This years PAX East definitely seemed more indie focused which let us dive into some really cool games, one that really stuck out to me this Action RPG titled Robots at Midnight. The game has a souls-like intense combat and narrative driven story that grabs you right from the start. It takes place in a Cassette Futurist world that was originally built as a luxury destination now overrun with monsters.
The design of the game reminded me of a mix between Breath of the Wild and Psyconauts. The art style was pleasing, easy on the eyes, and a great mix of dark, foreboding, and colorful retro futuristic details sprinkled about.
Anyone that has played a Fromsoft game will recognize the familiar mechanics. You jump, roll, dodge, block, and parry your way around the planet of Yob searching for answers and trying to uncover the corruption that has taken hold of the machines.
Zoe the protagonist can be upgraded by finding or crafting different weapons and armor that suits your playstyle. Like most RPG’s each item has its own buffs and trade offs. Robots at Midnight pays homage to Fromsoft with campfires to rest at and save progress as well as cute vending machines you can use to purchase healing items, crafting materials, weapons, and armor.
Combat is challenging and really satisfying, thunking robots with Zoe’s wooden makeshift weapon and parrying enemies feels extremely rewarding as they stay stunned for a few seconds allowing you to rack up some damage. Timing rolls to get out of danger and managing your stamina will be a breeze for some Elden Ring lovers but everyone else might get their palms a little sweaty.
In the short demo at PAX we tested our reflexes against smaller robots scattered around the desolate planet, including few dressed like baseball players swinging spiked bats and an elite enemy that resembled a PG-13 “Big Daddy” from Bioshock. It gives you a bit of a nostalgic feeling as if the Devs know upon seeing him we would remember the hours spent exploring the underwater city of Rapture. The final boss of the demo was a bunny-like “Big Daddy” that used a red hot sword to spit fire at Zoe in between crushing blows.
I was never a big souls-like fan personally until I played the recent Star Wars Jedi games and I have been hooked since. Robots at Midnight will find fans in people who love the genre and can appeal to a younger audience as well. I am excited at the prospect of exploring Yob as Zoe later this year when the game fully releases on Steam and Xbox.
