Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is a Japanese-flavored Metroidvania

Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is an upcoming Metroidvania currently worked on AM2R, a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus.

Squid Shock Studios gave birth to the game via Kickstarter, and based on what we can see in the footage, it is heavily inspired by Japanese folklore.

The description reads as follows:

“Bo is a hand-drawn 2D Metroidvania based in a colorful world of Japanese folklore. You play as a tiny fox spirit that grows from lotus blossom after being blessed by the moon god. It is an indie game being developed by Squid Shock Studios.

Use your legendary bō staff to bounce and move fluidly through a delightfully-demonic East Asian fever dream. Use the tight movement and reset system to reach areas efficiently and gracefully or recover chaotically while floundering for footing.”

The game definitely reminds me of Ōkami, which is the iconic Zelda-inspired title from Hideki Kamiya. You play the game as a celestial blossom named Bō, and along the way, you’ll get to wield an awesome-looking bō staff that can shift shapes (kind of self-explanatory, really). The team is aiming for a PC release, but a Switch version looks to be in the pipeline as well.

You can check out the trailer below: