Mitoza Review: Seeds and Possibilities
I have to say I completely had no idea what kind of game Mitoza is before really getting my hands on it. The reason why I decided to give it a try was quite simple. It was published by Second Maze, an indie studio that had gained some popularity by publishing The White Door, the spin-off story of the very famous Rusty Lake series. I also had a great time playing Milo and the Magpies, another exquisite puzzle title with the same publisher. And Mitoza is a free game, so I tapped on the download button, expecting to see some kind of puzzler that would help me kill some time.
It did help me kill some time, but not in the way I expected. The gameplay is fairly simple. Everything starts with a seed and in each round you will be presented with two choices. What happens to this ordinary seed depends on your decisions. You choose, and the seed grows (or to say “gets transformed”). In the very end, no matter which path you have picked, the “creature” made out of your choices will turn into the seed again.
What really makes the game stand out, from my perspective, is the crazy amount of absurd creativity injected. Players might never know what will happen next until they tap on the icon and see for themselves. For example, I chose the flowerpot first, followed by one drop of “magic potion” (maybe some seed ripener idk) to grow the seed, only to find a lively Venus flytrap right in the middle. I continued with the fly icon and was quite sure about its destiny. But again to my surprise, the fly swallowed the flytrap and turned BIG. The way the fly finally turns back into the seed is also weirdly imaginative but I’ll leave that for you to find out.
It took me about 30 minutes to finish the game and light up all the possible choice icons (72 in total). You might need to memorize the order and keep track of your choices to unlock all the possibilities without omission. There are quite a few interesting references and exquisitely designed progression throughout the whole gameplay. To name a few, the Rusty Lake easter egg which you can find by interacting with certain item on screen (go and find it Rusty Lake lovers), the Hitchcock reference which pays homage to the famous bathroom scene in Psycho, and my favorite one, the one in which a dog-like cow udder (sounds weird enough) urinates milk into the hole to cultivate the egg.
To me, Mitoza has a whimsical sense of humor. It’s gross, but not that gross; it’s weird, but it is this weirdness that glues your eyes to the game. What I love most about Mitoza is that every consequence of your choice is logically illogical. Yes, unusual stuff emerges all the time in this game, and wacky progression seems to always come out of left field. But every time I made my decisions, tapped on the icon of my choice, and witnessed what was happening to the little seed, I would suddenly have that kind of epiphany: “Wow, it’s weird (and gross maybe), but it does make some sense if you ask me.”
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