Teal Lotus Path, Japanese drawings and folklore

Bö: Path of the Teal Lotus is a lovingly hand-drawn metroidvania inspired by Japanese folklore.

Squid Shock Studiosa small independent studio based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This brings us Bö: The Path of the Teal Lotustheir first title in which they opted for a classic metroidvania with many Asian touches. An aesthetically very personal and well-crafted game, but will it live up to its gameplay?

History of Bö.

In Bö: The Path of the Teal Lotuswe will embody Bö, a celestial flower (a fox called tentaihana) who has descended from the sky to participate in an ancient and mysterious ritual that, apparently, we are not yet worthy of performing.

With this little introduction you embark on a metroidvania that lacks a lot of work in terms of the plot. For a good handful of hours, there is no common thread or clear story to rely on. You simply explore and acquire skills. This takes away a lot from a title that, in other aspects, more than fulfills its objective.

Classic or copy?

And that’s it Bö: The Path of the Teal Lotus This is a “classic” metroidvania in every sense of the word. It feels like a stale game. For starters, it doesn’t add anything new to the Metroidvania classics we’ve come to expect over the last 10 years. To make matters worse, its mechanics, abilities, and backtracking (even some of the story) are unoriginal and too often hark back to genre references like Ori and Hollow Knight.

However, it is notable which is technically neat, the title plays well and is user-friendly for the player. The double jump mechanics with punches, jumps and other abilities work smoothly and are not frustrating.

However, it is true that the game loses some of the meaning of platform with some missions focused on pushing or hitting objects that take us out of the classic metroidvania. This can be negative or positive, I think it’s remarkable because it tries to bring something of its own.

Original in aesthetics, not in gameplay.

However, much of the work of Squid Shock Studios This reminds us of other Metroidvania titles. This makes the comparisons bad for Bö: The Path of the Teal Lotus. For example, your map is very sparse, and after testing the possibility of adding markers from the last Prince of Persiawe are missing something similar. Although we have the classic backtracking after acquiring new skills after defeating bosses, some kind of collectibles and a teapot that will heal us. These are not all very original mechanics, and they will directly link us to all those titles of the same genre that we have exhausted.

Despite all this, the game looks very good. As we said, Bö: The Path of the Teal Lotus It has an aesthetic inspired one hundred percent by the Japanese folkloreThis, combined with its particular graphic modeling based on hand-drawn drawings, gives it a personal touch that sets it apart from the rest.

CONCLUSION

Although it is a title remarkable for its technical performance and its neat aesthetics, Bö: The Path of the Teal Lotus This is not surprising at all with its playability. Copy many others metroidvania and contributes very little to an increasingly demanding and widespread genre in which it is difficult to stand out.

Its efforts to have its own aesthetic identity are commendable, but it loses the few points it gained with its poor plot. A poorly told story with very little hook for the average player. And yes, after 3 hours the game, it does not awaken in you some kind of emotion that generates the need to move forward and continue playing, we are faced with a big problem. It’s still a good title that will take you around 10 hours to complete if you can stay glued to the controller.