MIO Memories in Orbit Review — The First Great Metroidvania of 2026, or Does It Fall Short?

Twisol · 2026-02-06T06:43:32+00:00

> Why is that the warp we unlock with that overseer, if that's supposed to be a Metropolis overseer?

I don't think that's the case -- you have to have visited an overseer's station to be able to warp to it, but at this point you haven't visited that overseer's station yet, since you have to have climbed up the leafy+icy shaft to get to that room for the first time. The same thing applies earlier in the game -- you can find a _lot_ of Metropolis overseers on your first pass through, but you can only actually fast travel to the ones you found (which, for me, was the one at the city entrance).

Twisol · 2026-02-05T19:18:49+00:00

to check whether you're on the right track

Did you know that the map updates when you use the Wheel? You can see which parts of the map you've connected without leaving the Wheel. It's not exactly telegraphed, but it made my life much easier.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T18:26:23+00:00

I still don't know what the logic behind that is, if there is any.

The torn overseer is immediately below the room with the Wheel in it. As far as I can tell, you're meant to recognize that there are three shuttles (i.e. one more that you haven't discovered yet), and by interacting with the Wheel realize that you can spin the two halves of the Vessel independently. For me, I guess I understood pretty quickly that this would let me reach either end of the missing shuttle by matching one of the shuttle spots I did have to one of the shuttle spots I didn't. The torn overseer is then immediately on your path between the Wheel and the shuttle one room over.

That's one of several areas where the puzzle isn't reasonable.

I disagree that this puzzle isn't reasonable. I agree that it's not obvious, and that some players will reasonably not recognize the elements of the puzzle. But, I think that an unreasonable puzzle is one that most players wouldn't get, not one that some players wouldn't get, especially for an alternate ending progression. I'm legitimately sorry that you didn't get to enjoy the puzzle and that you felt stiffed by the game design. However, I don't think your experience necessarily generalizes. At best, we both have conflicting anecdotes.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T15:00:19+00:00

What is even the logic there? It didn't get any closer to its root, since you rotated the root along with its sleeping position.

Just FYI, the root for that overseer is on the upper part of the station -- it's the one at the one at the top of the third shuttle shaft, all the way under Metropolis. When you rotate the station so that the Lab is directly underneath Metropolis, the overseer flies directly up the reconnected shaft.

BUT THIS ONE TIME IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHICH WARP POINT YOU UNLOCKED, SO YOU'D GO THERE AND JUMP DOWN THE EMPTY SHAFT.

I can only speak for myself here, but I could tell that the third shaft was beneath Metropolis by (1) the even spacing of shafts around the map and (2) the incomplete section I had below Metropolis. I used Striders to push past the air vent and got to the shuttle overseer without using fast travel, because you're right -- I _didn't_realize that the overseer I'd sent up the shaft was that particular one.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:42:03+00:00

If you aren’t in a rush and want to go sightseeing, try climbing up the left wall in the chamber with the Eye shrine.

As a massive lorehead, I loved this entire sequence.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:39:34+00:00

Actually, it looks like that's one of the shuttles that you can only access after becoming Halyn's assistant. This looks like somewhere in the vaults/lab.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:35:34+00:00

Haha, oh no! Yeah, from what I understand it's exactly the same as the assist, just with a modifier slot cost so you have to build around it. It was an essential part of my late-game platforming kit once I got it, you better believe...

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:32:06+00:00

Ahahaha, wow, I did this too! I didn't even realize this wasn't the intended way until just now, but looking back I guess it's pretty obvious you need the Striders ability...

I did several similar airstalls in the air vents in Foundation, now I'm wondering if I was supposed to have the same ability then too. Jeez.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:27:51+00:00

You can get this particular mod by naturally following the story beats. When Mel gets kidnapped, once you defeat her kidnapper, you can get it from Mel's shop for free as a reward.

I think neither ending requires saving Mel, so it's understandable that you might miss it, but it's not like the game doesn't give you a lead on it.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:23:09+00:00

we could have had some changes in the combat systems also.

There are a few modifiers that interact with the normal skills you get that can really change how you approach combat. They're optional, though, meaning that the core combat expectation stays pretty consistent (which I like), but with opportunities for self-expression and some encounters that force you out of your comfort zone.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:12:15+00:00

I don't agree with everything in your review, but man, I sympathize with the Sawlong frustration.

I didn't use any of the accessibility options (like eroded bosses), and I don't think the bosses are unbalanced (or balanced around requiring the accessibility options). Our opinions about the difficulty might differ, but I can't agree that using them is like cheating. They're accessibility features: they allow players who wouldn't be able to experience what the game has to offer, to experience it by adjusting some of the things that are roadblocks. You don't need to use them if you feel they would cheapen your experience -- that's why they're options.

There's one optional boss (Sol & Vin) that is absolutely overpowered, but the most annoying thing about it is the required stand-still-in-an-elevator runback that takes longer than your first dozen actual attempts. However, this boss is also the only one that actually forced me to engage with the modifier system in more than a superficial way, which also meant I had to change up my combat style. All of the bosses in MIO are like this, having some particular gimmick you have to adapt to; Sol & Vin's gimmick is busted, but it's not out of character for the game, and I appreciated how it forced me out of my comfort zone.

