Possessor(s) Is A Dark Metroidvania Featuring An Extremely Hot Demon And I'm Already Obsessed With It

Prior to attending Summer Game Fest, I had heard exceedingly little about Heart Machine's upcoming title, Possessor(s). Admittedly, this might be because I was a bit tapped out; for as big of a fan I was of Hyper Light Drifter, the studio's newer releases--Solar Ash and Hyper Light Breaker--didn't capture me the same way Drifter's lush-yet-somber world did. It seemed to me that Heart Machine was building upon the parts of their legacy that I found less compelling, emphasizing fast, fluid traversal and breadth in exploration rather than depth. Don't get me wrong--I liked both Solar Ash and Hyper Light Breaker, but they didn't captivate me--and their trajectory made me unsure if a new Heart Machine title ever would. Fortunately, a brush with Possessor(s) has proven me very wrong.Billed as a search-action game--a more game-neutral term to describe the metroidvania genre--Possessor(s) marks a shift to the second dimension for Heart Machine and combines fast-paced, side-scrolling action (a la Metroid) with Dark Souls-inspired mechanics to create a tense, brutal, and gorgeous adventure game that emphasizes continuous discovery. Whereas the studio has previously shipped titles with more abstract stories and characters that aren't particularly humanoid in appearance, Possessor(s) also seems to mark a pivot towards a more traditional version of storytelling, with hand-drawn, swoon-worthy characters that dish out plot beats and dialogue with accompanying character art, similarly to Hades.Rhem speaks to Luca.So far, this description contains a lot of comparisons to some incredibly beloved games, so I want to emphasize that despite this, in the section I played, I didn't find Possessor(s) to be overly derivative. Although it pulls inspiration from some of my favorite titles and I'd argue I didn't see anything that reinvents or refines its genres, its urban-horror setting, lustrous art direction, overall tone, and budding narrative feel both distinctly Heart Machine and like a new direction for the studio.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Jun 23, 2025 - 21:30

Possessor(s) Is A Dark Metroidvania Featuring An Extremely Hot Demon And I'm Already Obsessed With It

Prior to attending Summer Game Fest, I had heard exceedingly little about Heart Machine's upcoming title, Possessor(s). Admittedly, this might be because I was a bit tapped out; for as big of a fan I was of Hyper Light Drifter, the studio's newer releases--Solar Ash and Hyper Light Breaker--didn't capture me the same way Drifter's lush-yet-somber world did. It seemed to me that Heart Machine was building upon the parts of their legacy that I found less compelling, emphasizing fast, fluid traversal and breadth in exploration rather than depth. Don't get me wrong--I liked both Solar Ash and Hyper Light Breaker, but they didn't captivate me--and their trajectory made me unsure if a new Heart Machine title ever would. Fortunately, a brush with Possessor(s) has proven me very wrong.

Billed as a search-action game--a more game-neutral term to describe the metroidvania genre--Possessor(s) marks a shift to the second dimension for Heart Machine and combines fast-paced, side-scrolling action (a la Metroid) with Dark Souls-inspired mechanics to create a tense, brutal, and gorgeous adventure game that emphasizes continuous discovery. Whereas the studio has previously shipped titles with more abstract stories and characters that aren't particularly humanoid in appearance, Possessor(s) also seems to mark a pivot towards a more traditional version of storytelling, with hand-drawn, swoon-worthy characters that dish out plot beats and dialogue with accompanying character art, similarly to Hades.

So far, this description contains a lot of comparisons to some incredibly beloved games, so I want to emphasize that despite this, in the section I played, I didn't find Possessor(s) to be overly derivative. Although it pulls inspiration from some of my favorite titles and I'd argue I didn't see anything that reinvents or refines its genres, its urban-horror setting, lustrous art direction, overall tone, and budding narrative feel both distinctly Heart Machine and like a new direction for the studio.Continue Reading at GameSpot