This Lonely Robot Game Really Hits the 'WALL-E' Feels Hard
Look at it with all its adorable little melancholy.
In a world that was once covered with life and filled with people, humanity took a step towards perfection — leaving the robots who once helped them daily behind to fend for themselves. This is the setting of ABI, a new 2D puzzle game from Grant&Bert Studios, which mostly closely resembles stories like WALL-E with an added throwback animation style like so many bits of colored construction paper.
In ABI, you control two different robots. The first of these is ABI itself, a small robot designed to fulfill a parenting and education role for families who didn’t have time for their children. The second is a larger, hulking industrial bot named DD that was programmed to help humanity with industrial production. While we aren’t quite sure what their motivations are, these two will be at the center of the game once it launches.
As you typically do in a puzzle game, ABI will have your maneuvering these two bots through a series of levels while they explore the new world robots are trying to build without their human masters. You’ll explore and interact with each robot you find, which helps flesh out the story behind humanity’s departure.
The true charm of ABI looks to be in this journey and the characters who are undertaking it, which really helps the game stand out when compared to other platformers on the market. Like Ori and the Blind Forest did last year, ABI looks to capture the sense of innocence and honesty in its minute-to-minute gameplay as the two robots learn how to navigate and survive the world around them.
This aspect, especially when combined with the art style, looks to bring an endearing story of friendship and love to players sometime in the coming months.
