How have I not tried this "Hollow Knight meets Kirby" Metroidvania until now?

gamesradar.com:

Biomorph is a Soulslike Metroidvania about harnessing the forms and abilities of defeated monsters, pitched by developer Lucid Dreams Studio as "Hollow Knight meets Kirby" in a recent Reddit (opens in new tab) post. 

This caught my eye for a few reasons: Hollow Knight is my favorite game, Metroidvanias are my jam, I've always found the Kirby mechanic interesting, and the main character of Biomorph kind of reminds me of a Ratchet and Clank Lombax. So I was eager to give its Steam demo (opens in new tab) a shot ahead of its to-be-announced 2023 launch on PC and Switch, and I'm pleased to report that it's pretty cool.

The demo is extremely short, only 10 to 15 minutes, but it's enough to give you a feel for some of the game's most important parts: movement, combat, and the Kirby-inspired doppelganger mechanic. I'm impressed by how fluidly the main character controls, honestly, and I'm a stickler for these things. You start off with the Metroidvania-mandated wall jump and dash, and both feel great to use. When you dash, you basically liquify yourself and slide behind enemies, under ledges, or across certain environmental features, and there's loads of design potential there. 

Combat is a little barebones so far, but I gather I'm still missing several weapon options, and it's got enough punch for attacks to satisfy. For a Soulslike, the demo's also a brutally simple introduction to enemy attack patterns, ending with a big-ol' stationary boss that has exactly one, easy-to-dodge attack. But it is a demo, so I won't hold that against it. I also like that your weapons are talking, levitating, shapeshifting gauntlets who stand in for your seemingly severed arms, kind of like a grimdark reboot of Rayman. 

The monster-mash mechanic