YIP!

For one, it's an AMAZING way to involve game mechanics directly into your storytelling, something that I believe MIO does extremely well. We're shown at the very beginning of the game that Mio is not immune to the Hearts tremors. That the tremors have a real, irreversible effect on EVERY unit on the Vessel. We also know that the tremors aren't just going to stop because Mio is running around looking for ways to stop them. They're gonna keep happening, and with that, more of EVERY units health is chipped away. We see smaller enemies and common units slowly cease to exist because of the damage they recieve from the tremors, so naturally, we'll see this in Mio as well.

The game is very good at integrating things that we all see as Just Game Mechanics into a real tangible part of the story. An excellent example of this is the Self-Awareness modifier, because in what other game does seeing your own health come at a (small) cost? In what other game can you sacrifice your ability to see your own health and energy in favour of loading yourself with other boosts?

Secondly, and following that last point about it integrating game mechanics into the story, I think having the "permanent" health upgrades be taken away is EXTREMELY interesting from a meta standpoint. Many of us as players have never once considered that a health upgrade might not be permanent, and I think this is where a lot of the backlash comes from.

Most gamers expect that a health upgrade will stick. That its an untouchable part of the experience of playing a game. That even if the story says that your character is losing health, you'll be able to heal back to a comfortable, upgraded amount once you get somewhere safe. Memories in Orbit challenges that notion HARD. You ARENT untouchable. You are just as much a part of the vessel as anything else is. Mio is not the chosen one, she is not a god, she is not anything really that special. She is another unit given a final task in a world that's dying.

I also want to point out that much of the backlash I've seen regarding the game taking health away from Mio seems to stem from the people complaining feeling insulted, in a way. I think it really extends past the frustration of losing health, because naturally having your health slowly taken away is going to be frustrating. But the way I've seen people complaining about it just shows that people expect games to function in one specific way. That people feel entitled to their precious game mechanics being untouchable even if that means sacrificing a huge part of the story.

The sheer amount of people I have seen say, verbatim, "I know the health loss is important to the story, but," is SICKENING. What do you mean, you understand that something is important to the story but you hate it anyway? What do you mean, you feel like its unfair that Mio is treated by her world the same as any other unit?

The game says it many, many times, that nobody on the vessel is truly above anybody else. That no form of life is inherently higher or lower. MIO is a game that shows you that you can be doing something monumentally important, but you aren't inherently any more important than anybody else.

And to say that the game is bad because of that entitlement makes me sick. To give the game a negative review because it dares challenge the untouchable nature of game mechanics everyone has come to expect is just petty.