Thank you Kasedo Games for sending us a copy of the game to review!

“I think we’re the only ones left.”

Human life is near extinction. You are a robot, created to search for any remaining intelligent life. Every day you climb new towers, with seemingly no progress in your search.

Successfully climbing a tower unlocks a recorded message. These messages help bring insight into the world and your surroundings. I found the overall story to be quite interesting and I anticipated reaching the top of the towers to listen to new recordings. They are all voiced well and help keep you entertained. 

The whole premise of the game is to climb to the top of the towers. Of the 75 story levels included in the game, each one is slightly different than the last, varying in tower height and thickness, enemy selection, hazards, and so forth. As you progress, new mechanics and hostile robots are introduced into the game, adding to the difficulty and varying up the gameplay. Your robot also has a charge bar that must be attended to; if it fully drains, you lose the level. Scattered throughout the levels are a variety of fruit that will help fill it up and keep you alive. There is also an in-game timer located at the bottom of the screen, but none of the levels have a time constraint. There are a variety of unfriendly robots and other various hazards that will slow your progress and decrease your charge. Some levels also have a purple cloud that slowly destroys the tower underneath. You must carefully and speedily navigate the tower in order to successfully reach the top. 

The game has four difficulty levels: easy, normal, hard, and very hard. I played through the story levels in normal difficulty. Most of the levels only took me one try, but some proved to be a bit more difficult and required multiple attempts to master.

There are three extra upgrades that your robot may be given at the start of the level. These include a double jump, high jump, and teleportation, which allow you to phase through the platform directly above and below your character. I found all the extra abilities to be fun additions to the core gameplay.

Apart from the main story levels, the game also includes other modes. Climber mode allows you to set up your own level from a variety of presets included in the game. Infinite mode challenges the player to reach new heights as you race against the purple cloud in an endless level. If you select certain level presets, your score will also be uploaded to the leaderboards to compare with other players. Finally, duel mode is a one-on-one split-screen battle between you and your opponent. The winner is decided by whoever reaches the top of the tower the quickest or whoever stays alive the longest during the match. As like the previous modes, you can choose the size, difficulty, upgrades, and so forth of your tower to keep the gameplay varied. The competitive mode works both locally and online.

Visually, the game looks really nice. The towers are well designed and have lots of detail. Unfortunately, there isn’t all that much change in scenery, as all of the towers look nearly identical. The music is also enjoyable and bursting with energy. Again though, the game lacks variety, and you will find yourself repeatedly listening to the same tracks. 

The controls in the game are tight and responsive. I tried playing with both an Xbox 360 controller and a keyboard, and found both to work well. The game runs smooth and I had no significant performance issues.

Upwards, Lonely Robot is an interesting platformer that’s both well designed and engaging. The game does suffer from a bit of repetitiveness, but the extra modes, increasing difficulties, and leaderboards do offer a fair bit of replay value. So climb on lonely robot, and hope that one day, you’ll find a friend.