Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X
The Metroidvania genre – tough as nails platformers where backtracking to reach locked-off areas with newfound abilities is part of the charm – often walk a fine line between challenging players and frustrating them. Every centimetre of progress has to feel earned, each boss fight has to be thrilling, every power-up a life-line, every new skill a triumph. Done right, they encourage players to delve deeper into the world, etching a map of it into your memory. Done wrong, all those obstacles can have you wanting to hurl a controller through your screen.
For better and worse, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus offers both those experiences.
On one hand, it's a staggeringly beautiful and intricately designed 2.5D Metroidvania, drawing on Japanese folklore to craft a unique world populated by imaginative yōkai and monsters. Right from the off, you're tempted by inaccessible areas and just out-of-reach collectibles that beckon you to come back later. Bō themself, a young tentaihana (a fox spirit born from a lotus blossom) moves exquisitely around the world, with running speed and jumping feeling perfect for the environments, and boasting an initial series of staff-based attacks reminiscent of young Goku from the original Dragon Ball. Movement and attacks perfectly blend together in what developer Squid Shock Studios calls its "move-and-reset" system, where Bō gains a surge of height and an extra jump every time they whack an enemy, allowing them to bounce around environments and chain-hop between foes to reach new areas.
As the game layers on its more advanced systems – more weapon forms, companion Daruma dolls that can unleash additional attacks with varying attributes, Omamori charms that enhance Bō's abilities, crafting ingredients that can enhance Bō's stats, and more – it feels increasingly rich and deep. That's before you get to the genuinely fun abilities the adorable protagonist gains too, such as a wall run and a grapple, all of which can be chained into the move-and-reset mechanics.
Prepare to flip between loving and hating it in equal measure.
Unfortunately, despite all those wonderful skills, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus all-too-often slips into the more frustrating territories of the genre. Side challenges are often maddeningly fiddly – an early task to retrieve a supporting character's pets by batting them through gates that are only open for blink-and-miss-it windows being a prime culprit here – while progress is often blockaded by rooms where Bō has to defeat seemingly endless swarms of foes. These feel less like tests of players' skill, and more like aggravating endurance tests designed to pad out sections of the game.
Boss fights, which are often the stand out moments of a good Metroidvania, split this difference. They're typically well-designed, offering impressive encounters against intimidating demons, where you'll need to learn attack patterns and master skill synergies between Bō's ever-expanding raft of abilities. Late game bosses in particular demand mastery of every power gained up to that point to overcome them. What lets them down though is a tendency for bosses to be damage sponges, dragging out battles as you read, counter, and react in the same patterns over and over.
A lot of those irritations can be forgiven though, thanks to the sheer beauty of the world. Squid Shock's hand-drawn art direction is extraordinary, taking inspiration from anime and traditional wood block prints and coalescing them to bring Bō and their world to exquisite life. The end result is a hybrid of Hollow Knight and Ōkami that cannot fail to draw players in, a gorgeous world with hidden detail crammed into every screen. Similar care is paid to Teal Lotus' supporting characters, most of whom offer side quests that flesh out the lore and background to the fantastical setting.
For the more hardcore Metroidvania player, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus' more irritating tendencies may be taken in stride, possibly even enjoyed. For many though, they'll feel onerous, the worst of gaming's "git gud" mentality writ large, and rob this of greatness. Its style and beauty earn Bō a look, but prepare to flip between loving and hating it in equal measure.