Mr. Robot

Some games manage to leave a mark on the industry and be forever remembered as pioneers in certain genres, sometimes even if they were not actually the first to introduce certain gameplay mechanics. Hence, StarCraft was certainly not the first RTS, nor can it be considered the best out there by any objective standards, but it’s the one most people still remember and even play, almost two decades after it was released.

Mr. Robot is a 2D platformer that’s actually a remake of a game released three decades ago, although not an official one. However, the gameplay mechanics seem to be quite similar to the original, which is all that matters if you happen to be a fan. It also seems to keep the same challenging difficulty level that was so common back in those days.

In essence, your goal is to collect all the floor lights by walking over them, but the job is not as easy as it sounds. These lights are spread over multiple platforms, and you must climb or descend in order to get all of them. To make matters even worse, there are enemies patrolling the said platforms, and you must avoid them at any cost.

You can defeat the enemies by picking up special power-ups, on the other hand. These only last for a few seconds, but they allow you to dispose of any enemies you happen to touch in the meantime. It’s also worth mentioning that you can only fall from a short height without dying, which is yet another thing you must take into consideration if you want to make it out of the levels alive.

As for the controls, the seem punishing and unforgiving at first, but you have to remember that this is a remake. Things were much tougher back in the day, and the main idea was for them to work, not to be comfortable. Hence, you’ll die a lot because the character responds late to your commands, but you’ll also learn to prevent this by thinking ahead.

In the end, Mr. Robot is definitely not for everyone, especially if you never had any contact with a classic platformer. However, it can be the perfect distraction for those who are looking for a challenge and do not give up too easily.