Game Review: Upwards, Lonely Robot.

(originally published 9th March 2016 on DVS Gaming)

From Kasedo Games comes a simple yet amazingly challenging platform puzzle game: Upwards, Lonely Robot. Your hero is a robot that appears to be rolling around in a hamster ball that must scale the towers. Each tower presents with a series of different “enemy bots” that you need to avoid as you make your way to the top. As you progress through each level, the towers become more and more challenging and Upwards, Lonely Robot becomes the kind of game that you spend hours playing “just one more level”.

You need to collect fruit on your way up to stay charged as running out of charge will cause you to fail the level and start again. Each level has a series of different enemies and combinations of enemies that you must avoid, as touching them will drain your charge. The game is unforgiving, even on normal difficulty. Touching just one enemy will drain your charge enough that you many not have enough to reach the top. Being quick on the keys and making snap decisions as to which direction to go is key to progressing through the levels and difficulties.

As you jump across the platforms trying to reach to top, your robot has the ability to stick to the top of the platform above you for a short while, which is quite a fun ability for getting across wide gaps. Each of the different fruit will give you a different amount of charge, and there is a handy counter showing how many fruits you have collected. Occasionally the controls are a little sticky and you can overshoot or undershoot the platforms on occasion when you’re not meaning to, but it’s not that big of a deal. The player has the option of using either your keyboard or controller, which is a great feature.

However, this isn’t a game without story. As you progress through the levels, you are presented with a series of audio logs from a human called Matt, a scientist who is trapped in one of the towers. These audio logs paint a picture as to the how’s and why’s of the towers and enemies. Some observations by Matt are humorous but the overall story-line is meant to be sad.

Graphics wise, the game is quite attractive to look at, the colors look striking, the back drop is beautiful and the towers themselves fit perfectly with the theme of the game. The enemies are rather cute, though they could have been a little more brighter against the background of the towers.  The fruit are nice and bright looking however, making it easier to spot them.  The accompanying background music fits perfectly with the pace of the game, and the sound effects from your hero and the enemy robots are cute but fitting with the game.

Overall the game is a fantastic little platform game that is engrossing, engaging and highly addictive.  Upwards, Lonely Robot will be available from the Steam store on the 11th of March 2016.