Genopanic Preview

Genopanic is an upcoming (not-)Metroidvania-inspired adventure platformer with pixel art graphics developed and published by Mobirate. It’s actually a follow-up to a mobile game called Space Expedition, which has a similar gameplay style. I had a chance to check out Genopanic before its official release, so here’s what I found from the playtest.

The game starts with you arriving at a facility to pick up a special package to deliver, with a little doggy A.I. to help you along and keep you company. Once you arrive, though, the facility is dark and empty, and there's barely anyone alive to talk to. Something has obviously gone wrong here, and it's up to you to figure out why before that same "something" catches you first.

Unlikely related to the Chongus I just captured.

In the game, you can run, jump, and dash, and soon enough, you’ll find a plasma cutter (a sword), a jetpack, a magnet gun, and a flamethrower. The controls feel good, with natural jump arcs, interesting movement, and simple yet effective combat. Saving just requires passing by a station, and death isn’t more than a few jumps away, which is nice considering you only start with three hits before dying.

The facility itself is rather good-looking, as a complex maze of rooms and platforming challenges to get through. There are a lot of crumbling blocks that either stop you from getting to your objective directly or hide little secrets to find, with some good level design that subtly teaches you more about Genopanic’s systems. However, I managed to somehow softlock the game twice just by pushing boxes into the wrong place. Since the demo doesn’t save after you exit the game, I had to replay it twice, which only took about half an hour each time. Hopefully, these softlocks won’t be there in the final game because I really enjoyed my time here.

What a weird tactic.

I liked what I saw with the writing and gameplay, and I want to explore more than just the half-hour of content I was given. Genopanic seems to be shaping up into a great little adventure where you’re probably going to unleash some eldritch abomination that you’ll have to kill.

Genopanic will release on PC via Steam during Q4 of 2023, so don’t be afraid to check it out during Steam Next Fest starting June 19th.