As I ventured through Bionic Bay, I kept feeling this warm sense of nostalgia, like returning to an older era of indie gaming. Several factors contribute to this. The developer’s previous work, Badland, was a source of endless competitive joy for my friends and me when it was first released. I can see a lot of Badland’s art style and gameplay in Bionic Bay, as well as the DNA of several iconic platformers. Mureena founder Juhana Myllys attributes several genre-defining titles as inspiration, including Mario, Mega Man, and Tomb Raider. In that regard, Bionic Bay also reminds me of the early indie scene, inspired by the very same games. At times, the dreary visuals feel reminiscent of a wacky Limbo, and the skillful mechanics made me think back to other indie pioneers like Super Meat Boy and Braid. In many ways, Bionic Bay is a tribute to these classics, while also incorporating modern innovations.

With so many loud voices in the platformer scene, does Bionic Bay do enough to stand out? Sort of. Controls are simplistic and slick, levels are intriguing, and the unique sci-fi abilities are novel to play with. But with indie games pushing against limitations so much more, Bionic Bay struggles to stand out with its disinterest in varied levels or innovative gameplay.

Bionic Bay may not be reinventing the wheel, but that doesn’t stop it from being buckets of fun. Exploring this decrepit biomechanical world with such tight platforming remained a constant source of entertainment throughout the campaign. And with its inclusion of speedrunning and online leaderboards, Bionic Bay offers a wealth of packages that will keep those enthralled by its speedy pace well-rewarded.

Shifting and swapping through a shattered world

Bionic Bay tells a timeless gaming tale of scientists pushing experiments too far and dealing with catastrophic consequences. You take control of a fortunate survivor of said disaster and are tasked with exploring this apocalyptic new world. Along the way, you’ll acquire a few sci-fi gadgets for traversal, which are creative, satisfying and most importantly, fun.

The controls for the scientist are fast and responsive. They have a simple rubbery feel to them, with both jumping and rolling synergising quite well. Speeding through environments with these options is amazing, and combining each ability to create an unstoppable chain of movement is when Bionic Bay is at its best.

Freeform movement may sound unnatural for the slower pace of a puzzle platformer. Thankfully, puzzles are quick and simple and allow you to maintain momentum, while still managing to meaningfully test players. In most situations, the solution or objective is very clear, the player simply needs to master their timing and execution. Each level is more like hundreds of smaller puzzles stitched together, as opposed to big complex conundrums.

Occasionally, the player will need to stop and plan out their next steps carefully, but these sections still keep their objectives clear. I like the areas where precision and thoughtfulness were required to progress, yet I appreciate that these sections were used sparingly. I’m more fond of the climactic sequences where the player must use all of their skills to escape several dangers in a confined space. Succeeding in Bionic Bay tests your mastery of movement above all else. There are touches of critical thinking, but this is, first and foremost,t a fast-paced adventure.

Still, there are moments where levels left me lost and confused. In rare scenarios, puzzles get a little too big and precise, where traversal can become a slow and awkward affair. More often, the dark environments, while delightfully haunting, made it difficult to tell where I should go next. In addition, the inconsistent rules on fall damage can make navigation all the more aggravating.

What makes the platforming stand out is the inclusion of scientific powers. Most levels revolve around the ability to swap the player with any nearby object. Swapping is so fun. I love how it maintains player velocity, allowing for clever and creative usage. The power encourages experimenting with the excellent physics system. Levels often require you to set up your own pathways or negate hazards by moving around several objects in your environment.

While Bionic Bay slowly introduces new ways to traverse via swapping, the power lacks advanced applications. It’s smart not to change the core functionality, but swapping loses its wow factor when the game never presents any new variations or twists. This issue is emphasised by the overwhelming screentime spent using the power, as it will be the only tool in your arsenal for most of the game.

Later abilities, such as slowing time and altering gravity, are energised and bursting with potential. Yet their screentime is insultingly limited, gravity shifting in particular. By the time you get used to manipulating the environment with these new options, the game is already over. These powers also feel very separated, very rarely requiring you to utilise multiple at a time.

Remnants of futuristic laboratories

Bionic Bay takes a while to fully trust the player. Early levels tend to drag their feet, hesitant to include more interesting situations, focusing on simply guiding the player along. These training wheels take too long to come off, but once they finally do, things get a lot more interesting.

