Possessor(s) Review: A Compelling Metroidvania with Stylish Combat

Possessor(s) is the latest game from Devolver Digital and Heart Machine, the developers behind popular indie games like Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash. With the new title, the company brings a metroidvania with souslike elements in a compelling experience for exploration and combat.

Welcome to the Ruins of Sanzu City

Luca was just a common girl living in Sanzu City, a place under the control of a mighty megacorporation. Because of an interdimensional catastrophe, demons are now all around causing havoc and the world she once knew was destroyed.

Worse yet, her friend Kaz is now dead and she lost her legs. At death’s door, she strikes a deal with devil Rhem to survive and now has to go around looking for a way to send him back to his world. In the meantime, Luca will also get to investigate what happened in the city and learn some of its secrets.

Though I’ll not explain it in detail to avoid spoilers, the plot is one of the central aspects of the experience. It’s a compelling tale that explores the nasty sides of this highly advanced human society and the difficult coexistence between two races.

The second point is also explored more directly through the interactions between Luca and Kaz, who have a hard time trusting each other. For Luca, Kaz seems like an insensitive otherworldly fiend that craves violence; while the demon sees her as a brat who should learn how to think before acting.

Part of the experience revolves around the two seeing memories of each other as they share the same body. Both of them are selfish bastards who have a hard time looking at each other and showing empathy for their circumstances, but they still grow closer with time. The writing truly sells them as complex individuals whose interactions reflect how hard it is for them to connect with others, especially when they aren’t the same species.

Exploring the Cityscape

When it comes to gameplay, Possessor(s) is a 2D side-scrolling experience, like Hollow Knight, in which players have to explore various areas in the ruined cityscape. This includes a mall, a school campus, an aquarium, a human city and other areas.

The transformed Luca must navigate through them and face demons using weapons like a guitar, a bat or kitchen knives. One interesting aspect of her arsenal is how she can repurpose items like cell phones or a mouse into special attacks that consume her energy bar.

As the player advances through the various interconnected areas of the city, it’s possible to unlock these items and upgrades called Abilities. These power-ups unlock more options for the move list, like a shield for parrying, running on walls or sliding to pass through small gaps.

Mastering these skills is an essential part of both traversal and combat. Dealing with powerful enemies is much easier when the player understands how to dodge attacks and use parrying at the right time to deflect enemy projectiles or stun them in the middle of a barrage of melee hits.

The stylish combat is one of the highlights and a strong testament to the developers’ sense of action. Dealing with big, mighty foes using parry is a major risk, but pulling it off feels extra rewarding.

On the other hand, when the risk may be too much, it may be possible to play smart in many ways. One of the best ways to do it is by abusing friendly fire as enemies can hit each other and understanding their patterns can lead to effectively using this option in your tactics.

Uncertain Steps

If the player dies, Luca leaves behind an amalgamation of chroma, which works as the game’s currency. To avoid losing everything and having to retrieve it from the “corpses” left behind, players can store the chroma they currently have in a pocket dimension which acts as the place to rest, activate autosave and sometimes interact with Rhem.

Chroma can be used to buy items and upgrades from merchants available in various points of the map. As they’re usually close to the pocket dimension checkpoints, it’s not so complicated to get whatever items are necessary, but always having to retrieve all the chroma instead of just enough portions of it can be inconvenient at times.

The biggest issue of Possessor(s), however, is that progress can be very confusing at times. There are long moments in which the player just has no idea what to do next without any clear mandatory goals to advance. As exploration depends on having the right skills available, there will be a lot of backtracking and having to remember previously unreachable locations.

These elements are not uncommon in the metroidvania genre, but the map offers less detail than some situations require, making this experience worse. Sometimes it’s possible to know that a place has a lock by looking at the map, but there’s no way to know the necessary item unless the player goes there (which is often a long process due to the sparse subway stations). The custom markers are also limited in showing only images and if only it were possible to use words as well to tag the areas, it’d be much easier to keep track of things.

There are long moments in which the player just has no idea what to do next without any clear mandatory goals to advance.

It’s not enough of an issue that it cuts the quality of the rest of the game, but it makes the process of dealing with quests and progress much more convoluted than it needed to be. Especially for newcomers to the genre and casuals, advancing through the game may take much more planning as a result.

On the other hand, the atmosphere in the game is astonishing. Exploring these ruins of a clearly advanced society is made extra powerful through the lighting choices and how the music focuses on a desolate ambiance rather than melody. The flashy moveset animation for the protagonist and enemies (especially bosses) are also quite colorful and make the game feel stylish.

Closing Comments:

Possessor(s) is a compelling metroidvania game that's worth digging at to get to experience its flashy and enjoyable combat. The relationship between Luca and Rhem, as well as the general plot, is also remarkable in how it creates flawed, relatable characters in a messed-up situation. Though the game could have gone an extra mile to provide a more comfortable experience for players during exploration, it’s not enough of an issue to keep it from shining.