The Girl and the Robot Reviews

The Girl and the Robot is a short adventure game that obviously takes inspiration in games of the likes of Ico. Here, you'll have to make two characters collaborate, using their complementary abilities: one is strong and can fight and push heavy blocks around, the other is nimble and can jump and get into narrow places. I'll let you guess which is which. The mechanics convey well the idea of collaboration, and it shows a dependency between both protagonists. It can seem at first that the robot is here to rescue the girl, but she's just as necessary to their escape as he is. Some "take-care" mechanics also foster that feeling: the girl can heal the robot after he was injured in combats, and he can pick her on his shoulder and carry her around. I would in fact do that sometimes with no real purpose just because I found that mechanic very cute. However, as much as I love the core mechanics, there are some flaws too. The most striking one is that there is almost no music throughout the game, which makes it feel more empty than it should. The soundtrack itself is pretty great; it would be better if we'd get to hear more of it. The other one is the combat. The closer you get to the end of the game, the more often you'll have to fight swarms of enemies, often in tight rooms. Sometimes, it's hard to do a single hit in those situations. However, having the girl being super vulnerable and needing to hide is a fun twist in my opinion, and as some people pointed out, it makes the combat feel like an escort mission (which I see positively). With that as well as the two weapons available, I think there is a lot of potential for an appealing combat-system. And to be honest, I found it more appealing and way less repetitive than in adventure games like Ico. I know some people criticize the game for ending on a cliffhanger and not disclosing well enough that this is actually Act 1 of a series. It's fair, but I'm personally happy that we have a chance to someday have a game that will follow the same direction as The Girl and the Robot while hopefully fixing some of its flaws. Its universe and its mechanics deserve to be revisited, and overall, the goods outweigh the bads by far.

Finally finished this game after having it for years and... it was ok. Good things first, the art style is so charming. It's simple but really cute. And the controls are easy enough to grasp, you switch control between the Girl and the Robot to solve puzzles and progress further through the story. Your partner will always stay still so no worries about dodgy AI, I often found it was useful to go as far ahead as I could playing as the robot to clear away any enemies. The story itself, told dialogue free, is quite interesting and has a nice fairytale vibe to it. I also think the soundtrack is really nice and suits the gameplay well, it's something I would happily have on in the background while I'm doing something else. Now for the flaws, and flawed is how I would describe this game overall. Combat controls can sometimes be a bit slow to respond, there's this weird grey flash that keeps coming up during cutscenes and (for me at least) there seemed to be a good deal of trial and error to get past some sections. Furthermore while the story was interesting the game as a whole game kept losing me, the reason I have 11 hours logged on this game is because I kept starting then not touching it for months, the actual game is quite short once you know what you're doing. Unfortunately the game (spoiler) also ends on a cliffhanger, with no sign of Act 2 anytime soon (especially as the devs are working on a different game at the moment). I would recommend this to anyone who likes some action and puzzles with a charming art style, but I can't say it's amazing and if cliffhangers are a deal breaker you will be disappointed. My opinion may change when Act 2 is finally released but at this point I really can't see myself returning to The Girl and The Robot now I've finished it.

It's cute. I feels a lot like an old PS1 game both graphically and gameplay wise. The ending is a cliffhanger but not a very good one at that. The controls are hot garbage! OOB the stem controller doesn't work and i couldn't get it working with my PS4 controller either. the Keyboard/mouse controls aren't well laid or very intuitive. I spent the first 20 minutes tweaking the control map on the steam controller and never got it working very well. I ended up having to swap to the kb/mouse and back a few times for some segments. Overall, it might be worth it if you get it on sale (like $3 or less). Gameplay is ~1.5 hours unless you suck like i do and fight with the controls the whole time. then expect it to to be a bit closer to 2.5 hours of game time

It is fairly well-made and put together, and some moments were genuinely suspenseful. However, I was disappointed to find out the story ends on a cliffhanger - and although there are clear signs a sequel was intended, I have seen no sign of the continuation, which makes me uncertain regarding the future of the project. So I recommend it as a standalone experience, and do not recommend it for those that don't like incomplete narratives. Hopefully we will see Act II someday.

