Zapling Bygone | PS4 Review

In JanduSoft's, "Zapling Bygone" we find a planet sized hive minded entity known as the Zap on a quest to win a war against an encroaching parasite that seeks to devour both the living and the dead across the universe. With the Zap keeping the balance between life and death by consuming the dead this parasitic threat will effectively kill off it's existence, and disrupt that harmony altogether. 

As a Zapling sent out on a history seeking quest among dead planets from the Zap hive mind itself you must find out the facts through found fossils while fighting off the relentless scavengers left behind by bleeding them dry of their plasma. Utilizing spilt blood as a means of traversing biomes while collecting memories, relic abilities, and skulls that will gift new means for further exploration.

Zapling Bygone is a curious creature focused metroidvania where gained abilities, and skulls allows for the playable Zapling to find the information it needs to destroy the parasitic infestation that plagues it. Initially you drop down on a distant planet as a part of the Zap hive mind only to mutate, and evolve as you assume the consciousness of the planet's inhabitants through the skulls of the deceased. This in turn opens up exploration in different named locations where puzzle solving, and precision platforming are the key to survival. Leaving the hidden relics that can be found to add bonus passive, and active combat/defense related capabilities. 

With the paths before and behind you mapped out like a maze, finding save points along the way is crucial to maintaining the flow of progress as well as retaining the items that you've collected. This costs plasma which is a type of currency dropped by the creatures of each biome. Something that can be spent to create save points, and to open up fast travel transportation. Something that will become useful after you've obtained skulls from defeated bosses that make access to previously inaccessible areas possible.

Governed by it's own four sections worth of health gauge, and three circle gauges for recoverable health made possible through the killing of enemies or collection of luminescent plant life the Zapling must make it as far as it can before that health is fully depleted. Upon full depletion the Zapling will respawn at the last save point it created. It can also refill health by saving again at an already created save point. That's why it's important to save your progress whenever you get the chance. It goes without saying plasma collecting is a vital part of progression as it will allow for these save points to be created, and travel pools to be created for fast travel.

Between the fighting, and the exploration the Zapling must also seek to find both relics and skulls to improve upon it's abilities. These items are usually hidden out of view, or either gated off by a boss battle. Thus making it imperative to explore every nook and cranny of each biome. Aside from that there are also memories obtained by interacting with prompts above remains as well as photographic memories that are the one collect-a-thon item in the game. That, and comic book style story panels to enjoy after certain milestones are met.

The Extras ...

Features and options aren't too plentiful in this game, but what you do get with 'Zapling Bygone' are four different ways to play. A Metalheaded mode, an Exploration mode, and a Randomized mode. That, and an unnamed first playthrough mode. With the Metalheaded mode you gain access to all relics and skulls from the start. With Exploration mode you get all base skulls to use from the start, and with Randomized you gain access to a randomized selection of relics/skulls. Leaving the basic playthrough to be the one that unlocks access to these playthrough alternatives.

The Verdict ...

As interesting and unique as 'Zapling Bygone' is it's gameplay feels uninspired. Leaving it's story to be the only truly standout feature. The playable character, itself, lacks any sort of personality or notable presence in it's own tale. It makes the task filled undertaking to feel less impactful, or meaningful as a result. The world also seems chaotically mismatched, and slapped together. A less than cohesive mess of a metroidvania in which everything seems alien including the invading Zapling itself. 

As a metroidvania fan I honestly found nothing worth writing home about here. Sure, it had it's own mechanics, and systems at play, but they felt like remade versions of staple genre features. Things done different, but in a very familiar way. All in all it's not something that's easy to recommend, and not something I personally enjoyed playing. If there's anything good I can say about it though, it is that the developer tried to do something different. That attempt, however interesting it might be, still fell flat for the genre expectation.