A new pixel-art Metroidvania is never far away from the new and trending section of the Steam store, and Rebel Transmute from Evan Tor Games is the latest action-exploration epic to find its way onto my Steam Deck as we all patiently gather in the Hollow Knight: Silksong waiting room. A familiar setting awaits in this ode to the ever relevant genre mash up of Castlevania and Metroid, as you quickly find yourself traversing through a living planet packed to the rafters with an eclectic range of mutated mobs, gigantic bugs, and even some rogue AI to boot. Rebel Transmute unashamedly retreads the ground set by its predecessors, and this deriative albeit enjoyable adventure is perfect for fans of the Metroidvania genre looking for another quick hit of the ever-satisfying blend of gated progression and unguided exploration. There’s a flurry of tricky platforming elements to boot. and abilities that you’ll unlock along the way help push this element of the game to even greater heights.
12 Years Is A Long Time In Space
As with an alarmingly high number of Metroidvania’s set in space, the story of Rebel Transmute kicks off with the protagonist, a space scrapper called Moon, crash landing on Terra 6, once the location of a large research facility but now abandoned. In an interesting twist to the established formula, Moon wakes up from this crash twelve years later, adding another layer of both desperation and mystery to proceedings, especially as she’s on a quest to find her mother who has gone missing somewhere on the planet.
After the scene is set, the narrative thrust of Moon’s adventure on Terra 6 is mainly performed through small drops of context and lore garnered through interacting with NPCs, tidbits of environmental storytelling, and a few more significant moments that help steer this story to its conclusion. It’s never really presented at the forefront of this adventure, and it does a good enough job of building atmosphere and establishing Moon’s character, as well as the wider world around her. I’ll avoid too many details as I don’t want to spoil much, but I was a big fan of the themes that Rebel Transmute explores when it bears its storytelling teeth, it helps sell the uneasy atmosphere that I find crucial to this type of setting, and works brilliantly with the open-ended way exploration is handled.
A Familiar New World
Let’s immediately address the elephant in the room, Rebel Transmute is not afraid to wear its inspiration on its sleeve and shove that sleeve in your face before saying, ‘Hey, look at my sleeve’ until you do so. Despite my loathing of lazy comparisons, there’s clear elements of the beloved Hollow Knight here, as well as a smattering of [Super] Metroid, and some traces of Axiom Verge for good measure. Begone lazy name drops! Let’s discuss the important bits that can actually help give you an idea of why I even named these games, yeh?
One of my favourite elements in Rebel Transmute is the rpg-lite systems that allow you to upgrade not only Moon’s blaster, but also equip a variety of augments that can offer a wide range of gameplay benefits. It’s basically like the charm system in Hollow Knight, and effects range from lovecraftian tentacles that block damage whilst you heat, gaining the ability to release damage-inducing spores, being able to tame different creatures within Terra 6, and more.
Again, just like Hollow Knight, each augment has a fixed cost, and so you’ll have to figure out how you want your version of Moon to play, focusing on your strengths as a player, or perhaps on the next challenge that lies ahead? It’s a great addition and every time you discover or buy a new augment you’ll want to test it and see if it will improve your current loadout so there’s lots of space for experimentation.
Moon’s main method in which she deals with all the beleaguered creatures that inhabit Terra 6 is a laser blaster, ah, what a surprise? But get this, instead of taking down enemies from a safe distance you’ll need to be getting up close and personal because this blaster has a ridiculously short range to the point where it genuinely feels odd and makes you feel like you’re wielding a sword masquerading as a gun. As a result the combat feels much more melee-esque, there’s even knockback too which can push you (hehe) into some hairy situations in the later game where you can often be overwhelmed by enemies.
It’s quite weak too, and you’ll have to find some of the optional power upgrades hidden across Terra 6 pretty quickly unless you want to find yourself in a world of pain. I’d hesitate to claim Rebel Transmute is unbalanced though, most encounters are fair enough and just require the typical trial and error approach that litters Metroidvania design convention. Enemy design is a strength, with plenty of different methods of engagement as you progress through each biome. From simple charges to more complex attacks involving projectiles, teleportation, gaseous clouds, and more, combat scales well and keeps you on your toes.
