Metamorphosis:  A Surreal Bug’s Review

Black Sun Productions’ Metamorphosis VR features the adventure story of Gregor Samsa, a man who is transformed into an insect – a cockroach to be specific, and then must navigate an imposing human-sized world where everyday objects are used for bug purposes. He must solve puzzles, navigate obstacles, and interact with other insects on his quest to help a friend and regain his own human form.

While I typically don’t play platform games where you can spend many hours jumping or climbing in the player environment, Metamorphosis piqued my interest because the idea of experiencing a world from a bug’s point of view is fascinating.

Background

Corbin Chase, Founder and CEO of Black Sun Productions, is a lifelong gamer who grew up playing games.

“When I read Snow Crash [by author Neal Stephenson],” Chase stated that “something changed in me just a little bit.”

Chase said that he started looking at the world through a different lens and then early in the pandemic he was playing Halo, sitting about ten feet from the screen, and wondering what it would take technically to “walk into this ecosystem.”

Then, he started playing Halo 4 on his Valve Index and didn’t leave his couch for the next eight hours; this was the impetus Chase needed. It took him a few weeks to wrap up work in his previous job and he launched Black Sun Productions a few months later with the goal of adapting flat content for virtual reality. The team hopes to show how immersive tech can bring new life to stories that have previously been presented in 2D and Metamorphosis VR is their debut title.

Originally published in 2020 as a flat game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, Metamorphosis VR draws inspiration from Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis. Widely regarded as a major figure of 20th century literature, Kafka’s writing centered around themes of surrealism and existentialism.

During a press meeting with the developer, it seemed as if everyone was familiar with Kafka’s work and as I’ve continued to delve into the game and background research, I’ve begun to feel as if I’m the only one who wasn’t previously familiar with Franz Kafka. Considering the fact that I have an English degree, it’s especially disturbing that I had never heard of this man. On the other hand, I never liked surrealism until I started playing VR and perhaps this is one of the hidden blessings of this immersive tech. It encourages or enables us to explore things that we otherwise wouldn’t in more traditional formats.

The Game

Metamorphosis has an interesting premise and an appealing perspective, but ultimately a game must also be comfortable and fun.

While there are several accessibility options, the game can be played seated, and I didn’t experience any nausea. However there were some things that reduced the level of comfort and broke immersion. When I opened drawers, for example, it was very janky, and objects in the drawers would remain where they were while the drawers themselves would pull out or sometimes only the drawer would come out while the knob remained in place. Also even from the beginning of the game, it was obvious that when you pick up an item, like the key, you couldn’t exactly grip it, but rather it was simply “attached” to your hand – until you tried to pick up something else with your other hand and then the original object would disappear.

There are also quite a few bugs – and not all of them are the tiny kind that would hang out with Gregor around a campfire. A “development sphere” kept appearing around my little bug legs (my controller hands), the audio was spotty, and I actually had great difficulty getting things like “climb” to work properly.

I also found it quite challenging to know where to go in the game. As a tiny bug in a huge world, the path should either be clear or there should be multiple options/paths. The campaign is supposed to be around 6-7 hours, but I spent an hour just trying to jump through the letter because I kept falling to my death and then losing perspective on where to go next.

For me the fun aspect of the game was simply looking around in awe at the world, which I thought was quite visually appealing, exploring everything with a bug’s eye view, and also there’s a dry humor among the bugs, including the main character Gregor. This was amusing and if you have several hours to hang out and want a new game to play, then this could be a good choice, especially if you’re a Kafka fan or an English major who’s actually familiar with The Metamorphosis. Just be prepared for the bugs.

Metamorphosis VR launched on October 10 and is supported on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.

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