Rebel Transmute

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"Rebel Transmute" is a modern Metroidvania game where you play as Moon Mikono, a space scrapper on a mission to uncover the fate of her missing mother. With over 50 unique upgrades, you can customize your playstyle to be aggressive, inquisitive, or summon an army of creatures. Explore a stunning sci-fi world filled with vibrant vistas and over 80 unique enemies. Challenging and customizable combat awaits.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 118 reviews

gameplay13 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

The game captures the classic Metroidvania feel with challenging gameplay and rewarding exploration.
The mechanics allow for creative ability combinations and sequence-breaking, enhancing the overall experience.
The pixel art and atmospheric music contribute to a nostalgic yet fresh gaming experience.

Excessive backtracking can feel tedious and is often used to artificially extend gameplay time.
The combat mechanics, including short-range weapons and knockback effects, can lead to frustrating encounters.
Some mechanics and abilities are not well explained, leading to confusion and potential soft-lock situations.

gameplay
42 mentions
31 % positive mentions
62 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with players appreciating its nostalgic metroidvania vibes and engaging combat mechanics, but criticizing excessive backtracking, unclear mechanics, and imprecise controls that can lead to frustrating experiences. While some players enjoyed the exploration and the variety of abilities, others found the lack of guidance on core mechanics and the clunky movement detracted from the overall enjoyment. Overall, the game offers a blend of classic and original elements, but suffers from design choices that can hinder the player's experience.
- “It's an awesome metroidlike with a fair share of original ideas and overall nice atmosphere and quite polished gameplay.”
- “Smooth platforming, good gunplay, really good enemy and boss movements, and most importantly, seems to have the minimum required gameplay content of 15 hours, in an era where indies just don't do enough and produce metroidvanias that are too small to qualify for the genre.”
- “Tons of perks and unique abilities help Transmute separate itself from what's already out there, hitting that nostalgic sweet spot while dishing out a fresh mix of modern mechanics to keep you hooked!”
- “With there also being mechanics/abilities that were not explained to the player like the bomb bounce and the 'red dash', it can make the player feel like they are missing something in order to progress.”
- “Water movement and its associated momentum mechanic are infuriatingly imprecise, and the slightest mistake means losing all your momentum and having to start over, and death runs from the way-too-distant rest points drag things down further.”
- “It really starts to feel less like a challenge and more like a waste of time because gameplay ends up hamstrung by the clunky movement, imprecise controls, and a few questionable design decisions instead of my lack of skill.”
story
38 mentions
53 % positive mentions
39 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its unique approach and engaging plot that deviates from typical metroidvania tropes, while others find it lacking depth and compelling characters. Many appreciate the satisfying final boss and the exploration elements, but some criticize the story as an afterthought or filled with clichés. Overall, the narrative is seen as decent, with moments of interest, but it doesn't consistently captivate all players.
- “It had a unique feel to the story, as most others have a scripted feel; this did not.”
- “Plus the plot is pretty great, avoiding both the minimalist 'silent protagonist' non-plot and the classic 'you've got to save the world by beating the big boss' plot.”
- “Story and characters are very well thought out and make me want to learn more about what happened in this world and how I fit into it :) 10/10 would recommend!!”
- “Oh, and there's random 'capitalism = galactic war crimes to those who support it, so let's destroy everything, while patting ourselves on the back for caring too much' messaging in there, but the story's such a minor part of the game, I doubt anyone would care by that point.”
- “Boring and uninteresting story and objectives.”
- “There's a story here, but it's just kind of there.”
music
27 mentions
33 % positive mentions
56 % neutral mentions
11 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its atmospheric qualities and fitting ambiance, while others find it repetitive and forgettable, leading to annoyance during extended gameplay. Sound design is generally praised for effects like hits and explosions, but certain enemy sounds are criticized as grating. Overall, while the soundtrack contributes to the game's aesthetic, it often plays it safe and lacks standout moments.
- “This game had me hooked from the start, with its gorgeous 8-bit style, metroid-inspired pixel graphics, cool atmospheric background music, and engaging gameplay.”
- “A stunning and vibrant game with beautiful music.”
- “The atmospheric music and beautiful pixel art draws you in, and the crunchy gameplay keeps you going!”
