Bionic Bay Preview – Mystery, Puzzles, and Platforming Pleasures

Bionic Bay instantly gives off vibes from Playdead’s LIMBO and INSIDE, and I was immediately intrigued. Platforming and puzzles combine in this gorgeous indie game, and developer Psychoflow Studio has wrapped this up in an air of mystery. We had the pleasure of playing and previewing Bionic Bay on PC, where the first ten levels were available, and this is how we feel about it.

Bionic Bay Preview on PC - First Impressions

Having played and loved both LIMBO and INSIDE, I felt at home with Bionic Bay. It captures the feeling of mystery and isolation while being its own thing. Its gorgeous visuals enhanced this hauntingly beautiful ambiance, and those who enjoyed Playdead’s titles will enjoy Bionic Bay as well. That said, here are my thoughts on Bionic Bay.

The game opens with a lone scientist in a strange, mechanical alien world, giving no idea of where you are or what you’re doing there. The only option is to go forward and discover for yourself, and that is what I did. At first, there is very little you can do besides shamble forward, but right away, you are given your first power, Elasticity.

All Powers in Bionic Bay and How to Use Them

At first, I assumed this would let me stretch like Luffy or Mr. Fantastic and possibly reach higher ledges. Instead, this power makes the scientist more durable and mobile, increasing jump height, performing rolls, and surviving long falls. With this increased movement, platforming becomes much more enjoyable and fast. 

Within a few levels, I was given the second power, Swap. This allowed me to tag an object and swap places with it as long as I didn’t go too far from it. Teleportation opened up new options for solving puzzles and platforming, which would be crucial in the levels to come.

Playing with the physics in Bionic Bay was very enjoyable, and Teleportation showed this off. What I mean by this is when you tag an object, you can place the teleporter anywhere on it, and where you place it can change the placement when teleporting.

The third power in this preview for Bionic Bay was the Time Freeze ability. This would have been handy when dealing with a particular spinning laser, but it quickly showed itself to be a powerful ability. Its use is self-explanatory, and it has saved me from certain deaths multiple times.

Throughout my time with Bionic Bay, I found the puzzles to be light and easy, that is, until level seven. At this point, there was a huge jump in difficulty and puzzle complexity that took me by surprise. Before this point, I went through each level almost on autopilot. Making the challenges more gradual would go a long way toward preparing players for this point, particularly with a certain spinning laser puzzle.

One of the best aspects of Bionic Bay is how quickly it resets upon death. When I died, I was placed right back at the puzzle or challenge within seconds. This invoked memories of other platformers like Celeste and Super Meat Boy, and I was grateful for it. While my deaths weren’t often, getting right back into the action quickly kept me invested in Bionic Bay and prevented frustration.

While I enjoyed my time with Bionic Bay, I did have some issues. I encountered a few moments of slow down and dropped frames, which thankfully did not interfere with platforming. They were minor, and the developer is still working on the game, so this should be resolved by launch. Another minor annoyance was the lack of secrets!

The game is pretty linear, and it is almost always clear where I have to go, but I would have loved to have a few hidden areas or secrets. This would be a great way to introduce the world to the player and incentivize exploration.

Now, my biggest issue is fall damage. Multiple times throughout Bionic Bay, I would fall from a great height and survive. This was often in a “cutscene” or moment where control was taken from me. But there were times when I’d make a great leap and fall, only to die. It was unclear how the game decided I would live or die, and it seemed random. Thankfully, respawn time in Bionic Bay is quick, so it didn’t slow me down for long, but I would like it to be clearer on how fall damage works.

Bionic Bay’s ten levels in the preview were enough to get me hooked. It’s a combination of storytelling and puzzles inspired by LIMBO and INSIDE work perfectly alongside the intuitive platforming aspects. Bionic Bay also features an online speedrun mode, which takes advantage of the best aspects of the game and gives it a roguelike competitive nature. With a little bit more time before launch, Psychoflow Studio has some time to make final tweaks to Bionic Bay and improve the already impressive foundation I found in the preview.

If you're looking for other games with a spooky ambiance, check out Fear the Spotlight Review – Love at first light on Pro Game Guides.