Environmental Station Alpha really tests the limit of how much a game can borrow from another. Quiet protagonist in metal body fights and backtracks through underground, alien biomes to take out sci-fi monsters and collect upgrades. That describes Station Alpha as much as it describes any 2D Metroid game. So many details overlap too: strong environmental storytelling, atmospheric music, wall-climbing critters, etc. That said, Station Alpha still manages to find its own identity.
The visuals lean on PICO-8 more than any NES, SNES, or Game Boy Advance game, and the ambient music is memorable. The particulars of the upgrades and the small health pool make for a challenging but satisfying platforming-and-combat loop. It's tighter but more expressive than most of Metroid, and that's especially true for the boss battles. Station Alpha's story does better with the outline of Metroid by ditching cartoon villainy, by using personal logs, and by maintaining a sense of mystery.
Spoilers
There are a lot of secrets and cryptic sequences that match stuff found in *Fez and Tunic*; the kind of thing internet communities froth over. They lead to substantial world-building information and optional content. I could only stomach some of it. To do it all would mean many hours figuring things out or tediously following a written guide.I recommend Environmental Station Alpha if you like the genre or the spoiler-marked stuff. 7