Morphite

The No Man's Sky killer? Not quite.
In this review a want to adress 2 different subjects, one is the game as itself, and the other is the title "NMS done right" as put by many other reviewers... i have been too long chasing this fabled "NMS done right" and i have always come out empty handed... this is no exception, this is NOT like No Man's Sky AT ALL. (to read about this, skip to the bottom of my review)
Morphite is an exploration/platformer/puzzle game. It has many common elements with the Metroid Prime series, down the female character, we have then some dungeon crawling with passive and agressive wildlife, we shoot things to get health/ammo/etc, and we scan different creatures. We can get different upgrades for our scanners/suit/weapon, upgrades that will allow us to resist new enviroments, open new paths and such, standard metroid content here.
-Graphics are all made of big polygons and bright colors, i'm not going to complain here as it's only an artistic choice, you may like it or not, but it's not the game's fault.
Music feels aproppiated, no complains here either.
-Controls are a little "off" specially when trying to guess where are you going to land as we have many small platforms sections that might get a little frustrating, but a little practice you will get better. The scanner range (at least the initial one) is so small that you have to be face to face with your target, making scanning hostile animals a little dangerous.
-The story seems alright if something generic, and i didn't care much for the "young and reckless" protagonist... the cat it's kind of funny i guess as he seems to voice my own thought many times.
All in all, Morphite it's ok. Maybe a bit "poor man's Metroid Prime" i guess.
An 8/10 seems an alright rating for me.
Now, as a NMS killer...
The opening of the game hints a lot about NMS... the ships, the space stations, the space traveling setting, even the drop pods look the same, and this about as similar as they get.
-You can't fly your ship, just pick a solar system, and then planets/space stations from a menu, the ship will get you there and drop you off in a escape pod.
-The planets are not planets, they are just walled and closed areas, with platforms, switches to press, creatures to kill, and loot to get, it's all pretty linear and completely different from the planets from NMS
Those might be only two points, but by themselves they destroy any hope to compare both games, except to people blinded for their hate for NMS, who will end up claiming that Super Mario Galaxy was NMS done right. Morphite is not a bad game but it's nothing like No Man's Sky and i wasted more money on my quest to find my holy grail...
Just played Morphite for an hour, but i'm not petty enough to refund it, even if i won't touch it ever again. Morphite is a good game, but if you are looking for "NMS done right" keep looking as this is not.

Morphite feels like a well-rounded early access game. Solid gameplay, everything works, even some voice acting, but with fixes required. However, that said, the price is right for the game, and while I would love to see improvements made I am enjoying my time. The game is pretty much a zen-like experience, and even the combat could be removed simply in favour of puzzles and environmental platforming challenges.
The one thing that does bug me is that it appears like there are only a few models for plants and animals, and these are recycled endlessly, to the point where it is essential to scan everything just to see if you already have it. Even within "species" the variants (strong, weak, diseased, rare) all appear to be identical. I have not determined if there is an upgrade that allows you to see without scanning whether something is new, but better visual feedback here would be appreciated.
And no, I will not comment on whether or not this is a No Man's Sky killer, as I have not played NMS.
Positives
- Interesting art style
- Exploration
- Shoot everything that does and doesn't move
- Interesting story
- Very casual experience
Negatives
- Some of the procedural generation results in very strange clipping and texture errors
- Have fallen through the floor on more than one occasion
- Minimap is nearly useless
- Planets and space stations quickly feel samey
- Colour palette could be more varied on the planets, and especially on the space stations
- Plant and animal variation limited

Simplistic approach towards NMS, but more charming
NMS started with a dream, but it didn't forfilled my hopes.
(never cared about multiplayer anyways, big dissappointment)
Morphite tried it too, and it succeeded at all fronts for me!
+ Scanning creatures, plantlife and rare objects for obtaining currency
+ Space stations (to repair, refuel and explore for resources)
+ Endless planets (own random set of properties and lifeforms)
+ Random encounters like pirates, asteroid fields, merchants, abandoned cruisers
+ Limitations which can be overcome if you upgrade your limits (jetpack, visor, etc)
+ Enchance your ship/character/tools for making your journey less problematic
+ Rich story compaign (with voice acted narrators) which also functions as tutorial
+ Aside of the campaign, there are a lot of side quests to complete as well
+ Temples to explore, some need a specific weapon to enter it
+ Lots of mini games to play, a chance on each spacestation you visit
+ Artifacts functions as trinkets to enchance gameplay globally
+ Your "companion" is a robot cat xD who gives you updates what is going on
+ There is even a MAP function, when you visit the planet, you see points of interest on the map which can result for a sidequest or something special
- Control binding "R" doesn't work for me. Not a gamebreaker, the game is still playable.
VERDICT
Simplistic approach, very effective and a lot of fun! The few things I absolutely loved when playing NMS was the scanning for unknown creatures and lifeforms. Oh yeah, the artifacts too, except in Morphite, you actually enter an ancient temple, explore it and ultimately find the artifact which is hidden there. You need a key and the story campaign actually teaches you how such a key works. It also shows a very in depth story and tension, you know there is something going on and you just want to know more about it.
And all those random planets... Oh boy, this game feels it can last endlessly.
After I beat the endboss in the campaign, I could keep playing and going to other planets and explore it's riches. Like, the game actually starts once you have completed the campaign... Because you gained the final ability!
I still have some items to collect. The game does keep track which planet you have visited and which not, except for the planets that were the story mission planets. You can revisit it, maybe finding some secrets there, artifacts, trinkets, but just leave when you think you can't find anything.
I totally recommend this game!

