Info about Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus: Official game description: **A NEW FREE MAJOR CONTENT UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE!** ----------------------------------------------------- ** Tanuki Kabuki** - Master the Stage! New Boss Rush Mode. New Collectibles and Quest. Free Update Available Now! **DRIFT DOWN FROM THE CELESTIAL REALM** --------------------------------------- --- Flow with acrobatic grace and agility through a mysterious world of myth and legend in Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, a colorful hand-drawn adventure inspired by Japanese folklore. Undertake a mystical journey as Bō, a celestial blossom (fox tentaihana) that descended from the heavens to fulfill a mysterious ancient prophecy. Use your legendary bō staff to bounce and glide fluidly through an otherworldly realm of hand-drawn, dreamlike landscapes, strange and adorable yokai, and massive monsters summoned from ancient legends of Japan. **DISCOVER A MYSTERIOUS AND HAUNTED WORLD** ------------------------------------------- Explore a diverse and interconnected world in a 2.5D side-scrolling action-platformer with Metroidvania elements. Journey to a haunted castle, a thriving Japanese-inspired metropolis, and many more strange and wondrous places—then find ways to travel back and fully explore newly unlocked paths and surprises. **FIND YOUR FLOW** ------------------ Navigate the world’s platforming challenges with acrobatic precision, elegance, and finesse. Use Bō’s distinctive move-and-reset system to reach new areas efficiently or recover when your footing flounders. **MASTER NEW STAFF TRANSFORMATIONS** ------------------------------------ Brew and drink arcane teas to unlock powerful new abilities for Bō’s shapeshifting staff. Mash foes with the Mochi Mallet, unlock new movement techniques like the Lotus Dash and Grappling Gun, and gracefully power up along your journey. **COLLECT POWERFUL DARUMA ALLIES** ---------------------------------- Each colorful Daruma doll you discover can be upgraded and summoned to the battlefield, where these adorable and powerful allies can deploy spells and other spectacular abilities to aid you in combat. **DRAWN FROM A DREAM** ---------------------- Explore a vibrant 2.5D vision that blends the beauty of paintings, the personality of hand-drawn illustrations, and the elegance of papercraft. **SPIRITED CAST OF ALLIES AND ENEMIES** --------------------------------------- Engage with a larger-than-life cast of bizarre and adorable yokai (supernatural spirits from Japanese folklore) and other original characters inspired by Japanese myth, all 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. **MYTHIC BOSS BATTLES** ----------------------- Challenge massive, awe-inspiring monsters drawn from Japanese folklore! You’ll need to call upon all of the knowledge and acrobatic skill you’ve gained to vanquish these powerful adversaries and advance further in your quest. **MOVE TO THE MUSIC** --------------------- Drift along to the music of a gorgeous original score composed by Moisés Camargo, blending traditional Japanese instrumentation with modern orchestral music. In addition to the base OST the illustrious Manami Kiyota composed 2 special guest tracks for the game as well! Release date: Jul 17, 2024 Categories: Metroidvania, Action Platformer, Hand-drawn Animation, Japanese Mythology, Boss Rush, Exploration Feature scans: - Proton/Linux: score 10; verdict: Works Well; summary: Based on the only provided review, the game runs smoothly on Steam Deck at 90fps, suggesting strong Linux/Proton compatibility. No negative reports or workarounds are mentioned, placing it in the 'Works Well' category. - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: - Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00 - Reasoning: The evidence shows a clear split: a 20€ price point is rejected as too high, while a 12€ sale price is praised as fair. Many recommend waiting for a sale due to the short playtime (~10 hours), indicating the base price should be lower than the current unknown full price (likely around 20€). A few players found the full price acceptable, which sets a floor around 10-12$. Combining these points, the community seems to see a fair base-game price between $10 and $15 USD. - Playtime Metrics: - Game completion: 12.0h - Story completion: 10.0h - Session length: N/A - Endgame: N/A - Reasoning: Multiple reviews consistently report total playtime for a full playthrough (main story + some exploration) between 10 and 12 hours. The story/campaign completion is essentially the same as the first clear, as indicated by terms like 'clear' and 'playthrough' which encompass the main