RoboSync is a bitesized puzzle game that asks you to synchronise various robots together so that they all activate pressure sensors at the same time, enabling you to escape the level. Its a well thought out idea that is small and succinct in scope. I had a great time figuring out the different level solutions and its budget price should entice puzzle goers in.
Each level features a cut through building with various different floors in it. You will always be on the ground floor and various other robots will be dotted around the buildings other floors. On the ground level, you’ll find various switches and buttons with numbers attached to them and using these will trigger various gates to open or close. Later on you’ll also be able to move elevators between floors to move robots around. Elsewhere in the building will be a selection of red pressure pads and since the robots constantly move backwards and forwards until they hit a gate or floor gap, your task is the line up the robots and then let them loose in sync with each other using all the triggers at your desposal.
Early game puzzles feel a bit like a lane tower defence game because you’ll line up a robot on one floor, then activate a button for the next floor at the right time and then again on another floor to have three robots arrive in unison. Whilst you don’t need to have rhythm for RoboSync, you should take advantage of the excellent visual wall displays in the background. The walls are segmented into numerical blocks and sometimes colour coded to help ease you into the puzzle solving. Using these wall dividers to time your releases and blocks is essential and its a great visual design cue that really helped me understand the intricacies of the game.
Solving a level opens the door for you to escape and you get marked between 1-3 stars for the time it took you to complete the level. An additional fourth star applies if you manage to synchronise all the robots up perfectly. I wasn’t able to pull this off often but it was immensely satisfying when I did – almost like one of those oddly satisfying YouTube videos. When everything clicks, you feel rewarded. RoboSync also dishes out Steam achievements for the three stars and the bonus sync star so if you can clear levels like that, your achievements will balloon. There are 40 levels in total and it took me around 90-100 minutes to complete them, but not in a synched way. That’s where the exacting preciseness comes in and the extra longevity if you want it. For me, I was happy to celebrate survival.
Visually, control wise or gameplay loop wise – I can’t fault what RoboSync does. It is a little slow to get going considering its 40 level length and so the first 15 levels were done in 15 minutes as they were so straight forward. Its really the last 15 levels where the difficulty rises and this is when elevators come into play, making each corridor different lengths and tricky to manage. I found completing those levels very satisfying because you can really mess things up and need to restart often as you test new ideas out. However, the whole 40 levels operates on the same idea of a few robots moving back and forth with gates and then at the end elevators to move. This means that whilst 40 levels feels enough, it feels enough because there’s only a couple of gameplay mechanics here. Some of the levels in the first half are quite similar so it doesn’t feel like it ramps up quick enough. If RoboSync gets a sequel, I’d really like to see more types of triggers or robot types to vary and spice things up.
As RoboSync is short and succinct, and quite easy until its final 15 levels, that does bring its overal score down a smidge. If length doesn’t bother you though, I had a rewarding time with RoboSync and there is a well thought out game here. Its just a little smaller in its scope than I’d have liked. Its price point does reflect this though so for less than a cuppa, its well worth a go.
Review copy provided by developer. Out now on Steam.
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