Soulslikes are a dime a dozen at this point. This over-saturation was inevitable, given that games like Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls were the catalyst for this specific branch of action RPGs. Naturally, a lot of other games want a taste of this action. Over the years, we’ve had experiences that have soared despite their bizarre premise. We’ve also had Soulslikes that dwindle into not much of anything—situated somewhere in the middle, thanks to its curious world and interesting, if imperfect, ideas, is Robots at Midnight. Remaining delightfully and surprisingly brief, always novel and fun, this latest joint from the Skully developer is a good ‘one of those’ games.

Robots at Midnight follows Zoe, a young girl who has crash-landed on her planet following twenty years in cryo sleep. In a post-apocalyptic nightmare where there isn’t another human soul in sight, instead replaced by corrupted evil robots, it’s far from the world she remembers. Separated from her Dad following a catastrophic event known as ‘The Blackout,’ she must travel across the world of Yob and reunite with him, taking on robot gangs and towering bosses along the way. You must do so, while being conscious and trepidatious of the horrors that await you should it turn midnight in-game.

As far as settings go, developer Finish Line Games has crafted quite a unique world here compared to other Action RPG counterparts. A striking one at that, too, even if it’s fairly apparent that budget was a big constraint on this project, and thus the fidelity at times isn’t the best. It’s all a little bit of the nostalgic futurism you would’ve seen in the ’80s or in media set in that period, whether that be Star Wars or Stranger Things. You’re travelling through abandoned facilities where robot production was occurring, and there’s a crumbling theme park dedicated to a conglomerate that’s overrun by a gang of bots in letter jackets. Out in the open, you’ve got rolling green hills where you can find abandoned train stations, and drained sewer canals are littered with graffiti. The colour palette is a lot of fluorescent pinks and purples, especially in the night sky when a storm passes through.

Intriguing worldbuilding is found throughout; you’ll find well-crafted boss encounters that give you that little bit more of an insight into how weird and dark a place Yob is. One of these includes a droid in a baseball outfit called Loogie, who throws explosive balls at you on a field and often, you guessed it, spits out loogies. Audio logs from those left before paint a horrid but curious picture as to how civilisation was prior to The Blackout and what exactly caused this event to transpire. You can get with a rustic fisher droid named Doug in his shack, your HUB. Residing in his basement is a technician robot that wears a puffy jacket and has an old CRT for a head. I relished in the world of Yob and the oddities it had to show me, even with its sub 6-hour runtime.

Robots at Midnight has a few flashy tricks up its sleeve to at least somewhat set itself apart from the Soulslike crowd. For one, you’re not wasting time in menus all that much; the equivalent of the souls you’re getting in this game are only used to buy items, weapons and armour, and upgrade said things. As your stats are upgraded strictly by what you’re wearing and what weapon you’re rocking, you don’t have to accrue, say, Vitality to get more health. This is a double-edged sword because, yes, it’s a time saver, but it also heavily de-emphasises all the weapons and experimentation. It’s not that hard to find the best, if not close to the best, weapon and run with that for the whole game. You’re not mixing things up or making builds.

In scripted moments throughout the game, it’ll turn to midnight, in which a dark storm comes barrelling in and the bots that patrol the field are stronger, harder to take down and faster. When this occurs, you’re engaging in sprints back to Doug’s shed as a flood of robots with eerie red glowing eyes are advancing on you at full sprint in the dark. You can try and take them on as you progress, but the number is so high that more often than not, you’re better off flooring it and trying to make it back in one go. Exciting and tense gameplay moments arise out of these, a real highlight of the experience.

In saying all of this, nothing in Robots at Midnight truly wowed me. Though gorgeous at times, the fidelity doesn’t quite match the big art style swings it’s going for. The combat’s rhythm and how it flows isn’t all that eloquent or bespoke, something crucial to really shine in the crowded space. It all moves exactly as you’d expect, and it’s a little too brain off-y for the type of experience it’s positing, even on its harder difficulty. Bosses aren’t super exciting and out there, and won’t be much of a hurdle. Exploration tidbits, where you are using your charged jump to reach platforms for hidden goodies, become less exciting when you’re interrupted with sluggish and unresponsive climbing, where Zoe doesn’t always connect with the handhelds quite the way you want.

After a bit, you’re going through the motions. Thankfully, the game ends before it truly makes you hate this loop or get truly tired of it. At the end of the day, it’s a solid brief jaunt if you’re well and truly out of Soulslikes to play (I’d hazard with how many there are these days, you aren’t) and sadly, just being a good ‘one of those’ won’t always be enough for people these days.