, melodramatic, and relying on clichés that are predictable from early chapters. Filler text and forced story beats further weaken the narrative.

Unusual controls take time to learn: Several players find the control scheme unusual and requiring time to get used to, and some say even a controller feels uncomfortable. This learning curve contributes to frustration and clunky game feel.

Tedious sections and poor level design: Certain sections feel very tedious, and level design along with game feel is described as poor and hard to put into words. This contributes to an overall clunky experience.

2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer: The game is consistently described as a 2D side-scrolling puzzle action platformer. It combines platforming challenges with environmental puzzles and action elements.

Boss fights with unique patterns: Boss battles are a major feature, with multiple phases and attack patterns themed around character traits. They function as unique mini-games that require learning and creative use of gameplay elements, often appearing at the end of each chapter.

Unique slime protagonist and mechanics: Players control a round slime protagonist that flings itself around and sticks to surfaces. The game features unique movement mechanics including slingshot-style movement, dashes, and wall-sticking.

Multiple difficulty settings: The game offers several difficulty modes, including Adventure (hard) mode with generous checkpoints, as well as Easy and Normal. A later Disaster mode is also mentioned.

Memory fragments unlock true ending: Collecting all memory fragments is required to achieve the true ending. The game has both a normal ending and a true ending, with memory collection being a key gameplay element.

Mixed performance and optimization: Feedback is split between players reporting smooth, well-optimized performance on modest hardware and others citing poor optimization and fluctuating frame rates on capable GPUs. The inconsistency suggests performance varies significantly by system configuration.

Start screen and boot issues: The game can get stuck on the start screen after a forced shutdown and also lacks sound on the start screen with no prompt to enter the game. These startup problems prevent players from reaching gameplay.

Excellent Steam Deck and Linux support: The game reportedly runs perfectly on Linux and SteamOS on a Steam Deck OLED, even when loaded from a microSD card. This indicates strong compatibility for portable Linux-based platforms.

PS5 controller aiming arrow jitter: The aiming direction arrow shakes when using a PS5 controller, which negatively impacts aiming accuracy. This is a specific input-related issue affecting controller users.

Controller lag and disconnection: Players report the controller suddenly lagging and becoming unresponsive during play. This input reliability issue can disrupt gameplay significantly.

Specific audience recommendations.: Reviewers recommend the game to specific groups: fans of precision platformers, players who tolerate difficulty and pixel art, those who enjoy cute protagonists in dark worlds, and fans of games like Rain World, Hollow Knight, and Celeste.

Highly recommended overall.: Numerous reviewers strongly recommend the game, with many calling it highly recommended or definitely recommended. The game is widely praised and considered a must-play by many.

Great for platformer fans.: The game is highly recommended for fans of 2D side-scrolling platformers, action platformers, and puzzle platformers. It is considered a must-play for genre enthusiasts.

Worth full price.: Reviewers consistently state the game is worth buying at full price, offering good value for money. Many mention it is a fair deal and worth every dollar.

Controller strongly recommended.: Multiple reviewers advise playing with a controller for a better experience, with some saying not to play without one. A few note keyboard and mouse are playable but less ideal.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 9.0h.

Story completion: 9.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

Endgame: 20.0h.

Reports point to early pacing and control friction, followed by a noticeable improvement after Chapter 3, though some players instead describe a strong start and a disappointing later decline.

Friction: sluggish and boring opening chapters; Chapter 3 pace feels like a slog; control learning curve and picky jump inputs; puzzles that require waiting or slow movement; checkpoint setbacks that erase progress; repetitive boss patterns.

Genre-Literate Platforming Veteran: Plays for precise platforming, puzzle-solving, boss set pieces, and world discovery, while comparing controls and structure to touchstones like Metroid, Celeste, and Hollow Knight. Motivation: Testing and enjoying a stylish puzzle-platformer through the lens of established platforming and Metroidvania design. Stance: buy.

Atmospheric Sci-Fi Story Seeker: Explores at a contemplative pace, reads creature memories and environmental lore, and values art, music, and story presentation over difficult combat. Motivation: Being immersed in MO's dark science-fiction world, cute protagonist, lore, and emotional narrative. Stance: buy.

Relaxed Budget Puzzle Player: Plays on easy or adventure difficulty, in short sessions or with a child, and waits for discounts; values simple fun and atmosphere over challenge. Motivation: A low-cost, low-pressure way to enjoy cute puzzles and share a short game with family. Stance: sale.

Steam Deck: The sampled reviews are uniformly positive about Steam Deck performance. Users report flawless OLED playthroughs, excellent Linux/SteamOS compatibility, and no need for tinkering or workarounds. No technical barriers such as external launchers, small text, anti-cheat errors, or crashes are mentioned.

Linux and Proton: The available feedback is uniformly positive for Linux/SteamOS and Steam Deck compatibility. Users report perfect performance, flawless playthroughs, and beautiful operation on Steam Deck, with no Linux-specific launch, stability, or tinkering issues mentioned.

External guides: The reviews discuss boss difficulty, narrative clarity, and a PC audio settings workaround. None of the feedback explicitly requests or complains about missing external data for farming, drop rates, loot tables, inventory management, crafting, quest outcomes, builds, hidden secrets, or complex mechanics. The strongest issues are narrative information disclosure and a technical workaround, neither of which meets the strict Tier 1-3 criteria.

Short game length: Reviewers report completion times ranging from about 5 to 16 hours, with most citing 8-12 hours for a single playthrough. Completionist runs take around 20 hours.

Frequent comparisons to other indie games: Reviewers compare the game to numerous titles including Celeste, Carrion, Ender Lilies, Nine Sols, GRIS, and Rain World. These comparisons highlight its art style, storytelling, and gameplay elements.

Developed by Rayark and students: The game was developed by Rayark, a rhythm game company, in collaboration with a Taiwanese student team from Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology. It began as a graduation project and was polished into a commercial title.

Compared to Hollow Knight and Ori: Reviewers frequently compare the game to Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Rain World, noting similarities in atmosphere, platforming, and visual style. Some describe it as a blend of elements from these titles.

True ending requires memory fragments: Collecting all memory fragments or bubbles is necessary to unlock the true ending, and a false-ending achievement is tied to fragment count. Thirty fragments are specifically required.