Metamorphosis VR review

Metamorphosis VR is inspired by the work of Franz Kafka where a man is transformed into a bug. Drenched in surrealism, you play as Gregor after a night on the liquor. Waking up as an insect isn’t something I’ve ever experienced. Surprising, I know, but the idea that seeing the world through the many eyes of an insect is the closest thing to being Rick Moranis in Honey, I shrunk the Kids. Unfortunately, it is bogged down by some awkward gameplay and its fair share of bugs.

The sense of scale is impressive as you feel so small and insignificant. Standing in a box room as an adult makes you feel like you’re standing at the edge of a football stadium as a bug. There’re plenty of pitfalls and obstacles which add to the impressive scale, and while the visuals aren’t as impressive as other virtual reality titles, Black Sun Productions has done a decent job of making the world feel exciting and grand in a literal sense. In one section, I was moving across open air while I should have been walking across a platform, highlighting just one of the bugs I encountered.

Getting around the environment is trick enough as you move your arms, which then moves Gregor. You can switch to standard moving with the analogue sticks, which is something I did straight away. The most frustrating thing for me was jumping. Not only do you have to get it exactly right doing a ‘skiing’ movement to do so, the accuracy of landing is way off. The amount of times I fell to my death or didn’t reach the right platform because I didn’t jump high enough were too many to count.

Then there’s climbing. Some things you can’t climb up, but it’s never clear. When you do start to climb, you just kind of move up a wall and you don’t feel as though you’re in control at all. When simple actions like getting around an environment should be the least of your problems, it becomes the biggest challenge, making the actual joy of exploring a chore. It’s such a shame because there’s so much potential in Metamorphosis VR that these issues hold back a large chunk of potential enjoyment on offer.

Other issues I had came from picking up objects and struggling to interact with some of the other bugs. I couldn’t actually initiate these prompts which was frustrating to say the least. One thing I do know is the developers are working hard to improve these issues, so hopefully they’ll be ironed out soon. I just struggled to feel comfortable enough to play Metamorphosis VR, mainly due to the movement. The audio wasn’t too bad, and with such an interesting world to explore, there is a lot of potential for what the game could be.

Metamorphosis VR features an interesting story and a fascinating world, but the actual bugs held back my enjoyment. Movement is awkward especially when jumping, and I hope these issues can be fixed. There are some interesting characters to meet, and some strong voice acting, meaning not all hope is lost when playing. There are some puzzles to solve, but when getting around is a problem, it’s hard to get the most out of it.