first of all this should have been called the girl and the robot PART one i dont know if the devs intend to make a part 2 but god dammit they better because leaving the game of on such a click bait like title is just not it. overall though i do enjoy the game. the animation is very reminiscent of those old animations i used to watch as a kid but unfortunately the decision from the devs to not include a manual save button absolutely just kills this game for me to be honest you have to go through some really long sections in the game and if anything goes wrong you have to start all over again if they game just have a save feature i would totally give this game a positive comment. aside from that the combat is horrible, the robots reactions are way too slow in order to combat the opponents who are all alot faster than him and unfortunately combat was quite a big part of the game especially towards the end, you end up having to just arrow spam alot nevertheless despite the no recommendation this game was not a bad game at all, just some flaws here and there as well as a really unsatisfying cliffhanger ending.

I really enjoyed it. The Girl and the Robot was at a gamestop. I took it home, played it, and had fun. The graphics totally took me back to ps1/ps2 but that was kind of why I really liked it. They don't make games like this anymore. I hope they continue the story. Don't know why people are harping on it so much the story isn't even done yet. Play it for yourself, its enjoyable if you just want something short and easy. Its the simple things in life that make it fun. I repurchased it on steam to try it on the PC and still had fun. Took a minute to figure out the controls but its not like it was hard. Still really like it.

A fun little game with a lot of charm. I quite liked the soundtrack and the enviromental puzzles. The combat works but its not the game strongest point by far, the puzzles and the switching between the two characters are fun. The Robot can fight and push heavy stuff while the girl can maneuver the environment with ease and heal her trusty robot guardian after he takes damage. The game has fun and intresting ideas and the two boss fights where fun. Studio Ghibli is a strong influence on the game , in particular their classic work "Laputa Castle in the Sky", and I loved that. With that said, the game ends rather abruptly in a pivotal moment in the story which I felt that made the game incomplete for me. Nonetheless, the game ended with " To be continued " which would be alright if there is an expected date for when we will expect the continuation to be released. I encountered two glitches but nothing game breaking, the framerate is not very stable at times and the controls sometimes feels unresponsive. Nonetheless , none of these ruined my experince an I loved the game and would get the continuation provided they don't take too long to the point I lose interest. I recommend the game for anyone who is a fan of Studio Ghibli and like enviromental puzzles games and do not mind a weak combat system.

I was really looking forward to this game. It basically takes the best part of castle in the sky and turns it into a video game. The atmosphere and the art style has a lot of charm and reminds me a little bit of ICO mixed with LoZ. I also think the visual story telling is done very nicely and if your like me and you love over analyzing stuff then you were able to pick up little hints and detail which expand on the story. Which in my book is fantastic. The combat however is rather rough, its not difficult but its very easy to get stun-locked into a corner. Now this wound't be a problem if the sword play was more refined I died more often from exploding enemies than anything else which is annoying because it's a cheap way to increase the difficulty. Now the reason I am not recommending this game is because it is only Act 1 of the entire story rather than the entire thing and ends on a cliff hanger. This wound't be a problem but it isn't advertised as such and comes across to me as rather deceptive. I'll be keeping an eye out for this game for Act 2 but until it changes its title I can't recommend it.

This game in truth has given me much enjoyment. The sensation alone that I feel when playing is one that takes me back to the time of the N64. I've compaired it to a combination of "legend of Zelda Ocarina of time" meets "Brothers." My only true disappointment was reaching the end only to then find out that the game is only but 1 Act. Along with more online searching I discovered what is to be Act 2 will end up being a whole other game that I will have to buy separately. Be warned about that fact alone. I also can not find any information stating the Act 2 game is even in development. Over all though from my own playthrough. I'd at least rate this game a 7.5 out of 10 Though as much as I'd like to recommend this game, I can't until I know forsure that its story will be picked up again with the second game, because otherwise your only buying half of story.

