Robots at Midnight

After being out on {Xbox Series X/S} and PC for a few months, {Robots at Midnight} has now been released for PlayStation 5. Since we didn't find time to review the game on Xbox or PC, we've now thrown ourselves into this little Soulslike from {Finish Line Games}.

You take on the role of the girl Zoe, who crashes on the planet {Yob} in the small escape pod she used to escape an attack she and her father were subjected to. To her horror, she sees that the planet she has landed on has been completely abandoned by humans and instead taken over by murderous robots. She now embarks on a journey through the desolate and abandoned land to find her father, and this requires her to fight her way through hordes of humanoid robots.

{Robots at Midnight} stands somewhere in the borderland between an action role-playing game and a Soulslike. You will recognise many of the elements of the Soulslike genre, from bonfires where you can heal yourself (which causes all defeated enemies to respawn) to the big bosses, where you have to learn their attack patterns, dodge, and block their attacks. You have to make sure not to get caught on the wrong foot, as they can kill Zoe with a few well-placed blows. The bosses are quite well designed and, unlike the other enemies you encounter, they are relatively varied to fight against.

Zoe can be equipped with one weapon at a time, ranging from a large wrench to a large sword. These weapons can be upgraded at some workbenches you come across along the way, but Zoe herself cannot be upgraded, as her stats change depending on what clothes she is wearing and what weapons you equip her with. On her arm she has a {MITT} ({Mobile Impulse Traversal Technology}) gadget that functions as a kind of mechanical fist and ranged weapon, but has a cooldown period, so it can't be used all the time.

The reason I think {Robots at Midnight} is on the borderline between an action role-playing game and a definite Soulslike is primarily because it has two difficulty levels, where the lower one, {Hero Mode}, feels more like an action role-playing game (though still with Soulslike elements), while on the high difficulty level, {Master Mode}, it plays like a sometimes quite challenging Soulslike.

The gameplay has been cut to the bone, and maybe a little too deep at that. What is in the game works quite well, so it's not because it doesn't play well, it's just that it's pretty simple. However, it's a quite nice feature that the enemies become extra aggressive and dangerous when night falls.

The fights against the various robots are quite monotonous (the bosses are more entertaining as mentioned above) and there are some frustrations with the camera not always locking onto the enemies and the {MITT} gadget not always activating when you press the button. The biggest frustration, however, is when you need new energy during the fights via an energy drink or an energy bar, you trigger an animation where Zoe almost stops and eats or drinks what you have chosen. The problem is that while Zoe drinks or eats, she is defenceless, as you have no chance to defend yourself during that period. It only takes a few seconds, but those few seconds can be the difference between being on top in the boss fight or close to dying and having to start the fight all over again. You try to take this into account by creating distance from the enemy before taking your potion, but it's not always enough, as the bosses can attack from very long distances, among other things. I have lost quite a few lives to that drinking and eating animation and it is really frustrating.

The visuals in {Robots at Midnight} are quite beautiful and don't be fooled by the sometimes quite colourful graphics, as this is a difficult game, exactly as you would expect from the genre, especially on {Master Mode}. The audio is lovely, with a good soundtrack but with a bit mediocre and simple sound effects.

{Robots at Midnight} is a simple game in the {Souls} genre and perhaps a good starting point if you want to get a taste of the genre as a beginner. It can be completed in 5-7 hours depending on the difficulty level, and there is not much to come back to once it has been completed. Although the game plays well, it can really only be seriously recommended for gamers who want to get a taste of the Soulslike genre and since it's sold at a fairly low price, it may be the best place to start your journey into a demanding genre.