Metamorphosis is an adventure game about a man-turned-bug

You know the one!

Metamorphosis is a strange but intriguing first-person adventure game about a man, Gregor, who has suddenly become a bug – a small, sticky-limbed, oh-so-squishable bug. It’s not exactly an ideal fate.

Making matters worse, Gregor’s friend was arrested “for reasons unknown,” and he’ll have to “journey through surrealist landscapes towards The Tower.” I don’t know what’s lurking inside The Tower, but whenever there’s a mysterious capital-T tower in a video game, nothing good can come from it.

Ovid Works, the Warsaw-based developer, is focused on filling out the small-scale world with “eccentric characters” and puzzles revolving around parkour, wall climbing, and searching for clues. Today’s trailer is CGI, but that should start to paint a mental picture of how Metamorphosis will play. The Steam page also has a few environmental shots, one of which shows an insect soaking in a tub like Geralt.

If the premise sounds suspicious, the title – and the concept itself – are a nod to the Franz Kafka novella The Metamorphosis, which isn’t everyday material for a video game adaptation. I’m into it.

Metamorphosis is aiming for a summer 2020 release on PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.