A note before this one: it's a preview, not a review. Everything below comes from hands-on time with Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus ahead of its July 2024 release — impressions of a preview build, not a verdict on the finished game.
Everything Is a Remix
Kirby Ferguson's old argument still holds: nothing is really new, only remixed. Every "new" thing depends on its ancestors, and Bō is no exception — it fuses Eastern folklore and mysticism with metroidvania mechanics, producing a remix that, on the surface, works. The real question a preview like this has to sit with is whether that combination earns its own identity, or whether it's just another "just a game" game wearing a prettier coat.
A Familiar Aesthetic, Worn Well
Bō's hand-drawn 2.5D world leans on a visual language most players will recognize instantly — the Ghibli-adjacent look, steeped in Japanese folklore and ancient myth, that also carries a clear resemblance to Okami. Metroidvania fans will spot the other lineage just as fast: shades of Ori and Hollow Knight in how movement and exploration are structured. None of this reads as accidental. The environment isn't just backdrop — background elements and the monsters populating them are woven directly into the story being told, not decoration sitting behind it.
The clearest example is the fox companion who appears early on: not a tutorial prompt with a character skin, but a presence that actually levels the player up, guides them, and narrates the world as they move through it.
Earrings, Air Combat, and a Resource That Does Double Duty
The most interesting mechanical idea here is hidden in plain sight — literally worn as jewelry. The player character's earrings double as the weapon-carrying and upgrading system, starting with the base weapon Bō and expanding into other forms as the game continues, each with its own upgrade path. Layered on top is a "Jump-Reset" mechanic, letting players extend their time in the air — a system that makes aerial combat feel like a genuinely central part of the flow, not a bonus option bolted onto ground combat.
One resource, collected from teapots scattered through the world, covers both healing and special attacks. It's a small design choice, but a smart one — folding two systems into a single resource keeps the moment-to-moment decisions simpler without making them less meaningful.
Closing Thought
Taken as a whole, Bō looks like it has the makings of a solidly "okay" game — and getting meaningfully past "okay" is a real challenge when the genre's best examples are this close a comparison. That's not a dismissal so much as a ceiling: if you already love anything wearing the metroidvania label, Bō reads as an easy next stop. Whether it becomes more than that is exactly what a preview build can't settle.