Robot Recovery Mission

Robot Recovery Mission is the most upbeat, light-hearted robot war that you may ever find in interactive fiction. Simple, short, and made with Ren’Py.

Cirq. An unremarkable rocky planet with four moons.

In orbit is Flywheel Station- home of the Cipy robotic race. But a recent attack by the Decabots, a rival robot group, has left the station in critical condition. You and your fellow Cipys have now been called upon to assist with repairs.

In a nutshell, the player visits Cirq’s moons to harvest gems that are brought back to Flywheel Station. These gems are needed to repair the station's vital systems. A set number of each kind of gem must be collected within a limited timeframe before the Decabots attempt another attack.

Gameplay is easy and uncomplicated. A point-and-click map is used for selecting destinations. Moons, mostly. Upon arrival, you select a mining method to extract gems which are automatically collected. Then it’s back to the map. And if you’re attacked along the way, combat boils down to a simple “Fight” or “Flee.” The time limit, however, is where the challenge comes in because all actions consume time.

Hull Integrity:
100/100
---------------
Time remaining:
100/100

Oddly enough, (Spoiler - click to show)running out of time does not result in a “game over.” The game essentially says, “you know what? Let’s reset your time limit and pretend this didn’t happen. Off you go.” You don’t even lose your gems. Which… I appreciate since time goes by quickly. But the game could be more subtle about it. Who knows, maybe this will be changed in the future. Fortunately, there is a respawn mechanic if your ship gets destroyed. This is a forgiving game.

Final thoughts
I wouldn't outright classify Robot Recovery Mission as a "kids’ game," but it would be a good pick for older kids. Middle schoolers, maybe? Heck, I could see myself playing this in 4th/5th grade, partly because most of the character art is reminiscent of a children’s sci-fi picture book. Professor Coghead could quite possibly be the mascot from some library’s summer “reading challenge” program. The streamlined gameplay is especially suited for such audiences.

And yet, more experienced players can find things to appreciate. While the gameplay may feel underwhelming, there is a charm to the “Oh no! Decabots!” dialogue during action sequences. I also liked that the cartoonish character art is contrasted with more realistic backdrops and differently stylized imagery. The game never fails to be visually interesting. A fun 20 minutes.