narrative. There is no explicit data on typical single-session length; only vague references to short sessions. Endgame content is mentioned as minimal (e.g., 'little endgame content') but no specific hours are given, so those metrics are set to null. - Time-to-fun: - Summary: The game starts with promising aerial combat and beautiful art, but control imprecision and tedious platforming segments cause fun to decline after the initial hours, with only occasional moments of flow. - Stance: Fun then drops - Anchor: Once the movement system clicks - Time to anchor: N/A - Friction: imprecise controls; tedious platforming with moving objects; repetitive boss fights; grappling hook inconsistency; long fetch quests; uneven difficulty spikes - Unlock drivers: mastering movement abilities; acquiring the grappling hook; progression upgrades - Conditions: patience with control jank; tolerance for repetitive gameplay; appreciation for art style; preference for aerial combat - Player Archetypes: - Veteran Metroidvania Connoisseur (buy) - Motivation: Mastering the aerial combat and boss dance, finding satisfaction in movement optimization. - Playstyle: Focuses on aerial combos, pogo mechanics, and building around specific playstyles (e.g., basic attack). Compares builds and bosses to other metroidvania titles. - Experience: veteran - Purchase stance: buy - Labels: veteran; seasoned player; Hollow Knight fan; metroidvania enthusiast - Reference games: Hollow Knight; Nine Sols; Ori and the Will of the Wisps; Aeterna Noctis; The Messenger - Casual Explorer (sale) - Motivation: Enjoying a visually charming, non-punishing metroidvania with light exploration and relaxed progression. - Playstyle: Explores areas at a leisurely pace, uses accessibility options if needed, and does not stress over optimal builds or challenge runs. - Experience: newcomer - Purchase stance: sale - Labels: new to genre; casual player; art appreciator - Reference games: Ori and the Blind Forest; Hollow Knight (light comparison) - Completionist Achievement Hunter (no buy) - Motivation: Achieving 100% completion, unlocking all achievements, and feeling a sense of accomplishment from full mastery. - Playstyle: Methodically backtracks for collectibles, attempts no-death runs, and optimizes routes. Gets frustrated by poorly designed or overly time-consuming achievement requirements. - Experience: familiar - Purchase stance: no buy - Labels: achievement hunter; completionist; 100%er - Reference games: Hollow Knight (pantheon comparisons); Other metroidvania with achievement challenges Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Beautiful art direction (weight 0.58): The art style is frequently described as beautiful, stunning, and reminiscent of traditional Japanese art, adding to the game's visual appeal. - Excellent platforming mechanics (weight 0.27): Players consistently praise the platforming for being engaging, rewarding, and well-designed, with satisfying movement and jump feel. - Overall enjoyable game (weight 0.2): General feedback shows that players find the game delightful, enjoyable, and fun overall, with high satisfaction. - Well-balanced difficulty (weight 0.16): Players appreciate the challenging but not overly difficult gameplay, with a good balance that makes it accessible yet rewarding. Common complaints: - Bosses too easy or tedious (weight 0.24): Many bosses are seen as too easy, but some are also criticized for having too much health or repetitive patterns, making fights feel long and boring. Exceptions include the final boss, which is sometimes considered too hard. - Grapple hook problems (weight 0.16): The grapple hook is frequently criticized for inconsistent detection, unintuitive controls, and feeling bad to use. This mechanic is a major source of frustration for players. - Heavy Hollow Knight inspiration (weight 0.15): The game draws heavy inspiration from Hollow Knight, with many reviewers calling it a direct copy or derivative. While some accept the influence, others feel it lacks originality and uniqueness. - Clunky and imprecise controls (weight 0.13): Controls are often described as clunky, imprecise, and frustrating, affecting movement and combat. This is a common complaint, making the game feel less polished. - Mediocre story (weight 0.13): The story is described as ordinary, cliché, and uninteresting, with some finding it rushed or hard to follow. It fails to engage players emotionally or narratively. Gameplay feedback: - Metroidvania with Platforming Focus (weight 0.63): The game is consistently described as a metroidvania with a heavy emphasis on platforming, parkour, and aerial movement. It prioritizes challenging platforming over combat, with precise controls and