REVIEW: ‘Bo: Path Of The Teal Lotus’ Is A Gorgeous Folktale (PC)

With so many indie games released this year, it can be hard to stand out. But with gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, a story inspired by Japanese folklore Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is an immediate classic. Especially for those looking for a solid platformer that pushes you. Developed by Squid Shock Studios and published by Humble Games, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is a 2.5D action platformer that takes a beloved genre formula and makes it something special.

In Path of the Teal Lotus, you play as the adorable cloaked Bō, a celestial blossom (fox tentaihana). You have descended from the heavens to play a key role in an ancient and mysterious ritual. Meeting a host of characters along the way, your trusty bō staff is your key to jumping and gliding fluidly through each realm.

Otherworldly in its inhabitants, each environment in Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus carries a visual style that both pulls you in and sets an eerie but beautiful atmosphere. A 2.5D side-scrolling action platformer, the game goes to great lengths to create depth to each stage and allow the player to interact with each one differently. Aesthetics are one thing, but making them enticingly interactive is another.

Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus uses traditional elements associated with strange worlds and maps them onto Japanese folklore and culture. In doing so, Squid Shock Studios has created a game that aims to be both culturally salient and universal. It works. Starting first in a lush forest with a mysterious giant skeleton stomping in the distance, a castle, a city, and each new area builds on the last both visually and mechanically, this is a world you can fall into and fall in love with simultaneously.

You can immediately see the replayability from the opening area, with places you can’t access with your current abilities. This layers each environment with enough mystery to remember and double back, especially for completionists. In addition to dynamic world designs, the diversity of yokai spans the spectrum of adorable to strange and sometimes the perfect blend of both. While the game’s art style may push a dreamlike experience on the player, there is just enough tension to make the weird feel really weird and add a layer of dark whimsy. But it doesn’t stay there as new areas also bring in bright and rainbow backdroped valleys.

It’s also important to know that while the game features characters from Japanese myth, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus also features other original characters that use mythology as their starting point. This cast is also how the game develops its side quests and expands what you know as Bō, expanding your kit and making your platforming all the more interesting.

While the traversal mechanics feel fluid, the game’s requirement for double jumping offers the right amount of difficulty and makes this game’s platforming special. While in the air, you need to strike something to gain your extra jump. This seems simple enough, but that’s not the full story.

While this is simple at first, learning how to string more jumps together becomes an exercise in patience and forces you to plan your platforming carefully, even when your expended kit makes things slightly easier. The most difficult use of this mechanic comes when you also have to combat enemies while trying to ascend an area. If you time it right, you can propel yourself further, but if you panic (like I do), it can make certain areas difficult to pass through.

Traversal and combat mechanics create challenging boss encounters that sometimes feel almost insurmountable. But everything you need is right there, and once you realize how to string together your entire kit with simple jumps, you’re in a position to win. This adds a level of acrobatics to each boss encounter that, even when they begin to repeat rotations, will keep you engaged.

These boss encounters push you to be precise in the paths you choose and the abilities you employ, and that alone opens the door for endless replayability. When you layer in any of the eight Daruma dolls that you discover, upgrade, and summon, combat can become easier but also more dynamic. Each Daruma doll can deploy spells or other important defensive abilities that help you through combat.

While Daruma can be summoned, the passive abilities you can access come in the shape of 30 different Omamori. Charms are a staple in Metroidvanias, and that’s no different in Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. Much like in others in the genre, the Omamori can add more damage or sustainability, based on which you pick. More importantly, though, they offer a clear collection component that incentivizes traversing each area to completion. The Daruma and Omamori seem like genre mainstays instead of anything truly unique.

In addition to the helpful Daruma and Omamori, you can access new and different staff abilities. Brewing and drinking tea can restore your health, but different teas also unlock new abilities for your weapon. Once the staff begins shapeshifting, the combat also morphs. Understanding what weapon is best for each area is also important as you weave in your Lotus Dash and grappling hook to close gaps. Both of which make platforming extremely entertaining.

The important thing, though, even with its moments of increased difficulty, is that the game never feels incredibly tense. Instead, you lull into the game, and that keeps you centered. This is largely thanks to its score, which modernizes traditional Japanese string instruments. The game’s score feels like you’re being held, and as you lean forward in your chair to get through boss battles, the tempo picks up, too.

If there is anything to critique, it is that Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus doesn’t look to do anything more than be a solid entry into the Metroidvania genre. But as much as that simplicity may be a critique, I find myself asking if it even should be. Not every video game needs to reinvent the genre. It can simply be a good execution of it. That’s where Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus would find itself. However, its sense of style and atmosphere help it take a spot among the must-play indies of the years. Its gametype is executed extremely well, and more importantly, it’s beautiful from the opening to its close.

Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus is the most beautiful game you will play. The hand-drawn art is ethereal and whimsical and captures the beautiful mythology in which the game is grounded. With saturated watercolor-inspired art and unique character designs, I don’t think there are enough words to describe how visually striking Path of the Teal Lotus is. Thankfully, that beauty also translates into complex gameplay that will keep you engaged. Minus some awkward difficulty in executing a steady learning curve for the more intricate puzzles, this game is an absolute stunner.

Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus is available now on PC via Steam.