Clone Drone in the Danger Zone (2021)

• Playtime: 24 minutes (escaped once)

• Played: 2026

• Context: As a kid i loved One Must Fall 2097 and this also has robots fighting each other.

Intro

You are a human brain in a robot. You fight in an arena. Each round the layout changes and you face different enemies and hazards. At the end of each round you can buy one upgrade. Upgrades include bow, bow width, burning sword, kick down enemies, more energy, jetpack, hammer, etc.

Review

This game is mildly amusing at first. Luring enemies into sawblades, easily cutting down groups of them, making headshots with the bow - it's neat. Unfortunately, it's all very simple and restrictive.

You can only buy so many upgrades before having to switch to a new bot. Dying means losing all progress unless you spent an upgrade to get a backup (boring!). You can't choose different starting weapons or influence the arena and enemies. Worst of all, some of the most interesting upgrades are locked behind doing challenges outside of the normal campaign.

Like with so many games that extensively use randomisation, mostly roguelikes, it would just be better if the start was more interesting. Just look at Monster Train or Dungeons of Dredmor. You pick how you want to start out, and the randomisation is used to provide variation. Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is just far too simplistic to be interesting. Also, the combat is kinda wonky.

All you do in this game is fight in an arena. In a game market that features titles with lots of bloat, huge piles of systems and features, and stories that try too hard, the focus of this game can be a wonderful thing. Instead of spending hours to unlock new content, you will spend hours actually developing your gameplay skills in this game. That can lead to a real sense of accomplishment as you push further and further into the game. After ten hours of play (since the game never really ends), here is a breakdown of my experiences:

--The Good--

Don't get me wrong. I love games with lots of new stuff to see and do. There's a reason I still play Skyrim. At the same time though games like this can be a real palette cleanser. It is definitely a minimalist game, with much of the gameplay taking place in the same rectangular arena (that might be decorated differently depending on the level). The graphics are simplistic and voxel-based, but there is enough there to give the game some sense of style and character. There are power-ups you can earn, but they aren't flashy. Instead each one gives you a slight tactical edge as you progress through the endless waves of enemy robots. Because of that minimalist approach the game feels very focused on connecting you to the direct visceral experience of sword-fighting arena combat, and that's a great feeling.

--The Bad--

During my ten hours of play I died a lot. I enjoy rougelike games enough that I am comfortable with that (I died 50+ times in this game, but at least 400 times in Spelunky). The problem is that I don't think the game was designed with that level of repetition in mind. There are only two music tracks, one for the arena battle and one for the lobby. The battle music, which was energizing at first, becomes repetitive and boring after a few hours of play. Along these same lines, the robot commentators, who had some generally funny things to say at the start of the game, ended up having the same set of conversations over and over again the more I played. I had to turn the music and the commentators off by my fifth hour of play, which is a shame. This game already has Steam Workshop support for new arena layouts. I would love to see these other game assets opened to community design. I know there are plenty of music-creators who would love the chance to plug their music into this game, and I personally would love the chance to write some robot commentator conversations.

--The Verdict--

Casual gamers and "lazy gamers" will probably have trouble really connecting to this game. Though arena battles take only a few minutes each, as you progress they can become quite demanding. But if you are looking for a place to practice and hone your skills, if you enjoy real-time sword fighting, and if you enjoy the desperation and frantic-pace of arena combat, I think you will find something to enjoy in this title.