Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Now, as I’m looking at Kotaku paraphrasing and linking to our Ubisoft-on-Steam-but-not-for-non-US-peeps story, I notice a story which I’m now going to paraphrase and link to. That is, Mr Robot is now free and on Gametap’s ad-supported service. You may remember Mr Robot from when we’ve previously talked about it, but it’s a hyper-cut retro-mash-up of Knight Lore and a jRPG, with System Shock’s plot. And a splash of Silent Running. Also, I now notice, it’s executable is called “Black Hole”, and I slap my forehead at the obvious other influence. But cute. Mindbending, but cute.

You have to watch one short advert when you start the game, but other than that, it’s exactly the same game that I’d have been more than happy to pay for. And, even better, it’s the perfect Space Week game. Go play.

I was bouncing mails with Moonpod, arranging an interview about what they’ve been up to and specifically their latest game, when I realised that a lot of people may not even be aware of Mr Robot. Let’s sort THAT out.

When I reviewed Mr Robot for PCG back in February, I described it as “Head Over Heels meets Final Fantasy with the plot of System Shock. But cute.” before going on to say it was “the most enjoyable independent game I’ve played since Defcon”. Which now, seven months on, still sounds about right. It’s an isometric adventure game mashed with an Eastern Style RPG, basically, and feels a lot like a modern version of those character-lead, quietly perfect games which I cut my teeth on circa the Spectrum in the UK. I like it a lot and when you play the demo, you will too.

Just, for God’s sake, don’t use the mouse-controls. I mean it.