Ah Genopanic. It's without a doubt the most Metroid non-Metroid game I’ve ever played. It has a lot of those same themes and elements but also does manage to stand out on its own.
An important note here is that Genopanic is Metroidvania “inspired”. If you’re not sure what a Metroidvania is, the short version is that it's a sub-genre of platforming and adventure games revolving around non-linear exploration of the games setting. This usually involves obstacles or puzzles in places that require specific items or power-ups from elsewhere to fully complete. The term came about as a result of the popularity of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in 1997, which combined Metroid style exploration and platforming with rpg elements like equipment, stats and level-ups taking place inside Draculas Castle. It became very popular to the point that several Castlevania games following Symphony adopted a similar gameplay style, and there are even more modern metroidvania titles like Bloodstained. Genopanic isn’t one of them. Not truly, but it does pay homage to them and wears its Metroid inspiration on its sleeve.
The premise that you are an expendable underling, sent by The Company to retriev- oh wait. Wrong game. Well kinda, you are sent to retrieve a package from a research station. The catch? There’s no one around and the cat girl A.I in charge wants you to go away. Oh and the package is actually a bunch of GMOs that have gotten loose and are all over the ruined facility, requiring you to traverse the place and find them all. That sounds like a chore but fortunately your trusty doggo A.I, LAIK, is there to point out the obvious and let you know where to go. You can read about any acquired gear and any found lore in a pause menu which does include a map, though I didn’t have a need to use it much. It becomes pretty clear relatively quickly that something isn’t quite right with this facility, as the place has seen much better days. Broken lifts, weird bubbles and acid pools can be found dotted around along with various enemies. There's a reason for all this wreckage that players can discover as they make their way through. Though, I wasn’t given much reason to care as LAIK likes to point out that the important thing is to find the GMOs. That said, it's nice that it's there and it being on the side reminds me of Metroid Prime or BioShock, where you didn’t have to concern yourself with the lore if you didn’t want to.
Much like a Metroidvania, you’ll find new weapons and power ups as you progress, such as a plasma cutter which can cut through enemies and obstacles. A jetpack lets you glide across those bigger gaps you can’t jump over and can later be upgraded with a dash option. A plasma gun functions exactly as you’d expect, blasting enemies and explosive crates. There’s also a capture device that lets you catch the GMOs like Pokémon by shooting a sphere at them and plenty more to find. I ended up liking the plasma cutter a lot as it's quick and doesn’t chew into your battery like the plasma gun. Yes you have an energy meter that you have to watch as you glide around and shoot things. It depletes pretty quickly though which can be pretty annoying deeper into the game.
Unlike a true metroidvania, progression is very much linear. At no point will you question where you need to go. The levels are pretty straightforward, being either hallways or platforming sections with an easy point A to point B. New items and upgrades can usually be found at the end of a long platforming section and then are used to navigate areas you couldn’t reach before. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the levels still have the metroidvania feel, complete with the usual obstacles and even features hidden passageways through the crumbling facility. The downside is that these passageways are actually essential for the platforming and thus are telegraphed rather than being something you stumble across by accident. It’s the feeling of metroidvania style gameplay without the confusion that could possibly come from being non-linear. However, this seriously hurts the sense of exploration since I wasn’t compelled to go out of my way to look for things and it doesn’t bode well for replayability. Still, it's a fun enough time that I didn’t mind it too much.
The retro pixelated aesthetic also helps the game stand out a bit. Being sci-fi means plenty of alien looking technology and all the stuff you would expect of a game that takes place on an abandoned space station. Toxic pools appear pretty frequently and require careful platforming to avoid falling into. Other obstacles include walls made of electricity and weird bubbles that can be destroyed or used to aid in platforming. As I mentioned before, the hidden passageways are usually telegraphed, with cracks or the good old fashioned yellow and black stripes to indicate where they are. If you access a whole new room through one of these, the screen clears over it in a neat animation. The deeper you go in, the more ruined the facility looks, which is a nice touch. And the terrain seems pretty varied across the different sections of the facility. It does a good job of capturing that Metroid vibe and the environments look pretty good. I do wish the main character had more going on than generic astronaut though. There’s not much that makes him stand out design wise which I suppose works with the narrative.
The music is nice and atmospheric and I do actually like the sound effects when you find something. In fact the sound design is pretty nice in this game. There’s a neat little crunch that comes with digging through the passageways and splashes when you fall into acid pools. That said, the soundtrack doesn’t do much to stand out overall. It's the same old space stuff and nothing you probably haven’t heard before.
Overall this is a pretty cool game. I like that it attempts to emulate that metroidvania feel and for the most part, it succeeds. It has all the elements of one, they just don’t work as well with a linear experience. The drive to seek out collectibles isn’t there when they’re all along the straightforward path. The need to consult with a map to see where you are isn’t there when its obvious where to go. I enjoyed this game and respect what it tried to do. It's a good way to pass the time at least and worth looking into if you’re just wanting a fun experience without needing to think too much.
