Dungeons and Robots @ EGX Rezzed 2016

During EGX Rezzed 2016 I practiced my WASD skills while playing Dungeons and Robots, an online action shooter RPG by Glow Games. It originally attracted me because it looked like Diablo III but with customisable robots – which on its own already sounds awesome in my books. The reality was slightly different, but not necessarily in a bad way. The game is currently in Early Access on Steam and the developers are working on many more features, including controller support (yes, please!) to be added to the final version of the game.

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The demo I got to play at EGX Rezzed, I think, illustrated well the atmosphere and the intent of the game. You begin by assembling your robot by choosing a model that suits your play style best. Already, there were quite a few options from slower heavy tank models to faster, but ‘squishier’ robots. Then you proceed to choosing your weapons and armour, followed by special abilities. There were two special ability slots out of four available for the demo, and in the game you would unlock more slots as you progress through the game. Once your robot is ready and charged, you are dropped into procedurally generated dungeon to complete various objections. In my demo I had to free captives. Of course, there were enemies to fight on the way and resources to collect as well.

The first question that popped into my head while playing the game was: why dungeons? The robots have very slick futuristic look, that I quite like. While dungeons look, indeed more Diablo-esque, with various monsters and with seemingly more magic like weaponry. As I have found out afterwards, the answer lies within the story behind the game.

Planet earth has been turned into wasteland. The remaining population seeking other worlds to survive settle on planet TSI-5. Upon surveying the unknown planet, the colonist discover a mysterious Pure Crystal. Further research reveals it to contain extra ordinary powers of opening portals to the parallel universes, worth to wage wars over. The colonist engineer robots to go in search of the crystal, however the native lives to the planet are no so fast as to relinquish it or the territories to the invaders.

It is hard for me to judge what other ‘parallel words’ there would be in the game just from playing one level in the demo. But I do hope there are other levels, except literal dungeons, in the game as currently they dim compared to the design of the robots themselves.

Leaving the setting behind, there are a lot of interesting features in the game. I like modular robot design and, with crafting also available, I can see a lot of opportunities for strategically outfitting the robot depending on the environment, level difficulty or even other players that team up with you to explore the dungeon. The game currently has a single player and one-to-four multiplier mods. In the later you can team up with your posse or through the guild to explore bigger levels and claim territories. The developers are also working on PVP, 1vs1, 4vs4 and Free Arena mode.

However, the two features that would make or brake the game for me are the special abilities and looting options. Although, I had quite limited look at the abilities currently available, I think interesting moves and powers could be something that really distinguishes the game. At the moment the games seems to contain more of the generic types, such as heal by this amount or use a shield for this amount of time. Similarly, I would be interested to see how loot works with crafting, and following that with trading between the players.

Dungeons and Robots has enough to spike my interest, but not yet enough to commit to purchase. I would definitely need to see more of the game’s features implemented before making up my mind. My main concern, as a console gamer, is that the game is not yet set to be released on platforms that I tend to play multiplayer games on, like PS4 or Xbox One. However, if you are primarily a PC/Mac or indeed a Wii U gamer, I would keep an eye on Dungeon and Robots.