Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus Steam Charts & Stats

Absolutely wonderful game, the story is amazing, art is beautiful, music is wonderful. I love the platforming sections of the game, it feels so satisfying when you complete a harder sections of the platforming. If you loved Nine Sols and Hollow Knight series, you are definitely gonna enjoy Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. For me, masterpiece of a game, absolutely enjoying it and surely recommended !

It is difficult for me to judge such a game. On one hand, I absolutely hate precision platforming / platforming in general. On the other hand, this game's visuals and character design are a delectable treat and is highly rewarding in the broadness of that category together. The story is fast-paced and great for what it is. I personally enjoyed it a lot, but I do wish there was more in terms of lore scale across the different regions you encounter within this game. Music was awe-inspiring, emotionally resonant, and awesome all the way through! Each piece of music you encounter fits whatever is happening quite well, if not masterfully for certain areas (Gashadokuro in particular for me personally). And I must state again that every character in this game was so flavorfully wonderful! To me, the most important aspect of games is music, lore, and characters. Gameplay is usually secondary for me, and even though some of the platforming made me pull my hair out, I simply can't hate a game like this due to how good everything else was! I really hope more games in the future get as ambitious as this game did with its characters as I feel every game benefits with a unique setting of characters :D I haven't played the DLC yet, so this review is merely for the base game. Furthermore, I think I would have enjoyed the platforming more if I had some buddies to watch me stress over it, but I played the game alone, and so the alone-gamer syndrome of rage fills the cauldron once more lmao -- 6/22/2026 - I completed through all of the DLC. The Tunuki races were pretty fun aside from the ones in Ice Caverns. Going through and doing all five seals for each of the bosses was an enormous challenge and mental warfare that I gave up and continued sooooooo many times. It has also made me encounter various bugs, wacky interactions, and insanely tight and precise techniques in order to maximize damage. Through these methods I can confidently know, and say, which bosses I absolutely loathe and which I absolutely love. Gashadokuro and Asahi were the bosses I absolutely never had any pleasure in doing. Yokozuna is fun but kind of boring for a boss. Kitsura, Tengu Trio, Jorogumo, and Sakura Shogun remain as my favorites with Kiri Kiri Bozu and Armakillo remaining as good middle ground bosses that are fun but lack complexity within the 5 seal challenges. I did not do the guauntlet with the seals as that would take too long to become comfortable doing... and well, I'd rather not spend a hour to go through all the bosses when it took like 7 hours to learn how to beat the Tengu Trio once under 5 seals. All the cosmetic stuff and customizable room was a nice feature of the DLC that I wish more games did. Very good endgame goals and content for people who want to continue playing the game and want a incentive to do so. Gambling and RNG isn't really my thing in games so the luck pools within the machine weren't that fun but I did manage to get them all after 30k Kitsunebi. I was stuck at 76 for at least 20k, which is insane bad RNG LOL After trying to beat the game without dying, I found out I was definitely going to get an aneurism if I tried that multiple times so I was more then happy just doing the challenge of not using my teapot to heal to beat the game. I did complete that one at least lol

This game was a vibe from beginning to end. I loved the art style, the cutscenes and the music. This is a short game (10-15 hours), but it keeps you on track while still building in enough fun side-quests and characters you can interact with that it helps you imagine what lives and breathes outside the main story. The only gripes I had while playing this were: 1. the bosses sometimes felt too easy and sometimes take way too long! I was often able to kill bosses on the first attempt (or within the first 3-5), and it didn't feel like the difficulty increased as the story progressed. This is the kind of game where you can be aggressive. You're almost never punished for it, and if you're not, every boss fight will last 10 minutes or more. If you're into a more relaxed experience where you don't have to fight for your life, this is the game for you. 2. the midgame took me completely by surprise--there were no warnings (at least as far as I know) that the vibe was going to change before I completed the final quest that launched mid-game. It came as a complete shock when I returned to the city, and I panicked about losing some of my unfinished side-quests (I didn't, in case you find yourself in a situation like me). A little bit more warning would have been appreciated, but it didn't ruin my experience. Overall, this was a very fun game and worth a play.

horrible Wants to be a Hollow Knight but the controls are so clunky its impossible to do anything with precision...