Boss encounters are, inevitably, the best showcases of combat in Rebel Transmute, and in classic video game fashion, they’re tough but conquerable if you can recognise and respond to the patterns they engage you with. It’s fairly standard Metroidvania stuff, and there’s some pretty cool encounters to deal with that reward your ability to be methodical in your approach to combat. My biggest gripe with boss fights is how far most of the reload stations are, a frustration carry over from Hollow Knight that means you’ll have to traipse fair distances each time you die, often a more frustrating feeling than the death itself.
Exploration on Terra 6
Overcoming boss encounters will usually grant you new abilities, including ‘vania staples such as wall climbs and alternate weapon modes, and as a result expands the world of Terra 6 to you. These ability gates are littered throughout the planet, and Rebel Transmute‘s commitment to unguided exploration means you’ll spend plenty of time navigating back through previous locations and retreading steps to discover new areas. It’s nothing spectacular, but its a genre necessity and I think it does a solid job of ensuring you’ll have a constant feeling of discovery. It’s a big map too, so there’s a lot to get your teeth into.
There is certainly a downside to this open-ended nature though, mainly the fact that I often found myself stumbling around without any real idea of where to go next. Now, I definitely think it is worth acknowledging that for some people this is a huge positive, especially those who may have been turned off by the heavy-handed hand holding in recent games like Metroid Dread, but at times I found myself feeling frustrated more than anything.
I don’t want my complaint to come across as detracting from the overall exploration loop. I loved the lack of linearity, as things quickly open up to the point where you can head in 5/6 different directions and still made progress on Terra 6, and Rebel Transmute really sells the feeling that you’re exploring an unknown, hostile planet. It just feels a bit of a slog at times, and I think it’s because even following the straight objective-to-objective route can drag a bit a times.
Luckily, Terra 6 is mainly a pretty fun world to move around in, mainly because of a strong focus on delivering enjoyable (albeit challenging) platforming in a slight sidestep away from the typical Metroidvania focus on purely combat challenges. In another trick familiar to fans of Hollow Knight, the most tricky platforming sequences can be found in gauntlet-style rooms that are enclosed within wider areas and will award you with small collectible tidbits that are nice, if not lacking any real incentive outside of personal pride. On the whole though, Moon eventually has quite a repertoire of arsenal of movement abilities, and it helps make Rebel Transmute a fun game to move around in, which is half the challenge, right?
A Pixel Art Indie Metroidvania?!
After years, and years, and years of pixel art Metroidvania games, it’s hard to be impressed when another one comes out the blocks, and sadly Rebel Transmute doesn’t really do enough with its visual presentation to change this fact. It looks good, highlights are definitely the more colourful locales and boss designs, but otherwise it is fairly run of the mill. It reminds me most of Axiom Verge, which I think is likely due to the shared biomes (aliens, space stations etc.) although I feel Rebel Transmute is a bit less gritty in most places.
The Overgrowth and Sparkblood Mines are highlights, the pixel style really shines in these bright and vibrant environments. However, there is some bad to discuss as well, some sections in particular look outright awful, take the fast travel animation (Left screenshot) or the equally terrible water pipes. It’s a shame as they quickly rip you out from an other wise incredibly immersive experience, but luckily they’re not commonplace enough to be a huge issue, thank God!
Outside of visuals, other elements of the presentation such as audio and atmosphere are a real delight. Rebel Transmute‘s soundtrack brilliantly sells the unsettling feel that these type of settings live and die by, and help build the continuing uneasiness that perforates Terra 6 as you dive deeper into both the station itself and the tales within. The station feels alive, even when the screen is void of enemies or other life, and the ever-present, oppressive sense of loneliness urges you to unlock the mysteries that lay ahead.
One More For The Library
Rebel Transmute is, at its core, a pretty derivative Metroidvania experience. It doesn’t push the boundaries, or attempt to radically alter a tried and tested formula, and has no shame in taking what has worked before and just offering more of that. It’s a good, albeit not spectacular, experience that will no doubt delight fans of the genre if they’re looking for another ‘vania to get their exploration, ability-gated progress, loving selves into.
It’s hard to recommend outside of that scope though, there’s plenty of far superior, more inventive, and better polished Metroidvania’s out there, but Rebel Transmute is testament to the notion that more of the same is usually a good thing when it comes to this beloved genre of games.
P.S. It runs great on Steam Deck!
Tom's World 
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