I admit that oversized expectations for quality metroidvanias persist in this absolutely stacked year. Two months since the release of the rightfully hallowed Hollow Knight: Silksong, Heart Machine’s fourth title Possessor(s) presents another 2D genre entry, only much smaller in scope. Published by Devolver Digital, Possessor(s) boasts a striking animated look that mixes contemporary comic-styled characters against dramatically lit 3D backdrops. With SMT-like post-apocalyptic vibes and queer themes, it’s ultimately hampered by a repetitive bestiary, ho-hum combat, and a somewhat unfinished feel**.**

Maybe it’s hard not to find the news of Heart Machine’s issues evident in this final product, but Possessor(s)’ elements constantly left me wanting, be they the random and unimpactful fetch quests, the stiff movement controls, or the disjointed fast travel. Its flavorful, if predictable, narrative and attractive presentation do ultimately shine through the murk, but, once again, this is an absolutely stacked year for the genre.

Demonic Apocalypse in the Tech Sector

Like the Working Class Don’t Have Enough to Deal With

Luca lives in Sanzu City, a metropolis built around the class strata and economic overgrowth of tech megacorp Agradyne Systems. Whatever they were working on caused a magical rift to tear apart the streets, filling it with horrific demons able to possess people, animals, and things. In the tumult, Luca’s best friend Kaz is murdered by a demon before her very eyes, leaving her trapped under rubble, legs brutally severed below the knee.

A demon named Rhem finds her mangled body, brokering a pact to partially share it with her, molding shiny spikes to replace her missing legs. Using this new mobility to search for her lost parents, Luca explores the wrecked city and fights off its possessed residents, periodically chatting with Rhem and learning about Agradyne’s secret lab experiments on him and his kind.

I found Possessor(s)*’ plot, horned demons, and teen emotional beats reminiscent of Homestuck and some Webtoons fare*. While scripted scenes, computer terminals, and NPCs provide drip-fed character background and added context, there’s no voiced dialogue, and the longer, primarily silent stretches of the game make each biome eventually blend together.

Your Weapons: Cutlery, Office Supplies, Sporting Equipment

There is No Spoon

Once sufficiently empowered, Luca utilizes a melee weapon and three sidearms, all of which maintain the game’s general theme of mundane objects warped by demonic possession. It’s not a bad approach altogether, but every one of these elements seems frozen at the planning stage. There are a total of four melee weapons with one standard combo apiece, and sidearms include a baseball, cell phone, and computer mouse, which offer a projectile, AOE, and launch attack, respectively, limited by MP-like special charges.

Some NPCs sell upgrades, which add relic-like affix slots to each weapon that offer small buffs like HP regen or greater accrual of “chroma,” the game’s primary all-purpose souls-like currency. There are no stats to buff or new weapon abilities and attack moves to learn, and upgraded versions never gain any visual or mechanical overhaul, though the lack of raw numbers or stats make the game’s damage totals feel hand-wavey anyway.

It all strains the concept further, as centering dull household objects in a game like this sets the expectation that they’ll be given some absurdist, larger-than-life treatment. Instead, the hockey stick looks exactly like a nondescript hockey stick and even swings like one, you see some hallucinogenic trails when it moves.

Cut Corners and Limited Rewards

Possessor(s) Often Fails to Dangle A Worthy Carrot

Enemies are at least a bit more inspired, each appearing as some mutated horror version of the object or creature in question. A filing cabinet becomes a bloated mutant, a plant in a vase scurries along the floor, and so on. The stilted animation saps clarity from these visual ideas, and it’s almost hilarious to watch bosses move around an arena; rather than jumping, they can seem like an icon being clicked and dragged on a desktop.

If that hints at the game’s rushed quality, it’s the tip of the iceberg. A frustrating fast-travel system doesn’t connect the game at its bonfire/demon world portals, which would make the most sense. No, Luca needs to unlock and find train stations, some of which are not located beside save portals. The only reason I can come up with as to why Possessor(s) is designed this way is to pad out the game’s length.

When you meet and engage NPC Tens, a badass warrior with a wolf companion fighting against the demonic hordes, you’d expect her to become a companion or significant part of the story. Alas, she sends you off to track down a series of minibosses, only “rewarding” you at the end of this literal game-length quest with some nigh-useless upgrade material. There are no staged rewards for her quest or any other in the game, two of which involve invisible NPCs behind doors.

On that note, I can’t count the number of times I engaged a lengthy jump puzzle or tricky combat room after acquiring a new ability, only to discover nothing of worth at the end of the rainbow. Attentive metroidvania map-rinsers should also be warned: Possessor(s)’ map displays fog to show unexplored areas, some of which can seemingly never be cleared with your limited movement abilities, and this will drive some players crazy.

The Animation Is An Acquired Taste At Best

And The Grappling Hook’s No Great Shakes, Either

The central narrative in Possessor(s) is one of its strongest features, eventually exploring topics of codependency and infatuation disguised as love. A decent range of character profiles heightens dialogue, though there’s barely any animation there, and the cutscenes are all reminiscent of visual novels.

I expect most will balk at Possessor(s) strangely disjointed animation style. For instance, when Luca runs, there’s maybe a half-dozen frames in use, same as when she jumps. While initially distracting, I mainly got used to it, even though it makes defending/parrying against enemy attacks more unpredictable; when a filing cabinet monster rears up, it’s purely down to timing, since there’s no readable animation to anticipate the strike.

Combat starts simple and never meaningfully expands, and the game is packed with flying mobs who hover ever so barely out of reach, but that’s where Luca’s whip comes in handy. It’s not a weapon on its own, but can be used to ground flyers, swing over grapple points, or drag a box across a room. Like many other components, it’s novel in intention but half-baked in practice; consider how, when grappling across a set of ceiling hooks, your whip will often randomly attach to a flying enemy and ground you, no matter where it’s pointed.

It’s A Tough Year for Metroidvanias

Competition is Stiff, and Possessor(s) Can’t Go Ten Rounds

Possessor(s) doesn’t push the needle very far, even with its attractive backdrops and fetching aesthetic. Its “turns out the evil corporation was even more evil than we thought” plot territory is well trodden, leaving little to ponder during the constant idle wandering the game requires. I did eventually lean into its core relationship, though, and the narrative reaches a personal and even poignant denouement.

Largely, though, this feels like a sadly squandered opportunity that was rushed to release. Whether it’s the ambiguous map, frustrating stunlock instakills, vague poise system, or the inexplicably awkward jump animation over water, it’s outright hard to recommend *Possessor(s) *over a growing backlog of this year’s better metroidvanias.

Possessor(s)

Systems

5*/10*

ESRB rp

Developer(s) Heart Machine

Publisher(s) Devolver Digital

Engine Unreal Engine 5

Number of Players Single-player

Steam Deck Compatibility Unknown

Pros & Cons

• Unique aesthetic that blends slick 3D environmental backdrops with 2D animation and comic-book-styled characters

• Decent if predictable post-apocalyptic plot with a coherent emotional core

• Cumbersome and simplistic combat with precious few upgrades

• Limited-frame animation is a potential acquired taste, but it also directly interferes with some basic game mechanics

• Unrewarding exploration and lots of wandering, and the low-rent map doesn’t help

• A lot of it just feels unfinished