Zapling Bygone

Zapling Bygone is a metroidvania in which you play as an alien hive-mind on a post-apocalyptic planet. You explore its interconnected world, fight enemies and bosses, and gain abilities by killing bosses and wearing their skulls. The skulls also reveal memories and comic panels about the planet’s past, while speaking to you throughout your adventure.

Explore the planet

You use the Zapling’s sticky tentacles to jump and climb through six biomes, each with its own enemies, bosses and backstory. Collecting the skulls of people who lived in each biome reveals more of it. The world includes Ratqueen Gardens, an old mine overgrown with monstrous plants and occupied by rampaging rats after their king’s untimely death; Grimtown, the empty shell of a fallen civilization, where people suffer from a creeping virus; and Mountain Path, an uninhabitable snowy mountain scattered with ancient technology built to protect the planet from alien invasion.

Steal abilities

Each boss you kill gives you its skull and ability. These powers help you traverse the world and fight your opponents: the Ratking’s skull lets you climb walls, an ancient manufacturing robot’s claw-head can be thrown to swing around, and The Protector’s power core fires laser beams. You can also find mutations that modify and enhance your abilities.

Uncover the past

Collect skull fragments to learn about long-dead civilizations. Wearing a skull grants access to its owner’s memories and unlocks comic panels depicting major events in their life. Piece together the planet’s history, including how The Ratking gained consciousness, how an ancient civilization destroyed itself searching for a false god, and the consequences of a virus that brings eternal life and suffering. You can also trade plasma for ancient keys, forgotten secrets and unusual paintings, and use what you learn to fight a fragment of your own hive.