The Girl and the Robot

The Girl and the Robot for PC, PS4 and WiiU is a game funded on Kickstarter and developed by a small studio gathering co-creators of mobile games such as Asphalt 7, Modern Combat or Scrabble. The Girl and the Robot was inspired not only by such legendary titles as Ico or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but also by animated Japanese movies created by the Ghibli studio, which is popular mainly for Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Tales from Earthsea.

Plot

The plot here is simple – a mysterious girl gets imprisoned in a castle built with use of ancient technology, and an evil queen is to be blamed for that. Thanks to a multi-functional robot however, the girl manages to throw-off the invisible shackles. Together, they must face the royal guards and liberate themselves from the bounds of the evil queen. References made to the classic Ico are definitely not an effect of a coincidence – those relate not only to the mechanics, but also to the plot itself.

Mechanics

The Girl and the Robot for PC, PS4 and WiiU is a TPP, action-adventure game. Much like in other games of the genre, the player here explores the game world, fights enemies and solves environmenal puzzles. A large emphasis was placed on interactions between the titular characters, who were created by a Japanese artist Ayaka Nakamura. The girl is capable of reaching areas difficult to access, and controls the robot using a magical pendant. The robot, on the other hand, feels at home with a sword in its metal hand and is capable of removing heavy obstacles standing in the way.

Technical aspects

The game resembles a fairytale both in terms of its story and visuals, making references to Ghibili's greatest animated creations. The game world is made of hand-painted locations, which seem both sterile and deserted. Using cel shading techniques was both to make the game look distinct and to conceal its weaker, technological fundamentals the visuals were based on.

Last updated on 29 April 2014