I hesitate to fully recommend this game, though my experience is mostly positive.
Morphite is a casual first-person Metroid-like game with an open world atmosphere and a somewhat interesting storyline. The main character is in search of a rare material called Morphite, and will be sent on a main mission that will lead her towards its discovery. In between missions, you are free to explore universe and collect materials to upgrade your equipment.
I consider Morphite casual because it doesn't force you to complete the main storyline right away. There is action-oriented combat when you approach aggressive creatures, but so far even the boss battles haven't been very exciting. What amuses me the most are the side missions. You can find some really bizarre requests if you talk to anyone and everyone you come across. From popping bubbles to free floating family members, to roasting marshmallows and throwing them into waiting maws, there are some fun things to do when you just wander around on your own.
Scanning can be fairly relaxing, if not a bit repetitive. There is a feeling of satisfaction from scanning all the creatures on a planet, especially since there is a purpose to it: Selling the common scans for money, and using the rare ones to upgrade your equipment. Unfortunately, this mechanic has a frustrating side to it. Scanning seems to work based on proximity, rather than direction; i.e., I may point the scanner at an insect in front of me, but if I'm standing right next to a flower, the scanner will want to scan the flower first, even if I'm not facing that direction. This turns what should be a completely satisfying event into a series of frustrating maneuvers, especially when you're trying to scan something aggressive before it can attack you.
I like that the space stations seem to be alive with activity. Often times you'll find residents who want to challenge you to minigames or ask you to do something around the station. I have even engaged in a few fights. I'm still not sure what purpose there is to buying food on the stations. I bought some cheesecake once, but all the game did was let me walk around with it in my hands.
For that matter, I'm still not sure what land vehicles and tamed animals are for. Every once in a while you'll find a village on a planet, and someone in that village will offer to let you rent their car or riding animal. The only time this wasn't a waste of money for me was when I landed on a planet with wide, open fields that I could cruise around. Most other planets have hills or stone "stairs" you have to hop on, and I haven't found a mount yet that can navigate them.
There are several mechanics in this game that I really like: 1) The ability to summon your drop pod. When you visit a planet, you drop down in a pod while your ship stays in orbit. Rather than having to walk all the way back to the pod, you can throw down a beacon and summon the pod to it. The beacon will automatically adjust itself to a safe spot, or let you know if there isn't one in close enough proximity.
2) Your health, fuel, and shields all recharge with enough time. While this mechanic does make the game seem super simple at times, it also saves me the trouble of abandoning a mission when it's barely just begun, which I appreciate.
3) Once you are technically out of ammo, your gun will slowly recharge up to a maximum of five rounds. This came in very hand in the beginning of the game, when the gun's ammo capacity is small.
I am, however, very frustrated by the upgrade system. The chambers used to upgrade your suit aren't found on every planet or station, so you might have all the ingredients and money in the world, and still have weak equipment because you can't find a place to get upgrades.
Again, if you're a casual gamer, this might be the action game for you. It's fairly simplistic in gameplay and graphics style, which can be great after a long day at work. But, if you're the kind of person who prefers heart-pounding action at the end of your day, this will not get your blood pumping at all.

Pros
-Full voice acting
-Nice graphics
-Many planets to explore
-Allow you to continue to play after finishing the main storyline
Neutral
-Some achievements require encounters and they are totally random
-Some cutscenes are unskippable
-Press 'R' to remap control does not work for me
Cons
-Low FOV with no option to change
-No manual save
-Gets repetitive after 3-4 hours of gameplay

This is a fun game. Nice chill environments, neat puzzles. Runs glued at 60fps on my 3 year old machine. Most definately worth the asking price. Highly recommend if you like exploration and puzzle games.

This game surprised me quite a bit, knowing it was an IOS game i didn't expect to put 21 hours into it. Combat is pretty simple, you see enemies you shoot em up, for a while you'll have just a pistol but things get a little more interesting when you get the charge laser. There are shops littered around on planets and space stations where you upgrade your weapons damage, fire rate and accuracy etc. You can only get new weapons by doing story missions though so if you want to do a lot of exploration early on you'll probably end up upgrading your pistol quite a lot.
In addition to the weapons you get some gadgets such as a grappling hook and a wand that generates holo platforms, these items become integral to the missions after you get them so you'll have plenty of opportunities to use them and they switch up the gameplay a bit too. The exploration is pretty cool too, if you like the graphics you'll like seeing how different environments are represented by this graphic style. Scanning plants and critters might become tedious over time for some but i found it kind of addicting early on. Only thing i didn't really like was the space combat, you cant really maneuver the ship at all, you have a dodge button which tilts the ship but i didn't find it that useful
Also i want to praise the developers for the story line and characterization in this game, it isn't complicated or complex but i found it kind of wholesome. The main character Myrah reminded me a lot of April Ryan from The Longest Journey games.