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We spoke with co-founder and executive producer Sarah Hourcade, to learn more about the upcoming Metroidvania set in a stunning and colourful world.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to Gamereactor. Today I'm here with Sarah to talk a little bit about Mio, Memories in Orbit. Now I've just had a chance to play a portion of the game, a sort of later chapter of the game actually, somewhere, you know, by this point we're supposed to have some more abilities and be more familiar with the game, and I went in completely, completely oblivious to what I was supposed to be doing, but it was like a crash course in Destiny, so tell me a little bit about this game, tell me a little bit about what Mio, Memories in Orbit is and why you wanted to make it. Well hi, thank you for playing the game."
"We know it's a bit harsh what we've been making people play right now, but it's a good experience.
It's a metroidvania. I think you've played an experience where you're supposed to have been playing like seven to eight hours already. It's the middle of the game I'll say.
So we wanted to make a game, well our first game Shady Part of Me was a puzzle platformer, very linear, and I think at the end of the game, making the game four years later, we were thinking we want to do something we will be able to play for four years and never get bored, and so that's one of the goals of Mio, Memories in Orbit. It's quite interesting sort of setup we've got, it's a very unique world, so you know, where did the idea for that come from, this sort of, I don't know how to describe it, it's a very, it's almost unique, it's completely different to anything I've ever seen, this sort of really fantastical yet sort of abstract world that you've created. Yeah, in the studio we call it techno magic, but at the beginning we wanted to do something in the science fiction universe, and then we got a little bit free of constraints and everything, and it ended up like this, but I think we have a deep, we have deep roots in science fiction, in I think one of the books we played, we talked a lot was Hyperion, while doing the, making the game, and there was also a lot of inspiration in French comics, so yeah, and that's pretty much the main art inspiration, and then for the games of course, Hollow Knight, Ori, we've played a lot of those games, we love them. So it is a metroidvania obviously, so in this sort of part of the industry where metroidvanias are quite, you know, they're becoming increasingly popular you just say, how have you, what is Mio Memories in Orbit doing to separate itself from the pack?
Well, we worked a lot on the visuals of course, I think everyone noticed this part, but we've also worked a lot about the lore and the universe, it's a very intricate universe with a lot of information, we haven't put everything in it, but we have a very, very deep lore hidden pretty much everywhere, and a lot of aerial combat, so I think it's something between Hollow Knight, which is not very aerial, but a lot of exploration, which we loved, but Ori was more aerial, but not too much exploration, so we wanted to do something with our universe, our feelings, but with the exploration and combat. And one of the other things that you guys are doing is putting a lot of secrets in the game, and also those secrets tend to lead to sort of surprises along the way, for example the one that we saw today, the one that you led me down, and I noticed that boss had quite a, let's say a quirky name to it, so is that something that you wanted to do there, you know, introduce a level of sort of comedy and humor to the game? The backstory is actually kind of dark, so the little humor we put is also a bit of contrast to enjoy a little bit more, because when you understand what happened in the vessel, it's not very happy. So that comedy side of things, maybe dark comedy in a way, so yeah, those secrets, I guess we can expect them to be popping up quite frequently. What are you doing to, you know, sort of encourage the player to go and find them? Well, I think we enjoyed the fact that in the Soul games, sometimes you find the secrets, and you're like, oh I'm going to find a hidden room, and then you find a hidden level, and that's something we really liked, and at the beginning it was very difficult to think, oh my god, if we hid this thing, maybe people won't find it, but in the end, I think almost one third of the game is hidden, and the idea is that everyone will eventually find things, they will have to, so yeah, the quantity makes up for the hidden characteristic. Now one of the things I noticed as well, is that you guys have quite a unique sort of progression side of things with the way that you upgrade. It's not, you know, MetroVanias can be very much, you get this new thing, and that's, you know, there's not much more to it. It's like, this is now allows you to go to different places, but you guys seem to have this sort of upgrade system that enables you to sort of build your character in the way you want, under the pretense that you have a limited amount of resource to suspend. How does that impact the gameplay, and you know, why did you go down that route? One of the goals we wanted to achieve was that the player should have as much freedom in the game as he can, so there is a lot more possibility for the player to choose. We want the experience of going somewhere, it's going to be too difficult, like you did, and then the player to think, okay, it's good, it's too difficult for me, I'm going to try something else, and then I'll come back, and then it's going to be so much rewarding to fight this boss and kill him at the first try."
"Yeah. Now, you told me earlier that, you know, the part of the game that we played today, what was it, seven or eight hours in, you'd say? Yeah. So, how long do you expect Mio Memories in Orbit to continue going for, then? Because MetroVanias can be quite unexpectedly long games. Yeah, we've made a three weeks play test recently, and so we estimate that the true ending for people that are experienced with this kind of games will be between 25 to 30 hours, and the true ending is around 35 hours, something like that. So, plenty of secrets to find along the way by the sounds of things as well. So, Mio Memories in Orbit is coming up."
"For those who are unfamiliar, when is the game coming out and on what platforms?
Well, the game will come up on every platforms, but on the date, it's coming soon, and we are currently waiting to know more about Silksong to be able to set a date.
I think a lot of people are. So, as a final question then, Sarah, when, obviously, when eventually people get their hands on the game, what's one part of it that you're really excited for fans to experience for themselves? I think it's discovering the story, understanding the little bits, and it's kind of a big, very big, long and very long puzzle, but to understand the story behind the scene, exploration, and when people just find a way to come back on their feet and like, oh my god, I'm here. Like, this is a good part."
"Well, there you have it. Stay tuned for more on Mio Memories in Orbit. Again, we'll hear about the release date, given time, but when it does come out, eventually, stay tuned to your local game retro region for more on the game. So, yeah, thank you for watching and we'll see you all on the next one."