I gotta say, Castle in the Sky has always held a place in my heart ever since I was a child. The mystery, the magic, the charm it had back then and still does to this day in my opinion. In short, I think the Girl and the Robot has mostly captured the same feelings I had over a decade ago. If that is the case, why do I find myself having difficulty recommending the Girl and the Robot? Might as well attempt to share my experience before I start to break down in disappointment. [h1]Atmosphere[/h1] First and foremost in my eyes, this is what the game managed to capture almost perfectly when walking around the environment giving me a sense of curiosity as to the inhabitants who once lived there and why did they just vanished from the face of the earth. [h1]The Puzzles[/h1] The puzzles were for the most part nothing too mind bogglingly difficult, but does challenge you just enough as to make sure you don't feel like the game is insulting your intellegence. [h1]Music[/h1] While the music is rather relaxing, there are maybe one or two instances where the fast-paced action music felt a little bit out of place in my opinion. What's quite unfortunate is that about half of the time no music is played at all, although I can't really say whether the silence enhances or hinders the overall atmosphere. [h1]The Story[/h1] The story of the kingdom's royalty is told through numerous paintings scattered about the game visually telling a fairly simple story and the interactions between the current cast of characters is purely told without voice acting which can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of language. Unfortunately, one issue I have with the story is that it just abruptly ends on a major cliffhanger, leaving me in shock just asking myself "is that really it" for about 5 minutes straight. Not much about the history of the girl, the robot, or the evil queen is explored at all along with the queen's motives leaving much to be desired. [h1]The Combat[/h1] This is by far the weakest part of the game, due to an extremely basic combat system on top of extremely clunky controls to make things feel even more frustrating. The robot has two weapons being the sword and the bow. Sword play is just the basic 3 button combo and as for the bow, it is just about as useful as throwing twigs at the enemy since its primary usage will be triggering certain switches that are out of reach for particular sections of the game. There is a backstab mechanic if you manage to get behind an enemy, but most of the time I did not find many opportunities to perform said backstab and mostly used it for scripted enemy placements. I ran into sections where the game throws 7 plus enemies for you to fight in very confined spaces leaving you almost no breathing room for you to do anything because of how easy it is for you to get stun locked from the constant beatings of suicide bombers. I don't remember how many times I had to restart sections of the game just to get through the forced combat portions. [h1]Immersion[/h1] Similar to what I said for atmosphere, It gives me a zen like feeling say, when I'm walking around the plaza for the first time, but there were times when I find myself difficulty believing in certain parts of the game say for example, I arrived at the labyrinth and I scout ahead with the robot and clear out all the enemies in that section of the maze. Later, I reach a checkpoint where it requires me to backtrack to the same section and low and behold, they respawn out of thin air within a short period of leaving the area and end up getting caught in a conga line full of suicide bombers charging towards me. I would have understood if there were doors or something that they walk out of, but apparently the evil queen decided to take a quick trip to the Badlands and took a few notes from Merasmus on how to push Soldier's buttons and apply that for the player for this game, only the joke left people frustrated instead of achieving the typical Merasmus level of comedy. There were these robots that seem to be transparent giving me the impression that they could be ghosts with a dark, demonic aura with the purple cloud surrounding them. I don't know about you, but I kept asking myself what they are exactly because they can physically hurt you despite their transparency. It could have been my eyes playing tricks on me. In short, the Girl and the Robot has a very nostalgic charm to it, but it breaks my heart to say that the messy combat system, the ending, and the occasional break of immersion left me feeling very disappointed in this game. Assuming I didn't have to fight against my personal frustrations with this game, I would have finished this game in about 3 hours give or take. I'm okay with short games, don't get me wrong, but if I have to spend a lengthy amount of time feeling frustrated in comparison to the overall length of the game, that's when I would start to feel buyer's remorse. It's not bad and there is always room for improvement for the sequel, but in terms of overall satisfaction with the Girl and the Robot, you're better off skipping it for now and watch Castle in the Sky instead. Seriously, in terms of story, you're really not missing much. However, if a sequel does come up in the future, I know my curiosity will get the better of me. TLDR: I like parts of it, but I also did not like other parts of it. End of story.