One of 2026’s most exciting and anticipated indie games, EMUUROM saw its official release on Steam on May 25. Beginning life as an itch.io project many years prior, EMUUROM was made by solo developer Borbware. The game is a unique take on the popular Metroidvania genre, centering around scanning a variety of adorable creatures to identify them and use their behavior to progress further into a mysterious lost paradise.
GameObserver spoke to Borbware about the development process of EMUUROM, including why he chose to use the TIC-80 retro computer-inspired engine, whether he felt the game should be categorized as a “Metroidvania” or “Metroidbrainia,” what games inspired him, and where he plans to go next with the fascinating world he has created. The developer is excited to see his project finally release, and particularly can’t wait to see how fans react to discovering the many secrets hidden inside EMUUROM’s unique world.
EMUUROM Features Unique Creature-Scanning Gameplay
In EMUUROM, players take on the role of a researcher who is cataloging the creatures who inhabit a lost world. Scanning each creature fills out your EMUUDEX, and you need to learn about their behavior and interactions with one another in order to progress and discover secrets. Borb discussed the influence of the Metroid series on the game:
“Gameplay-wise, the obvious inspirations are from the Metroid series, especially the scanning from Metroid Prime, where you can get a lot of extra information but it’s not the main feature of the game. So I was thinking – what if you made that into the main game? Do you even need any kind of shooting action on top of that? And the answer I got was that you don’t really need that – you can get something interesting out of the scanning alone.”
Borb has been a longtime fan of the Metroid series – he fondly recalls playing Super Metroid during his time in university, which led to him discovering an enduring love for the Metroidvania genre. With a massive grin on his face, the developer recounted his reaction to learning about the genre: playing his way through the entire Metroid and Castlevania series as well as dozens of indie titles. Many games with Metroidvania elements helped to inspire the final form of EMUUROM, especially those where uncovering hidden secrets with minimal handholding is a major part of the experience:
“Void Stranger has been a big, big influence for me – that was my favorite game of 2023. And Animal Well, obviously, has been a huge game that people are definitely going to compare EMUUROM to. And Outer Wilds – I feel that EMUUROM can find an audience in players of these games.”
Metroidvania Or Metroidbrainia (Or Both)?
While Borb immediately embraced categorizing his game as a Metroidvania, especially given the direct Metroid influence on its gameplay, he quickly found that people following the game were also assigning it another category: Metroidbrainia. A relatively new but quickly emerging term, “Metroidbrainia” generally refers to a game where progression is gated by acquiring information, rather than physical items – definitely something that happens in EMUUROM, as you need to understand creature behavior and interactions to progress to new areas.
Speaking about EMUUROM’s categorization as a “Metroidbrainia,” Borb said:
“I feel like it’s an apt description. I don’t use it in marketing, because I know that it’s kind of rubbing some people the wrong way, but I feel like it’s perfectly describing at least some parts of EMUUROM. I don’t think EMUUROM is a ‘pure’ Metroidbrainia, but it’s definitely an apt description of some parts of EMUUROM.”
While “Metroidbrainia” may not appeal to everyone, Borb has also seen his game appear in the broader category of “Thinky Games” – a general heading for knowledge, mystery, puzzle, and secret-focused titles. He praised the Thinky Games fan community and the ThinkyGames.com website in particular, noting that they immediately embraced EMUUROM when it appeared in the annual Thinky Direct broadcast in 2025. “I cannot thank them enough for creating such an amazing welcoming community,” Borb stated.
EMUUROM Is A Triumph For The TIC-80
Borb knew from the beginning that he wanted EMUUROM to have a retro feel. When he heard about the TIC-80, a “fantasy tiny computer” console available for developers to use, he realized that it was the ideal platform for the game. “Managing pixel art in modern engines like Unity is such a pain,” he explained. “Small, limited engines – they really keep you focused on development. When you do everything, or almost everything, on one screen, you don’t get distracted. All the annoying parts are already kind of figured out for you. You don’t have to think about resolution.”
That’s not to say that the development process of EMUUROM was completely without stress or difficulty. Borb speculates that EMUUROM is one of the biggest and most elaborate games made using the engine, and found that, at times, it “pushed the upper limits” of the TIC-80’s capabilities. Late in the development process, he even had to “resort to creating a custom build of the TIC-80 engine…because [he] had run out of code space.”
Ultimately, though, Borb enjoyed working with the TIC-80, and he definitely foresees making more projects using the engine in the future. As for what’s coming next for the developer, Borb isn’t sure yet. He has other ideas for games set in the EMUUROM universe, as well as quite the long list of creatures he ultimately had to cut from the final release of EMUUROM itself. Currently, he’s focused on fixing bugs that EMUUROM players and playtesters have encountered, but he definitely wants to make more games in the future, and could easily see himself returning to the world of EMUUROM. “I have already had ideas for a follow-up game,” he hinted, “It’s going to take some time before I start working on it, but I know that I want to create at least one more game in the same universe.”
EMUUROM is currently available for purchase via Steam.
