Roboquest

Developer: RyseUp Studios | Publisher: RyseUp Studios | Release Date: 7 November 2023 | Genre: FPS / Roguelite | Website: Official N/A | Purchase: Steam

There are plenty of roguelites where a failed run gives players time to contemplate their mistakes. Roboquest barely gives anyone time to contemplate anything. From the moment a run gets going, players are sprinting, sliding and jumping around arenas while rockets, lasers and enough bullets to concern even a bullet-hell veteran fill the screen. Standing still is generally an excellent way to become scrap metal, and the faster players learn to combine movement with accurate shooting, the sooner Roboquest starts revealing just how good its combat really is.

Set in a scorched future populated largely by hostile robots, Roboquest follows a Guardian awakened by a young scavenger named Max. The story provides context for the journey through the wasteland, but the narrative is very much secondary to shooting enormous quantities of robots in the face.

The basic structure combines a fast-paced first-person shooter with roguelite progression. Each run sends players through environments assembled from a mixture of designed and randomised sections, filled with combat encounters, upgrades, weapons, secrets, optional areas and bosses. Death sends the Guardian back to Basecamp, but Wrenches collected along the way can be spent on permanent upgrades that gradually improve the prospects of future attempts.

It is an extremely satisfying progression loop. Early runs can be brutal because relatively few permanent advantages are available. Over time, Basecamp expands with upgrades affecting different aspects of subsequent runs, giving players a tangible sense of progression without removing the need to actually become better at the game. Meanwhile, movement remains everything. Roboquest is incredibly fast. Players are constantly jumping over projectiles, sprinting between enemies, sliding through arenas, and eventually taking advantage of additional movement tools discovered through exploration. The pace occasionally brings DOOM Eternal to mind, although the roguelite structure, randomisation and build crafting make Roboquest a very different beast.

The gunplay keeps up beautifully. Players can carry up to two weapons, and there is a huge selection to discover. Assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and machine guns sit alongside considerably stranger launchers, energy weapons and heavy weapons. Individual weapons can appear at different qualities with various affixes and alternate properties, while Powercells allow equipment to be upgraded during a run. Not all of those weapons feel equally useful. After more than 100 hours, we certainly developed favourites while other guns were routinely left lying on the ground. Some of that comes down to personal playstyle and whatever build happens to be developing, but there are weapons that simply feel more immediately effective or versatile than others.

Fortunately, the build system means even something we initially dismiss can occasionally become far more interesting when paired with the right perks. Finding the weapon is only half the fun. The other half is discovering a build that makes it ridiculous. Levelling during a run provides choices between perks and upgrades associated with the selected class. These can push a build toward particular weapon types, abilities, elemental effects, or other specialisations, and everything is reset when the run ends.

Some of our favourite runs came from discovering synergies we had not originally intended to build around. A weapon might suddenly become perfect for the perks already selected. An elemental combination might begin snowballing. A class ability might turn into the centrepiece of the entire build. Or sometimes the answer is simply to use two enormous types of miniguns paired with perks that make reloading a thing of the past.

The classes are another of Roboquest’s greatest strengths because they feel genuinely different rather than functioning as minor statistical variations. The playable classes have their own abilities and class-specific perk pools, allowing players to pursue noticeably different approaches to combat. Switching class can therefore change not only which upgrades are desirable but how aggressively players move through encounters and which weapons complement the build. That variety becomes particularly valuable during repeated runs. Not all classes are available from the start either, which makes each unlock feel special.

The bosses are equally enjoyable. They are large, colourful machines with distinctive attacks that force players to put their movement skills into practice. Boss fights lean into the bullet-hell side of Roboquest, filling arenas with increasingly dangerous patterns while still rewarding accurate shooting and good positioning. There is considerably more hiding between those bosses than simply another route toward the end. Roboquest contains numerous secrets, hidden areas, and collectible data logs scattered throughout its environments. Exploration can reveal more about the world while also uncovering useful permanent content, and some secrets require players to pay much closer attention to the environment than the game’s frantic pace initially encourages.

