Oh dear, oh dear! A distress signal from a distant planet, a crash landing, a stuck pilot and a capable kitty. Welcome to doinksoft’s Gato Roboto–the uncharted planet Metroidvania side-scroller that will scratch the nostalgia up!
Seemingly built perfectly for speedruns, Gato Roboto’s length is on the shorter side of things, but packed with entertainment none the less. Its adorable theme is highlighted with Kiki: the cat that will gladly get it’s owner out of bother and end up saving the day.
Watch the Gato Roboto launch trailer below:
Gameplay revolves around your standard Metroidvania exploration and progression. Heading down tunnels, maybe gaining a new weapon or ability and pressing on. Kiki quickly finds a mechsuit about five minutes in, which will be your main weapon (with all its bells and whistles) throughout the game. The black and white palette is also a stunning way to accentuate the simple pixel graphics–a real treat to look at.
There’s an interesting toggle between Kiki’s usage of the her mechsuit and going completely vulnerable without. A nice touch of puzzling to make your brain’s cogs turn if you want to get from point A to point B. Often there’s some ace rewards to shedding the armour though; Kiki will navigate through a maze of cat-sized tunnels and come upon some essential and seriously awesome upgrades. Just like in classic Metroidvania style, these upgrades will allow for further progression like being able to blast down a wall that you previously couldn’t get through, or something of a permanent health upgrade–which we all salivate for in any video game. Not having your armour will also be required at times. Gato Roboto cleverly has you leave your comfort zone (in this case the mechsuit) and forces you to roam around as just Kiki to reach places you wouldn’t be able to with the suit on. The cool part about this though is when you hit a save chamber your suit will reappear upon stepping in, giving you a feeling that the game does have your back at times.
View some Gato Roboto screenshots in our gallery:
Outside of the mechsuit, Kiki is really well designed and a treat to play. Equipped with the natural ability to climb up walls, you’ll be able to scratch your way up and wall jump for some really fun and engaging acrobatics. Given that Kiki’s mechsuit is powerful and armed to the teeth, it’s probably pretty easy to see Kiki on her own as a vulnerable and weaker way to play, but you might be pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed handling Kiki with or without the suit equally. In fact, Kiki controls brilliantly either way, and platforming, which you’ll see a lot of, took me back to the actual Metroid and Castlevania games. It was dead easy to scale around and loads of fun to take your own paths.
Now, it is short, but Gato Roboto retails for £5.79 full price. I would count it as absolutely more than worth it if you like these types of quirky games with a strong hand to play on your nostalgia heart strings. It doesn’t disappoint and will give you a good challenge along the way. Meow what are you waiting for!
Gato Roboto was reviewed using a digital code supplied by the publisher.
Publisher: Devolver Digital Developer: doinksoft Release Date: 30th May, 2019 Reviewed On: PC/Steam
