Mo astray, mo problems

First thing's first: MO:Astray's Steam tags call it a Metroidvania. It isn't. At least as far as I saw, there's no backtracking, no world map, and not a lot in the way of ability upgrades.

MO:Astray is instead a linear platform-puzzle game with a sci-fi narrative. The story seems fairly predictable: underground science facility, experiments gone wrong, scientists turned into zombies; you know the drill.

The protagonist, Mo, is a blob. It can move left and right on the ground, and can stick to walls or ceilings, but can't climb them. At least, not directly; Mo can jump from one wall to another, which is the foundation of most of Chapter 1's traversal puzzles.

These mechanics are competent enough, but ... kinda boring. The novelty of blob-movement wears off after a few rooms. And while the game does gradually show off additional traversal abilities (like a mid-air jump), these are introduced too slowly to keep the game interesting.

There is one cool twist in how Mo can leap onto a creature's head - be it a zombie scientist or a wall-crawling spike rat - and take control of it. But even this mechanic becomes underwhelming pretty quickly; mind-controlled creatures simply don't do very much.

Meanwhile, the atmospheric ambience can be engrossing in how well it pulls off the "post-incident" vibe, but is just as often spoiled by a general lack of polish. Foregrounds and backgrounds are difficult to discern in a dark room; positioning some movable platforms takes an unwelcome amount of trial and error; a swinging mechanic is inconsistently applied to some objects, but not others.

MO:Astray isn't a bad game, but it's not that compelling, either. There are plenty of other platform-puzzlers, and true Metroidvanias, with more interesting gameplay and storytelling.

Better than: Rise & Shine
Not as good as: The Swapper
Less combat-focused, but arguably on par with: Capsized

Progress: gave up after a few minutes in Chapter 2.