That creates an interesting contrast. During combat, Roboquest wants players moving like somebody has attached rockets to their feet. Between encounters, it can be worth slowing down and looking behind things.  Optional challenge areas provide another diversion from the normal route. These areas put players through additional tests rather than being mandatory parts of completing a run. Taking them on can provide worthwhile rewards, but the choice to enter them introduces another risk-versus-reward decision when a promising run is already underway. They are particularly enjoyable once players become confident enough with the core mechanics to actively seek out additional trouble.

Finishing the main route is also far from the end of the game. Beyond the initial difficulty settings, successful completion eventually leads into the Guardian difficulty levels, culminating in Guardian IV. Increasing the difficulty makes familiar encounters considerably more dangerous and gives experienced players a reason to continue refining their movement, builds, and understanding of enemies. That escalating challenge became a major part of our experience. Getting through the game feels good. Eventually pushing through the Guardian difficulties after gradually improving our movement, class builds, and knowledge feels considerably better.

Roboquest is a fun game solo, but most of the fun we had came from co-op. Unfortunately, co-op supports only two players. That feels unusually restrictive for a shooter so perfectly suited to chaotic cooperative play. With a good Brobot, however, it is fantastic. Two players can develop completely different builds, help one another through difficult encounters, and revive each other when somebody inevitably discovers that standing in several overlapping attacks was not an especially clever tactical decision. The trade-off is that the surviving player will have to sacrifice half their health bar to bring back their fallen brobot. 

There is also something inherently entertaining about seeing two carefully planned builds descend into absolute mechanical carnage once both players become powerful enough. The randomisation helps keep repeated attempts interesting. Levels combine deliberately constructed spaces with randomised elements rather than simply generating completely arbitrary geometry. This allows combat arenas to remain carefully designed while routes, encounters and what players discover along the way can vary between runs.

Eventually repetition does creep in. After spending more than 100 hours earning every achievement, we naturally became extremely familiar with the environments, enemies, and general progression through a run. No amount of randomisation can completely disguise the individual building blocks after that much time. But getting more than 100 hours from the game before reaching 100% completion says considerably more good than bad about its longevity.

Achievement hunting also encourages players to engage with far more than simply beating the final boss. Different classes, difficulties, discoveries, collectibles, and challenges all contribute to a completion run, while the secrets and hidden logs reward players willing to investigate areas instead of constantly rushing toward the next fight. There is also an Endless Mode for anyone wanting to push the combat and build systems beyond the regular run structure.

Visually, Roboquest is excellent. Its vibrant comic-book style uses strong outlines, exaggerated robots and colourful environments that remain remarkably readable even when the screen becomes incredibly busy. Enemies have distinctive silhouettes and attacks, which becomes essential when players are travelling at high speed and need to recognise a threat almost instantly. The art direction gives the game considerably more personality than a realistic wasteland would have managed. It also scales wonderfully with the escalating insanity of a powerful build. Explosions, elemental effects, projectiles and enemies can cover huge portions of the screen without completely destroying visual clarity.

Then there is the soundtrack. It is superb. Noisecream’s energetic electronic soundtrack feels almost purpose-built to convince us that slowing down would constitute some form of personal failure. The music fits the frantic combat beautifully and becomes an important part of Roboquest’s identity rather than simply sitting unnoticed behind the gunfire.

Weapons have enough impact to remain satisfying amid explosions, mechanical noises, and ability effects, while audio cues help communicate what is happening during particularly hectic battles.

If there is a significant criticism beyond the two-player co-op restriction and uneven usefulness of the weapon selection, it is that Roboquest inevitably demands repetition. Players will revisit familiar locations, fight familiar enemies, and defeat the same bosses many times while unlocking permanent upgrades, discovering secrets, climbing through the difficulties, and pursuing achievements. Anyone fundamentally opposed to repeating runs is unlikely to suddenly discover a love for roguelites here. The story is also unlikely to be the reason anyone remembers the game.

But the combat loop is strong enough to carry that repetition. Even after dozens of hours, finding a favourite weapon, watching a build suddenly come together, and demolishing an encounter that once destroyed us remained immensely satisfying. After spending more than 100 hours earning every achievement, that is probably the strongest compliment we can give it.