While your powers fail to mix up platforming enough, the hazards are thankfully quite varied. You’re not just aiming to avoid bottomless pits, labs will be full of explosive cannons, deadly lasers and all sorts of lethal machinery. There’s a fantastic blend here; each danger provides its own challenge to overcome and requires players to remember how to mitigate every problem. Some sections require the player to run a gauntlet of several hazards at once, a wonderfully intense experience.

The third and final world represents the best of what Bionic Bay has to offer. The icy aesthetics are incredible, but this world also throws the most abilities and mechanics into the fray. Freezing lasers are such a cool variation on the typically lethal hazards. Instead of simply avoiding the danger, the player must delicately swap objects to freeze new platforms mid-air. These sections are such a delightful balance of risk vs reward, something that I wish were present across the entire journey.

Bionic Bay took me almost exactly six hours to finish. While more of that time could’ve been allocated to the unique late-game powers, I’m content with the runtime. However, I wish more longevity was present. I’m surprised by the complete absence of bonus levels, collectables, alternate paths or even time trials for the campaign. There are missing scientists to find, but all of them are placed directly on the critical path.

The main motivator to keep playing after finishing the story is the online speedrunning mode. Players can compete against each other for record times daily, which contributes to a global leaderboard. It’s a neat feature for those who really enjoy this gameplay loop, and the player customisation is a thoughtful touch. As the level pool rotates often, only time will tell how much variety this mode will bring.

The Bay’s deep, dark secrets

“It’s such a rich style for the game, one that sells the biomechanical setting, and sinisterly alters the mood of every world…”

What I’m going to remember about Bionic Bay most fondly is the excellent visual style. Shadowy foregrounds mixed with vibrant lighting and beautiful backgrounds already worked well in Badland, but they’ve mastered it here. Each level has this beautiful blend of lifeless machinery mixed with forces of nature and lots of “glowy science stuff.” It’s such a rich style for the game, one that sells the biomechanical setting and sinisterly alters the mood of every world by changing the colour scheme.

Special praise has to go to the insanely detailed pixel art. The resolution of some structures is breathtaking; they have a larger-than-life feel, and cleverly use muted colours to synergise with the powerful lighting. The protagonist feels similarly blocky, but thankfully animates with a much more novel, rubbery style. Rolling around laboratories never got old thanks to the players’ bouncy, responsive animations and hilarious ragdoll physics.

While I adore how each world varies by colour palette and hazards, Bionic Bay could do more to distinguish individual levels. Each world’s areas blend together too seamlessly, to the point where each third of the game begins to feel visually repetitive. Again, the exception is the third world, which adds more interesting set pieces to traverse during its later levels.

This wouldn’t be an issue if the worlds didn’t also feel overly familiar. The lighting change is brilliant, but the mechanical sciences fail to look distinct from one another. Even when you’re seeing new assets, they feel rather samey. While the backgrounds sometimes provide this variety, too many levels feature dark, barren walls as their scenery.

Sound plays a much more subtle role in Bionic Bay, but it’s still just as important. Distant eerie noises sell the setting as gargantuan yet devoid of life, and the music used in climactic moments conveys an exhilarating sense of danger. I think there could’ve been a tad more ambient music or sound, but what’s present is still very effective.

The only presentation element of Bionic Bay that didn’t grasp me is the story. Science gone wrong is an iconic inciting incident for gaming, but Bionic Bay as a setting isn’t much more than said incident. There are subtle inclusions of a narrative going forward; the game can surprise you with sudden new elements and includes findable logs from scientists. But it’s all a bit vague and noncommittal. The idea of a story is floated around so much to the point where it seems like there might be a payoff, before everything is dropped to fully focus on gameplay instead.

Overall, Bionic Bay brings a brilliant mixture of enjoyable gameplay and gorgeous worlds to deliver a very satisfying experience. But with all the most exciting elements feeling underutilised or forgotten, I can’t help but wish it had reached for greater heights. Still, if you’re looking for a fast-paced, captivating adventure, you certainly can’t go wrong here.

7

Good

Positive:

Enjoyable and responsive controls and powers for the player
Beautifully detailed dark and broody environments
Dedication to an exciting and fast gameplay style

Negative:

Early levels feel repetitive and take a while to open up
Player abilities are underutilised and miss their full potential
Lacking extra gameplay content or a motivating story

Bionic Bay is an enticing adventure with responsive controls that encourage players to zip energetically through these gorgeously obliterated environments. A fast and exciting gameplay experience remains rewarding throughout its campaign. Yet the reality-bending powers and smartest level design feel too sparsely used and lack depth. Players will likely enjoy the speedy platforming of Bionic Bay, but may wish the game fully realised the potential of its solid building blocks.