Let’s dive into a fun 2D side-scroller. Slice, burn, and saw your way through enemies while searching for parts to fix your spaceship. Exploaris: Vermis Story, developed and produced by ViART Games/Studios, was released in early access on September 22nd, 2020. This is a refreshing take on a classic side-scroller. The controls are easy to understand, and the goal is simple yet exciting. You play as Arisa, who lands on a mysterious planet after her spaceship breaks down. She is alone besides having a robot companion taking care of the ship as Arisa explores the planet looking for potential fixes to get the ship up and running again.
The narrative of this game leads you on a wild goose chase, similar to the original Mario games. The robot companion points Arisa in the direction of where a needed crystal is that would fix the ship, and she needs to find it. Once the crystal is located, it's quickly realized that it's not the correct type, and Arisa must continue on in hopes of finding the correct one. This is similar to how Princess Peach is always in “the next castle.” The enemies in this game are based on animals, but with an out-of-this-world twist. The most common enemy is one of the various frog-like creatures, each with their own unique ability. There are forest frogs, stone frogs, and fire frogs. Forest frogs shoot out their tongues, stone frogs don't recoil when taking damage, and fire frogs shoot fireballs when you get too close.
The music is peaceful but increases in tempo when fighting a boss. The music does not overwhelm the game, making distractions from it minimal. Overall, it adds to the laid-back exploration feel. The art style creates a warm, inviting atmosphere above ground, then effectively transitions to cold, dark tones once you enter the mines. Graphically, the game is clean and has smooth transitions from scene to scene.
The hitboxes were very frustrating; I felt that the enemies could still damage me despite being outside of their range. The controls were unconventional, but I quickly adjusted to them. The loading times were minimal, which helped keep me engaged. The biggest frustration I had was feeling lost. Exploaris boasts the ability to find multiple paths to different endings, but I found the options to be overwhelming at times. I also had a difficult time upgrading abilities and tools. Upgrades occur back at the ship. This meant stopping any progression, backtracking to the ship, and then traveling back through the entire map until you reached where you left off. It felt tedious and unnecessary.
Exploaris: Vermis Story is a simple, yet fun and relaxing side-scroller. There were times of frustration when I couldn’t figure out how to move on to the next section of the game, but after having the “aha” moment and finding the right path, it continued to flow. Exploaris did have challenging boss fights, which added to the enjoyment and did not cause boredom to creep in. Some things previously mentioned could be touched up to improve it overall; however, the game is still technically in early access. It may not be reinventing the genre, but this game has charm, colorful artwork, and a good storyline. For $11.99 on Steam, I recommend trying this out for yourself.
Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this game.
