Other mechanical hazards might set the ground ablaze or cause an explosion if I accidentally hit the wrong machine. This requires me to volley it back like a dangerous tennis match, until the contraption is defeated. The difference is that many of these machines pose some kinds of danger to me, such as lighting my ball on fire and hitting it back to me right away.
I still have to hit a series of obstacles the same way I would any other room.
The design of each of the game’s areas comes full circle when the creature drags me down into the machine for “boss fights.” Each of the game’s eight areas ends with one of these encounters, taking all the various design ideas from that section and upping the ante with the inclusion of the creature. If I ever run low on energy, I can easily travel back to those puzzles to try again from the game’s main hub. If I leave a room for later, it’ll be marked on my map as incomplete. However, not every room is mandatory to clear, which can be a relief if you don’t feel like twisting your brain on one of the harder puzzles.
The effort is worth it just to score that perfectly aimed strike that knocks everything into place. These challenging areas are the most engaging, and it takes a while for me to learn where I need to stand and how I need to attack the ball to get a precise angle of attack to surpass each challenge. The most fun and challenging areas are the puzzle rooms that require precise aim to hit all the targets in the room in a certain order, or in a limited amount of time. Well, there’s the one monster, but you know what I mean. The environment is always my enemy, not monsters. Other sections require exact timing or quick reflexes to dodge attacks from other autonomous machines. A well-placed swing can knock one ball around a room that careens into each bit of machinery in a way that feels satisfying. Some of the rooms are simple, and I only need to hit each contraption to clear it. The energy I gather from each puzzle is used to open up doors that allow me to plunge deeper into the complex. Puzzles are cleared once I power up each machine. Hitting each contraption enough times fully powers it up, and removes it from play while giving my character some energy in the process. Whenever each bit of machinery is hit, it soaks up energy from the ball, which then sends the ball ricocheting away in the opposite direction. The goal is to whack balls of energy around strategically placed contraptions located in each room. Instead, each room is a small, kinetic puzzle that I must solve to move forward.Īnd those areas are all set up like pinball machines. Outside of the titular creature, there are no other enemies I have to contend with while passing through the rooms of the weather machine. While this sounds like a typical hack and slash story, just about everything else is part of a genre mashup I’ve never experienced before. Every so often, it even drags me down into its dark labyrinth and I have to fend off its attacks.
As I learn more about myself and the nature of the machine, the creature curses me and tries to scare me into leaving. As I explore the derelict halls of the compound, I’m taunted by a massive, boney creature that’s taken up residence inside its dark depths. To do so, I have to venture into a long dormant weather machine to power it back up. I play as Bot-C, an ancient robot on a quest to stop a massive sandstorm from destroying a small town.