jumping mechanics. - Aerial Combat Core (weight 0.37): Multiple clusters highlight aerial combat as a central mechanic, involving pogoing, air combos, and hitting enemies to reset jumps and dashes. The gameplay revolves around airborne movement and combat. - Compared to Hollow Knight and Ori (weight 0.26): Frequent comparisons are made to Hollow Knight, Ori, and Celeste, noting similarities in combat, platforming, movement, and save systems. It is seen as a mix of these popular titles but generally easier. - Pogo and Aerial Mechanic Emphasis (weight 0.15): The pogo mechanic (downward-slash on enemies/objects) is identified as central to gameplay, enabling jumps, dashes, and combos. It is essential for platforming and combat. - Platforming-Based Boss Fights (weight 0.15): Boss fights are described as platforming challenges rather than pure combat, often gimmick-heavy with high HP. They emphasize platforming mechanics and may lack traditional hitboxes. - Japanese Folklore and Art Style (weight 0.14): The game is set in a Japanese folklore setting with a ukiyo-e art style, featuring areas like Sakura City. This aesthetic is a distinctive element for players. Performance notes: - Loading error crashes (weight 0.03): Loading errors sometimes cause crashes, which is a stability issue that can interrupt the player experience. - Respawn loading screens (weight 0.02): There are loading screens every time the player respawns, which disrupts gameplay flow. Recommendations: - Core metroidvania recommendation (weight 0.39): A large group of players highly recommend this game to fans of the metroidvania genre, especially those who enjoy platforming. The game is praised for its appeal to both experienced and casual metroidvania players. - Similar to Hollow Knight (weight 0.19): Many recommend this game specifically to fans of Hollow Knight, noting similarities in combat and movement. Some suggest it as a good option for those waiting for Silksong. Other player notes: No miscpoints Emotions: - Frustration (weight 0.21): Players consistently cited clunky and unresponsive controls, imprecise movement and grapple mechanics, and repetitive platforming-heavy sequences as major sources of frustration. Specific pain points included tedious fetch quests, brutal difficulty spikes, boss fights requiring flawless no-hit sections, and a lack of checkpoints leading to massive time loss on failure. Additional technical issues like input lag, camera disorientation, and progression-blocking bugs further amplified the negative experience. - Enjoyment (weight 0.15): Players widely praised the responsive controls, fluid aerial combat, and dynamic movement that made traversal and platforming rewarding. The beautiful hand-drawn art, atmospheric music, and creative pogo mechanics were frequently highlighted as engaging. Many found the early to mid-game bosses fun and the overall experience satisfying, especially for fans of the metroidvania genre. - Disappointment (weight 0.11): The primary causes were unmet expectations, with many feeling the game paled in comparison to clear inspirations like Hollow Knight and Ori. Key complaints included a short length, shallow and predictable story, lackluster boss design with weak hit feedback, and a general feeling that the gameplay became tedious or too derivative in later sections. Technical issues and a drop in quality after the early game also contributed. - Satisfaction (weight 0.09): Players expressed satisfaction with the tight, responsive controls and the rewarding pogo mechanics that made movement and combat feel fluid and precise. The beautiful atmosphere, rewarding exploration, and well-balanced challenge that was demanding but not overly punishing were consistently praised. Many considered the game a good value and were pleased with its overall quality, especially for the price. - Excitement (weight 0.05): Players were excited by the game's sublime art direction and fun, creative combat system, which they felt captured the best elements of Hollow Knight and Ori. The unique aerial gameplay and pogo mechanics were highlighted as engaging and 'poppin' once mastered. The free update content, like boss rushes, further fueled enthusiasm, with many describing the game as a work of art and a blast to play. - Admiration (weight 0.04): The game was widely admired for its breathtaking, hand-drawn art style reminiscent of Okami and its authentic Japanese folklore theme. Players expressed high regard for the developers' responsiveness to feedback and the overall polish of the controls, animations, and music. The combined artistic direction and gameplay tightness were repeatedly described as magnificent. - Appreciation (weight 0.04): Players showed