The main character of the game Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, woke up one morning in the form of a beetle. Doesn’t remind me of anything? Those who have read the story “Metamorphosis” Franz Kafka (Franz Kafka) they probably remembered it – the premise is exactly the same. But if in the book Gregor instantly came to terms with what had happened, and then was forced to exist in this form in the same apartment with frightened family members, then in the game Gregor is shocked by his new appearance and heads to a certain Tower, where beetle people are offered decent wages and are always welcome.
Transformation process
Turns out, Metamorphosis – not the playfulness of just one story, but a mixture of several works. In particular, Gregor is a friend of Josef K., the main character of the novel "The Trial" of the same Kafka. Law enforcement officers Franz and Willem also come to Joseph, refusing to explain the reason for the arrest, then he has to talk with a boring lawyer. But for some reason the girl Leni, who is caring for this lawyer, became a bug in the game, like some other characters.
There are also plenty of references to books by other writers. In one of the episodes you find a secret passage behind the novel "Ulysses" James Joyce (James Joyce), and in another you meet bugs who introduce themselves as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – just like in the play Tom Stoppard (Tom Stoppard), they have no idea which one is which. This whole jumble does not seem like a jumble of names and events from literary works of the last century – everything is so masterfully put together, as if it should be so.
Although Metamorphosis completely ignores the plot of "Metamorphosis", the story here is no less absurd. On his way, Gregor will meet many beetles, which, even being insects, continue to exist as before, only instead of ordinary human houses they use gramophones and tables with cabinets. They dance, drink and sing songs, and also experience all the delights of bureaucracy – for the sake of one piece of paper, the main character will have to visit several locations, help a couple of beetles and even solve puzzles.
Locations to match this paradoxical universe https://wickedjackpotscasino.co.uk/login/ – the protagonist either explores his friend’s apartment, or finds himself in mysterious areas with flying paper sheets and other oddities. Since the main character is very small, the objects around him become huge – it’s not so easy to jump on thick books, pencils and forks serve as bridges for moving from one table or chair to another, and tall cabinets and chests of drawers seem out of reach unless a path is made to them from well-scattered trash.
Life of a Bug
Metamorphosis is an adventure whose genre varies slightly in each zone. Either this is a walking simulator (or rather, running – the character moves quite quickly), or a simple platformer in which filigree jumping accuracy is not required, and sometimes the game throws up easy riddles – you need to find the way to the next area, or get to the buttons and press them, or do something more complex, but not difficult.
Gregor has very few abilities: he runs, jumps and can interact with the coils necessary to solve puzzles. From time to time you come across spilled honey – as soon as you step on it, a new scale will appear in the corner, and the character will be able to walk on the walls and leave a sticky trail behind him. This will also be useful in some moments, but you should remember that the hero is not able to move along the ceiling even with sticky paws – he immediately falls down.
There is enough variety here that you won’t get bored during the four hours of playthrough. In the second half of the game there is not the most successful episode, where in a huge location Gregor is forced to run from one corner to another and talk to everyone, and this moment spoils the impression a little – the dialogues, of course, remain funny, but the process itself does not bring pleasure. However, this is the only chapter in which Metamorphosis sags.
What’s really disappointing is the quality of the Switch version. Smeared textures greatly spoil the visual component – the developers paid so much attention to the environment, added so many details, and as a result, on a hybrid console, even the text is sometimes impossible to read due to the low resolution. The scale of the locations is still impressive, but it is advisable to play the game on a more powerful platform – although the graphics here are far from advanced (the models of some people, for example, look strange), the design of the locations is very good.
Metamorphosis – a pleasant, stylish adventure for one evening, based on several works Kafka and successfully mixing them. The satire ridiculing the horrors of bureaucracy will make you smile more than once, and the gameplay is not limited to simply moving from one pretty location to another – it offers enough mechanics to keep the user until the end. Only occasionally does the game disappoint with strange gameplay decisions.
Pros: an unusual mixture of literary works of the last century, especially books Franz Kafka; unusual locations that allow you to understand how tiny the main character is; funny dialogues.
Cons: in the second half the pace sags slightly due to one unfortunate episode; bad graphics on Switch.
