Franz Kafka’s best-known work, the novella The Metamorphosis, begins with its main character, Gregor Samsa, awakening one morning to find that he has inexplicably transformed into a monstrous insect. Before this surreal transformation, Gregor worked an unhappy job, lived under crushing debt, and failed to find meaningful relationships with others. After his transformation, his rather unfulfilling life becomes even worse until, eventually, he dies.
Having read The Metamorphosis a dozen times in the last twenty-odd years, I have always wondered at how horrible it must be to transform into a bug. After playing Metamorphosis VR, I no longer have to wonder.
With Metamorphosis VR – originally developed for flatscreen platforms by
Ovid Works and now adapted for VR by Black Sun Productions – have taken the ideas of Kafka’s novella and turned them into a puzzle platformer which leans heavily on a surrealistic art style and the novelty of scale. The game is not a direct retelling of The Metamorphosis, but rather an independent story which borrows many of the literature’s concepts.
The player character, also named Gregor, awakens in a strange, ever shifting version of his friend Joseph’s apartment. Almost instantly we have transformed into a tiny insect, we’re talking to other bugs, falling into a strange nether realm within the pages of letters, and it’s clear that life has become very bizarre indeed.
Metamorphosis VR’s mysterious and ominous story presents itself quickly. Before the end of the game’s first half hour, we learn that Gregor’s friend, Joseph, has been vaguely accused of (and arrested for) an unnamed crime. The unraveling of this mystery, as well as Gregor’s attempt to return himself to humanity, is at the core of the experience, and it is this story that’s the strongest aspect of the game.
The game’s visuals are impressive, with a clear and defined art style which is less about photo-realism and more about impression and feeling. The characters are beautifully crafted, and the environments are dense and believable. In a game which so heavily leans on a sense of scale and immersion, this is a very good thing.
However, the visuals and presentation are hamstrung by performance issues. With such large environments populated by numerous complicated 3D models, my Quest 2 gameplay is often hampered with texture problems, model pop-in, and odd graphical glitches.
The voice acting is lovely, the music is wonderful, but several audio issues also cropped up during my playthrough. Some character voices randomly diminish or become very loud, and occasionally the voice lines would simply stop mid-sentence.
Gameplay is similarly mixed. Metamorphosis VR is, at its core, a puzzle platformer. The game is played from a first-person perspective, and the player must navigate the game’s massive surroundings in bug form. You must physically locate yourself in the appropriate locations, and reach the end goal of a specified area to further advance the plot.
Progression is typically achieved through puzzle-solving and interaction with the environment. For example, in an early stage of the game, to escape a deep desk drawer, the player must wind their way through the junk in the drawer, eventually arriving at a music box. Spinning the music box’s wheel draws the attention of someone in the room, who opens the drawer to turn off the music, subsequently leaving a gap for Gregor to escape the drawer.
Movement is handled with either full motion controls, in which the player’s hands act as the bug’s forelegs. In this control mode, the player sort of drags and flicks Gregor through the game world. It’s a bit tedious and unnatural, and in truth, I much prefer the included traditional thumb stick controls.
It all hints at some interesting ideas and unique concepts. But ultimately, the tedium of traversal tends to let down the overall experience. The platforming feels adequate, but imprecise and unpolished. And that summarizes my overall experience with Metamorphosis VR; it’s unpolished.
The game’s gooey meat, its engaging story, is locked within an unpolished carapace of mediocre game play. The core idea is great, the source material is strong, the immersion and story enthralling, but experiencing it requires a bit too much tedium. While I’m happy to have experienced Metamorphosis VR, like the bug from Kafka’s original story, in the end, it’s a bit hard to love.
Metamorphosis VR is available now on Meta Quest.
This article was originally published on uploadvr