I was so blown away playing this. I truly think this is one of the greatest games ever made, and the developers are amazing. I was so surprised this didn't have overwhelmingly positive reviews, and upon digging deeper, i've realised that i'm playing this at the perfect time. The devs have listened to all the feedback, engaged with the community, and fixed every flaw the game had. And i'm so glad they did, because the result is an absolute masterpiece. The visuals are so gorgeous, mimicking traditional Japanese art beautifully and using layered 2D sprites to create an incredibly unique and stunning aesthetic. Everything is so well drawn and beautifully animated, with plenty of gorgeous visual effects to top it all off. The sound design is outstanding also, with a brilliant sound track and extremely well done sound effects that not only sound amazing, but compliment the games aesthetic beautifully. Moving on from aesthetics, the gameplay is even better. I'm not very good at 2D platformers generally, but this felt perfect to me. The only other 2D game i've played that felt so nice to control to me was Celeste. The level design is perfect too. Something I pretty frequently find faults with in metroidvanias is the level design and map layout. You can usually cheese or break something, or realise there's a really lame roadblock stopping you from doing things out of order. This game has no issues at all on that front. In fact, the only two spots I managed to sequence break both rewarded me for doing so. I adore the fact that the devs not only give you enough control over your movement to go wherever you desire, but also expected it, and rewarded it. The combat is flawless. It takes some getting used to since button mashing is much less effective than finding the right rhythm and utilising different attacks, but once you do figure that out it feels so incredible. It has such a high skill ceiling too. I'm so interested in checking out the speedruns of this game, because there is seemingly infinite room to push this game further by just purely being better at it. That being said, I think it's important to note that the skill floor is not high at all. The game is very accessible. I'm so shocked and disappointed to see people complaining about the game being too difficult, since nothing is ever too punishing or unfair, and there are several ways you can make things easier. (Lotus Lady my beloved <3) The boss fights are so well designed. It seems like some had issues in the past, but as of now, they're actually just all perfect. It's pretty rare for me to be unable to find faults with bosses like this. These are so perfectly crafted around what you're capable of, making them all so much fun to battle. And they're all so unique and interesting. It was such a fun challenge beating every boss with every handicap active. Learning their movesets and behaviour so deeply that I can beat them without healing, darumas (special attacks), or upgrades, felt so damn rewarding. It's amazing how easy the bosses are to beat once you've mastered them. There's no luck or frustration or anything, it's just all pure skill. Progress always feels rewarding in metroidvanias, getting more abilities and being able to do new things to reach new areas is great, but hard to get right. Many games require a new ability purely to enter the area, then it's forgotten about. Or, it's used throughout that area and nowhere else. This game avoids both of those issues very well. Every ability can be used in every area for some benefit. And, they're all so fun to use and take advantage of. Oh and all the folklore is amazing! I've been interested in mythology in general for a very long time, and find japanese folklore to be particularly interesting. Seeing such great representations of so many yokai is delightful. I've learned a surprising amount from playing this, just purely from the entities in the game being interesting enough for me to want to research them. The fact that even the fast travel system is a representation of an incredibly interesting folklore speaks volumes about how much passion was behind this game. That folklore is called Utsuro-bune for the curious, it's so fascinating. This game is absolutely outstanding and deserves so much more love and recognition.

Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus was one of the most pleasant surprises I've played in recent years. The hand-drawn art style is absolutely gorgeous, bringing its Japanese folklore-inspired world to life with incredible charm and personality. What really stood out to me was the movement. The platforming feels fantastic throughout the entire game, and the pogo mechanic is incredibly satisfying. Once everything clicks, you can flow through entire sections without touching the ground, and it never stops feeling cool. While it isn't as difficult as some other games in the genre, that's not a bad thing at all. The challenge is still there when it needs to be, with a handful of demanding platforming sequences and memorable boss fights, but it rarely becomes frustrating. Instead, it strikes a great balance between being engaging and simply fun to play. Combined with its beautiful visuals, smooth movement, and rewarding exploration, the game delivers a consistently enjoyable experience from start to finish. It's a game full of heart, and one that any fan of the genre should absolutely give a chance.

Fun and short Metroidvania with great graphics. The movement, especially after the hook, is so snappy and fun.

Platforming focused. Controls tightly and feels great to play.

This game is like 90% presentation. The art, music and aesthetic are delightful at every turn but they paper over a serviceable action platformer with a thin plot. The core gameplay is solid with a heavy emphasis on integrating platforming mechanics into largely aerial combat. Movement is fast and fluid and the suite of movement options makes it easy to gracefully soar across combat encounters. However, I feel like the game did not ramp up the difficulty in platforming or combat enough to really get the most out of the mechanics it introduced. Diffuculty is highly subjective, so your mileage may vary, but as a platformer lover, I felt the game rarely presented a satisfying challenge. It would really benefit from a "Path of Pain" style platforming gauntlet. Also, the game is VERY light on its Metroidvania design. You travel though sectioned off, mostly linear regions with few side paths that quickly loop back to the critical path. You are given explicit goals and direction throughout the entire game through quests that dictate your progression. Backtracking is strictly for side quests, secret hunting, or mandated by the story. If you're looking to get lost in a world and learn to navigate an unfamiliar environment, this will not scratch that itch. Though I cannot say I loved this game it is very well made from a technical level. It succeeds at what it set out to do and I do not regret my time with it.

TLDR: If you enjoy platforming and are versed in modern metroidvania this game will bring you fun and fairness but (THANKFULLY) no brickwalls like others of its kind This game offers a GORGOUS art and music style and pairs it with sometimes advanced but never unfair platforming and fights. I never had the feeling that dying was anything but my own fault during the whole playthrough. If i had ANY gripe it would be that it feels a little short but then again not every game can or SHOULD be a 60 - 100 hour mammoth. The world and characters left me after I beat it wanting more. More diving into who they are, more stories and more new platforming tools for harder challenges. Overall the difficulty had a fair escalation which never felt like it asked too much of me. The absence of any "brick walls" is a hugely positive aspect esp after playing silksong which offers its fair share of "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" not having ANY unfair or seemingly poorly made bosses or hitboxes was a breath of fresh air. I appreciate the liberally places checkpoints as well. If i had to bring up one gripe with it aside from leaving me wanting more it would be that the Daruma as well as the talisman are lacking some impact. I purchased the daruma that spawns whisps (or a big hand on lvl 3) and used it the entire game to great effect. Likewise while the things given by talisman are nice to have i rarely swapped them out or felt like another one would be better (aside from exactly the challenges with destructible targets which do not work well with the fan cloak) otherwise it was the same ones al the way through. Overall i think Bo was a great game which both showed wonderful artistic vision in combination with something INCREDIBLY rare in a lot of games FULL transparency and fairness. I am excited to see the next game of these devs