MIO: Memories in Orbit Review: Pretty Pedestrian 

The Metroidvania genre has exploded in popularity over the years, leading to all kinds of interesting takes on the formula. Metroidvanias break down into offering a map full of rooms that gradually open as the player acquires abilities that let them reach new areas, so there are countless potential iterations, from castles to cities to underground kingdoms. 

MIO: Memories in Orbit takes a sci-fi approach to the genre, as it’s set aboard a spaceship that has long since fallen into ruin. The player takes on the role of MIO, an android who uses her long hair/wires to slice apart the rogue AIs that get in her way. Guided only by vague messages from the surviving systems and strewn datalogs, MIO has to get the ship up and running again. 

The Escapist recaps

• MIO: Memories in Orbit is a Metroidvania starring a little robot on an abandoned spaceship, with locations inspired by the human anatomy. 
• The game is developed by Douze Dixièmes and published by Focus Entertainment. 
• MIO: Memories in Orbit launches on January 20, 2026. 
• MIO: Memories in Orbit is coming to Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. 

MIO: Memories in Orbit is an absolutely beautiful game

This review was written in early January 2026, but it’s already safe to say that MIO: Memories in Orbit is a strong contender for the best-looking game of the year. That is, unless Grand Theft Auto 6 doesn’t just suck up every 2026 award like some kind of sandworm. 

The world of MIO: Memories in Orbit looks like a European sci-fi comic book come to life. Its painted world even has subtle shading lines in the foreground, adding to the effect. MIO: Memories in Orbit has grand cities with skylines that stretch into the distance, like something out of a Moebius comic, as well as picturesque forests of mushrooms that burst with color, and foreboding subterranean areas filled with lava that shed a foreboding light. 

Unfortunately, the gorgeous aesthetic doesn’t apply to the characters within the world. While MIO herself is cute and the wire hair is an excellent idea for a weapon/traversal mechanic, the vast majority of the NPCs (be they friendly residents or enemies) are basic robot designs, the kind that can be scribbled on a napkin in five seconds. They lack the charm of MIO and don’t fit the world’s grandiose feel. 

The dull creature design is at its worst with the bosses, as they’re so basic that it takes the sting out of fighting them. Bosses should be an explosive affair, especially in a game carried so much by its visuals, yet these collections of boxes inspire no fear or joy, just a sort of “seen it all before” malaise. 

A pretty box for a run-of-the-mill Metroidvania

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a standard Metroidvania in every way, though it’s a touch more forgiving than many of its contemporaries. MIO fights with her wire hair, which is also used for traversal, with unlocks that are earned over the course of the game, such as gliding and scaling walls. There’s also an unlockable dodge that grants a few i-frames. 

There are several Assist options in the settings menu that are a godsend. These include an option that weakens a boss each time you lose to it, framing it as the boss decaying, as well as a single-use shield that regenerates when you stay still for a few seconds. The boss-weakening option is great when your patience is running thin, as it reduces the challenge a little more each time. 

It’s highly advised that you use the shield Assist on a first run. This is because MIO: Memories in Orbit features platforming sections with Celeste-tier difficulty, including instant-death walls that require precise movement. Usually, the player can take a few hits before death and being sent back to a fast travel point, so you’ll have several chances to complete them, but the platforming sections often have leaps of faith, where it’s almost impossible to see what’s coming next and react in time. As such, having the extra shield that gives you infinite chances at completing the platform sections is ideal, especially when they can often come off as cheap. 

The combat and gameplay in MIO: Memories in Orbit often feel uninspired and are far too frequently boring. It lacks the tight controls and speed of something like Hollow Knight: Silksong, and there are no gimmicks that make it feel fresh. There are optional upgrades/modifiers for MIO to unlock, but they barely affect the gameplay in any meaningful way, and it’s easy to forget they’re there. 

The gameplay in MIO: Memories in Orbit isn’t bad: everything is perfectly serviceable. There’s just nothing exciting or unique about it. MIO: Memories in Orbit is functional, which would be fine if there weren’t countless other Metroidvanias on the market doing the same thing, but better. 

If the gameplay was even a little as imaginative as the visuals, then MIO: Memories in Orbit might have been something special, but the result is, sadly, average. 

Lost in a dreamlike state

One of the most frustrating aspects of MIO: Memories in Orbit is the world design. I’m not talking about the aesthetics, which I’ve previously established are top-tier, but rather the progression. 

It’s often unclear where you need to go or what you have to do. It’s fine that the story isn’t always up-front, because that adds the mystery of what happened on the vessel. It’s more frustrating when you don’t know where to go next. 

The map in MIO: Memories in Orbit will flash on the edges if there’s an area where you haven’t explored yet, but these can be hard to make out, and it’s possible to cover them by accident, as the game encourages you to place your own map markers. 

Throw in the fact that MIO’s movement speed isn’t great, and the fact that some of the abilities’ functions aren’t adequately explained means there’s a lot of time-wasting, as you run around fruitlessly looking for where to go next. 

MIO: Memories in Orbit is the kind of game that’s going to have lots of people looking for walkthroughs, because it’s genuinely difficult to know where to go next. This goes against what makes a fun Metroidvania, as the enjoyment comes from getting a new power and imagining the possibilities for using it to reach new areas. 

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a pretty game, the kind where you can get lost in its world. Unfortunately, MIO: Memories in Orbit is a video game, not a cartoon, and the gameplay is a little too mundane, and its pacing is a bit too all over the place. There are certainly worse Metroidvanias on the market, and MIO: Memories in Orbit can easily be recommended for people looking for something similar to Hollow Knight, but more forgiving. It’s more the Metroidvania diehards who will be wishing that there was more under the hood. 

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