Bionic Bay Preview

I got the chance to check out a preview build of Bionic Bay, a single-player action platformer developed by Psychoflow and Mureena and published by Kepler Interactive. It's all about controlling time, space, gravity, and position to navigate through a biomechanical world full of deadly traps and secrets.

Drawing inspiration from classic platformers of all types, from the fast and reactionary — such as Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man — to the more slow and methodical — like Tomb Raider and Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee  — the game is looking to stand out with its physics-based gameplay and highly detailed environments.

And let me do you a service before you read further: Stop reading and play the demo. You’re better off trying it yourself. But if that hasn’t convinced you, well, let me give you a quick look at what you’ll see.

You’ll play as two characters: the scientist and the cyborg. The scientist can use a device to swap with an object while the cyborg or robot (I’m not sure) can slow down time and throw explosive punches. Both of them can jump and roll, which, when combined, can lead into some serious leaps with long jumps and mid-air dives. This makes for some pretty fun and fast movement as you go through levels full of all sorts of things trying to kill you, such as lasers, fire, and little barking balls of death. If you fail (read: burn, vaporise, fall, break, freeze, explode…), it’s not that much trouble. The checkpoints are generous and resets are quick. That being said, it’s not all pulse-pumping action as you’ll need to slow down and think through how you’ll get through a section; it can honestly feel more like puzzles than platforming at times.

Speaking of, the levels themselves are quite the sight. While it uses pixel art, it would be very difficult to tell from a distance. The environments are incredibly detailed to the point of looking more like paintings or concept art than platforming levels, with some great use of lighting and colour.

However, as pretty as the levels can be, there are plenty of opportunities to go fast in them, and it’s highly encouraged, too. You can compete against other players via ghost data and online leaderboard through the Online mode, which is unlocked after beating the demo. Dipping into it, I saw some insane tricks and incredible times already, such as using a punch on an object and riding it to the end in only six seconds. Looks like there’s going to be a healthy speedrunning community out of this game when it fully releases. I look forward to seeing it at a Games Done Quick event.

The entire demo was only about two hours long, with only 10 levels to chew on, but I was extremely impressed with what I played. It was smooth, and no challenge felt too frustrating. Like, Limbo is only an hour more than this game, and yet here I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s to come in Bionic Bay. With daily challenges, achievements, and secrets to discover, there’s plenty to comb over until the official release. Seriously, go and try the demo yourself.

Bionic Bay will be released on the 17th of April 2025 and will be available on Steam and PlayStation 5.