appreciation for the game's cute and unique art style, its authentic Japanese theme, and thoughtful aesthetic details. The inclusion of high-quality localization, especially Ukrainian and Portuguese translations, was notably praised. Players also appreciated clever side quests, the tea mechanic, and the developer's good use of feedback to polish the experience. - Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance stemmed from imprecise controls that led to loss of control in the air, and tedious platforming sequences that forced restarts on a single mistake. Specific mechanics like the egg quest, long boss rush, and disorienting camera transitions during combat were cited as bothersome. General rough edges like bugs, typos, and poor save point placement further frustrated players. - Love (weight 0.02): Players expressed deep love for the game's gorgeous visuals and responsive controls, with many calling it one of the most beautiful and favorite metroidvanias. The charming silliness of characters and interactions, combined with the engaging aerial combat and atmospheric aesthetic, created a strong emotional attachment. Several players mentioned wanting to replay the game or eagerly awaiting DLC. - Fun (weight 0.02): Players found the game to be a short but very fun experience, emphasizing fluid controls and the fun factor of aerial combat and parkour. The unique air combat focus and learning Japanese culture references were highlighted as enjoyable aspects. Overall, the gameplay loop was described as refreshing and super fun. - Joy (weight 0.02): Players felt joy from the snappy, responsive movement and satisfying ability chaining that felt natural to use. The beautiful art, cute character designs, and ability to pet animals (dog and fox) were simple but effective delights. The overall experience was described as an absolute blast with fantastic movement and solid boss fights. - Delight (weight 0.01): Delight was sparked by the game's charming representation of yokai and Japanese folklore, combined with its sweet and stylish design. The unique movement system and beautiful sound and graphics created an overall delightful experience. Players found the game to be an extremely good metroidvania with a focus on exploration and movement. - Amazement (weight 0.01): Players were amazed by the game's art direction, calling the visuals a 20/10 and comparing every frame to a painting. The movement was described as the best seen in a video game, with smooth and fluid controls. Several players were blown away, declaring it one of the greatest metroidvanias ever made. - Affection (weight 0.01): Affection was driven by the cute and endearing character designs, particularly the adorable protagonist Bo and the 'angy little fox'. The charming art style and cute dialogues, along with the free DLC's adorable content, made the game a favorite in the genre for some players. - Anger (weight 0.01): Anger was primarily caused by specific game design choices perceived as malicious, such as unskippable long credits and the fragile egg quest that blocks full collection with a no-hit requirement. Players were also upset by the difficulty of the last boss, which made one want to uninstall, and the feeling that the worst gameplay was hidden past the refund window. - Surprise (weight 0.01): Players were pleasantly surprised by the game, expecting a pale imitation of Hollow Knight but finding a fun, polished gem instead. The overall quality and enjoyment exceeded low expectations, making it one of the most pleasant surprises in recent years for several reviewers. - Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arose from inconsistent mechanics like double jump timing, unclear health recovery, and camera issues that made navigation unclear. The map sometimes showing unexplored areas and strange, unexpected update patterns also left players puzzled. - Slight disappointment (weight 0.01): Slight disappointment was expressed over the game being more focused on parkour than combat, and its short length with low replayability. Some players found bosses too easy, beating them on the first try, and wished for a larger world and longer game experience. - Hope (weight 0.01): Players expressed hope that the game would improve or gain recognition in the future, with wishes for DLC to expand the story. Encouragement to persist through early difficulty and hope that the game gets the attention it deserves were common themes. - Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom set in due to the majority of bosses being described as boring and repetitive, with long, simple fight patterns. A lack of engaging story and meaningful NPCs made the gameplay loop feel tedious rather than exciting.}