MO: Astray | Review

Note: This article may have some grammatical mistakes. Enjoy!

MO: Astray is an action puzzle game developed by Archpray and was released on 25 Oct, 2019 by Rayark Inc. on Steam. It’s one of few games that are excellent at every aspect. In 2019, MO: Astray had 97% very positive reviews despite 300 players.

Story

The game takes place in a human’s laboratory on an alien planet when humans began to travel in space. However, many accidents happened, pushed everyone there into chaos and destruction. Players play as a slime and begin the journey to rescue a mysterious female character. If players want to know about the REAL plot, they have to explore by themselves. The information about the main plot are hid in game environment including enemies, secrets, environment around players, even bosses and the name of each chapter.

By completing a chapter, players will unlock a story explaining what had happened before the laboratory was destroyed. These stories will provide players the information about characters’ past and events.

There are 2 endings: Bad and True. Bad end will happen when players only finish the game without exploring the main plot. Or if players collect all the information about the main plot and finish the game, they will unlock True end.

Gameplay

Although the main goal of every puzzle stages is always to find the way to get to the opposite side, it gives you a diverse experience because of the detailed design of puzzle stages. Moreover, when you finish a stage, you will get a present that is that mysterious girl's cute voice :3.

 All puzzle stages force you to use your brain and master your reflexes. Your skills need to be like when s1mple uses AWM and eliminate enemies easily.

There are 2 difficulty: Easy and Standard. According to the description, “Easy” is suitable for the players that have never played this kind of game, and “Standard” is suitable for the players who have already played. But the difficulty of “Easy” is not really different from “Standard”. It’s like the distance between easy mode and normal mode.

There is a boss in each chapter, you must knock it out if you want to continue. The bosses seem to be huge and powerful. This kind of design shows that the slime is so “small” and “weak” . Being similar to Touhou or the others, the new players usually dodge and die many times, find the way to defeat the boss.

Graphics

Visually, MO: Astray has detailed pixel graphics with moody background. It left a strong impression on almost of players.

 
Soundtracks

The tracks were carefully made to suit for each puzzle stage. Most of them have dark and sad background music, which represent the tragic events in the past. Especially, the tracks of all boss fights are very great, they make you feel comfortable when playing.

The theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bblhKQGhVLc.

Conclusion: 9/10

MO: Astray is worth playing for players who don’t like pixel graphics game or Indie game fans. And this is the first game which Rayark released on Steam so let’s support them ($14,99). You won’t regret buying it!