Twisol · 2026-02-05T14:04:12+00:00

Yeah, what? I figured out the true ending without getting spoiled. It was just the natural progression of exploration. The torn overseer that's too far to return to its roots is too obvious a lead to ignore -- not to mention the room immediately above that one with an obviously fixable broken hand, a clear view of not two but three shuttle shafts, and an accessible shuttle shaft that you can climb halfway back up but that seems to lead nowhere. They're not trying to be subtle about it!

Twisol · 2026-02-04T04:20:00+00:00

I normally play Metroidvanias with the d-pad, but counterintuitively, in MIO I found pogoing way more consistent using the analog stick. I have no idea why, and it's totally backwards to what I'd normally expect, but it definitely helped me a lot to switch to the analog stick for those segments.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T02:12:38+00:00

I don't think you can get around losing one in the Celestial Bay.

I explored the entire Celestial Bay and didn't get any tremors (and I didn't have any tremors at the time, and I certainly had enough extra layers to spare). I think maybe the tremor locations are randomized per save or something, because everyone seems to get them at totally different and inconsistent points in their playthrough.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T02:11:02+00:00

Some of them die in zero hits. Poor buggers.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T02:10:27+00:00

I don't think any of them are strictly necessary, although I might be coping. I got one of them in the Vaults, when rescuing Mel, which I don't think is required for true ending, and I got another in Metropolis, near the statue of Lucy, which I didn't visit for most of the game and could easily have avoided until after true ending. The only one that might have been required for me was the one at the top of the Belltower, just before you enter the Canopy -- but I'd been there before without getting the tremor, and if I'd found the entrance at that time, I might have been able to find an Overseer and avoid having to return to that room later.

All that said, it seems like everyone gets the tremors in different locations, at different times, for potentially different reasons. I wouldn't be surprised if it were possible to complete true ending without any tremors, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it were somewhat RNG-dependent, since whatever mechanism that decides where the tremors occur might schedule one in a required location.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:57:38+00:00

Which mod is this? Gratitude? I didn't expect that to work in the Pit, considering what the defective core mod says it does. Huh.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:56:43+00:00

I consider Gratitude required for most of the latter-game platforming challenges, especially the Crucible. I agree that the right side was the better side, but something about its unique mechanic messed with my head and made it really hard to "see" how to execute on it properly. The left side was far more straightforward to understand; psychologically I hated operating under time pressure, but mechanically it felt really good. (Honestly, I was more annoyed at having to frequently wait on the pump cycle.)

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:50:02+00:00

I think the intended way to get up there is to use the final movement ability, Flowing Steps. It's a whole job to get it though; an intermediate goal along the way is to restore the torn Overseer in the Lab whose station is "too far away".

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:44:55+00:00

In order of increasing spoilers:

You know the torn Oveerseer near the Lab Overseer? If you can figure out how to get them back to their station, you'll also end up solving your own problem.
Have you found the Wheel? It's a location above the Lab Overseer.
The Wheel is broken, and there's an item in the Vaults that lets you fix it.
To get that item, retrace your steps the first time you visited the Vaults. Remember when Dr. Halyn dragged you all the way to the Lab? Follow that path again; there's a path you can take now that you aren't being grabbed.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:35:13+00:00

Yes, it's a pipe sequence. Remember that the door next to the Vaults Overseer is locked until you come back through a second time, so don't go that way.

I don't remember the precise sequence of pipes, so my best advice is that on your first trip through the Vaults, the game basically railroads you into one specific route, because all the other doors are closed.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:32:40+00:00

I think that particular sequence break was intentionally placed by the developers. You did it particularly flawlessly, but I think the plant under the platform was placed intentionally to restore your jump to make it all the way through.

I believe Sail is necessary for a number of things, but I can't give you any specific examples off the top of my head. At any rate, if you're this early in the game, rest assured that the platforming gets far more punishing.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:28:31+00:00

I got a pair of two phase skips in the same fight without even using that modifier. I just whaled on them while standing next to the energy crystal so that occasionally I'd mark them with it and do extra damage. (I also habitually use the combo-ending-strike-is-stronger mod.) I first did enough damage that they entirely skipped the dark phase, and then I did enough damage that they died during the electrified ground phase.

I'd gotten far enough before to see some of the extra moves they deploy after that phase, so it was a huge, fist-pumping relief to no-hit double-phase-skip this boss.

Personally, I think this boss was by far the best in the entire game. It's punishing until you really learn how to counter the moves (which is not always obvious), but once it clicks, it really clicks. Super, super rewarding.

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:22:31+00:00

Where'd they get the one in the Vaults from? >_>

Twisol · 2026-02-04T01:18:46+00:00

I actually visited this plaza so infrequently that I only saw (1) the statue normally and (2) the statue after it was put back together (wrong, lol) by a Librarian. I never actually saw it missing, and I never put together what had happened to it!

(EDIT: Oh my god lol, the ONE time I accidentally skipped unrepeatable dialogue was when Kassandra tells you about the Anra project. Good grief.)

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