- “The basic pixel art lacks any charm or personality and the soundtrack is repetitive to the point of me muting it in certain areas.”
- “The sound design of some enemies is downright awful (like ear-piercing screeches), and the music ranges from boring and mundane to decent.”
- “I didn’t find the music particularly remarkable, but the overall sound design is great, except for that bush cow’s incessant bleating.”
graphics
19 mentions
53 % positive mentions
32 % neutral mentions
16 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful pixel art style, evoking nostalgia and drawing strong comparisons to classics like Super Metroid and Axiom Verge. Players appreciate the colorful visuals and atmospheric backgrounds, although some note that the graphics can become confusing during intense enemy encounters. Overall, the art style is seen as a perfect fit for the game's exploration and action mechanics, enhancing the overall experience.
- “The art style being pixel art hits a nostalgia sweet spot for me.”
- “Overall, the game is fun, the graphics are really cool and colorful, and you get that sense of exploring an unknown and hostile place, so it is exactly what I signed up for.”
- “This game had me hooked from the start, with its gorgeous 8-bit style, Metroid-inspired pixel graphics, cool atmospheric background music, and engaging gameplay.”
- “When there are numerous enemies in an area, the graphics become confusing, making it easy to collide with an enemy.”
- “The visuals and vibe make you feel right at home (hello super metroid, hello axiom verge).”
- “Definitely falls more on the Metroid side of things, which I'm sure you can tell just by the graphics alone.”
atmosphere
8 mentions
88 % positive mentions
13 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its captivating 8-bit style, engaging pixel graphics, and atmospheric music, creating an immersive experience that hooks players from the start. While some players encountered technical issues, the overall level design and aesthetic elements contribute to a charming and polished atmosphere that enhances gameplay.
- “This game had me hooked from the start, with its gorgeous 8-bit style, metroid-inspired pixel graphics, cool atmospheric background music, and engaging gameplay.”
- “Music and art were super atmospheric and cute!”
- “The atmospheric music and beautiful pixel art draw you in, and the crunchy gameplay keeps you going!”
grinding
6 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, with poor design choices leading to frustrating enemy encounters and uninspired exploration. Despite drawing inspiration from Hollow Knight, the game fails to deliver engaging mechanics, resulting in a lack of enjoyment during combat and navigation. Overall, the grinding feels unnecessarily burdensome, detracting from the potential fun of the sci-fi setting.
- “This game could've been great, and while it clearly takes a lot of inspiration from Hollow Knight, it took all the wrong lessons from it, including some horrible design choices and the stacking of already tedious environmental effects with the worst possible enemy types (which, of course, aren't affected by these environments).”
- “Altogether, I hate not to like this, but this feels so massively and unnecessarily tedious when it could be 'Hollow Knight, but with a sci-fi setting.'”
- “Even with a weapon upgrade or two, enemies became bullet sponges and getting lost became tedious instead of fun, because even with multiple upgrades, movement just kind of sucks.”
stability
2 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
At launch, the game experienced notable stability issues, including bugs that affected map functionality, such as incorrect marker placements and positioning errors.
- “Played it at launch, so it was a little buggy.”
- “The map is pretty buggy; markers will randomly not place, and it shows you in the wrong spot sometimes.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by a touching story and writing, despite some clichés, which resonate with players. However, gameplay mechanics, such as knockback and environmental interactions, detract from the overall immersion and emotional impact.
- “Some of the boss tracks are fun, and the story and writing, despite the clichés, were touching at moments.”
optimization
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
The game has faced notable optimization issues, including crashes linked to specific in-game doors and instances of softlocking, which have since been patched. Additionally, players reported significant framerate drops in certain areas, impacting overall performance.
- “There were crashes and performance issues too: a specific door in the early game, which has since been patched, caused a crash every single time. In one instance, I was pushed through a door by a bloodcast and softlocked, looping between rooms until I ended the task and restarted the game. Additionally, a few areas of the game experienced inexplicable drops in framerate.”
- “The optimization is severely lacking; I encountered frequent stuttering and frame drops that made the gameplay experience frustrating.”
- “Despite the game's potential, the optimization issues are a major setback, with long loading times and inconsistent performance across different areas.”