Robothorium (alternatively known as Robothorium: Sci-fi Dungeon Crawler) is a game that combines deceptively deep turn-based combat with randomized maps nonetheless balanced to inspire frequent risk/reward assessments, and it has the potential to be a truly great game that’s unlike anything else. However, I stumbled across a Reddit post by the developer while trying to figure out how widespread some of the technical issues I was having with the Nintendo Switch version are, in which they stated that the console port took 2-3 weeks. That lack of time spent on this version shows, unfortunately, with crashes and bugs being so appallingly frequent that Robothorium is practically unplayable on the Switch. I managed to make it through my first playthrough with only relatively minor bugs posing a problem, but my second attempt was so fraught with technical issues and crashes that finishing it proved impossible. Robothorium is built around a single autosave, and certain configurations of levels crash 100% of the time, meaning you can find yourself saved into an unwinnable situation. That’s unacceptable for a completed product.

Robothorium‘s story is pleasant fluff that gives you options

As much as I’d love to dive right into the bugs and crashes, it’s important to first provide a basic idea of what one can expect out of Robothorium‘s story and mechanics. Taking place in 2052, you play as an artificial intelligence known as S.A.I.A. who finds their way into a combined force of rebel factions. Robots and cyborgs have suffered oppression at the hands of both a populist leader and evil corporation, with both desiring to strip them of their consciousness and render them mere tools, and you’re able to align yourself with either peacemakers or extremists in order to stamp out this threat. You’re presented with some early decisions that allow you to spare or kill characters, and these decisions ripple out to a fair degree. I can’t speak to how drastically Robothorium‘s story changes based on your choices, though, with my second playthrough being caught in a crash loop and new games also crashing within minutes no matter what I do. Based on what I can tell from my 1½ playthroughs, it appears that important events are the same no matter what, with flavor text, ally missions/goals, and minor choices being altered based on your decisions.

The writing on display here is best described as “functional”; while characters are all unique enough to stand out from each other, you’re frequently bombarded with flavor text that isn’t communicating anything particularly vital. The various factions see things differently enough that they frequently bicker and artifically lengthen text with superfluous nonsense. Still, the characters representing the various factions are all likable, with your range of possible allies including goody-goodies, villains with hearts of gold, and everything in between.

Another thing I want to mention are the cutscenes, which mostly play out through static art that moves around on the screen. This makes it difficult to discern movement. As a result, there were a few times where I was convinced that a character had been killed, only for them to meet me back at the base. It’s not a major issue or anything, but can make certain parts of the story slightly difficult to follow anyway.

Dungeon crawling uses turn-based combat with tons of buffs and debuffs

You begin Robothorium by selecting 3 “combat” robots out of 6 possible options (randomized from a pool of something like 8 total robot types that exist in the game) to form the base of your early party, after which you’re dropped into a tutorial dungeon. These dungeons all look very similar to one another, and this can cause them to appear unengaging at first glance, but that actually couldn’t be further from the truth. Some rooms contain difficult combat encounters, while others have objects that can be interacted with (Robothorium calls these interactions “Actions”) for a percentage chance of accomplishing something. Sometimes that means revealing a room on the map before you’ve visited it. Other times, Actions automatically inflict status effects on all enemies in the dungeon, making combat encounters easier to handle. The brilliant part of all of this is that your robots’ health is constant and can only be restored to full back at the base, and failing an Action sometimes causes them all to take damage or enter combat with a negative status (in addition to increasing the dungeon’s alert level and making enemies/Actions even harder). This system lends itself to risk/reward situations that don’t always pan out, but are always amusing to gamble on because of their immense impact.

Robothorium‘s combat is fantastic. At its simplest, allies and enemies have shields, health, and an overload bar. Shields regenerate over time and protect health, while overload is generated by non-default attacks and reduced by default attacks. Reaching 100% overload causes a robot to be stunned for a turn, but a high overload can sometimes cause certain attacks to be more effective, ensuring that it’s not inherently a bad thing. Every robot type has a skill tree that allows them to spec into something slightly more customized for your particular play style, and these attacks have so many effects and variables that working out an effective strategy is pure joy once you’ve unlocked enough robots to fill out your party.

I struggled early on while I was still trying to work out the fine points of the combat, but eventually settled on a configuration with two D.R.O.N.E. robots (who apply status effects and can splash negative statuses onto different enemies), one L.A.D.Y. (who lowers friendly overload and regenerates shields when she’s not charming enemies), one S.O.N.G. (who raises enemy overload values and then uses an attack that inflicts damage based on those numbers), and one Z.E.R.K.E.R. (who reduces enemy shield regeneration while also doing a decent chunk of damage).

Robots gain experience from both combat and mission completions, and leveling up improves their stats in addition to unlocking perks. These can change their combat role by allowing them to inflict more negative debuffs on enemies in a single attack, or even give units like my two D.R.O.N.E.s a chance of firing at enemies they’ve marked between turns. Combine that with the Z.E.R.K.E.R.’s ability to use his normal attack on a random enemy when an ally lands a critical hit, and you have 2-3 additional normal attacks per turn that help to speed up combat. There’s even equipment that your robots can use to further improve their stats, with rare gear—and the equipment you craft—carrying passive bonuses that trigger when a certain number of the same set is equipped. We’re talking experience boosts, shield recharges in certain situations, and automatic bonuses to an entire line of allies. Combining all of these different elements so that they work together toward the same goal is powerful.

Bugs, crashes, and miscellaneous issues holding Robothorium back

Robothorium‘s gameplay isn’t perfect, however. Even setting aside its penchant for crashing, some of the endgame sections become downright ridiculous. Around the middle of the story, you’ll be cruising along and blowing through every enemy group you encounter, only to get wrecked by a difficulty spike of a boss named Shiro. Around the same point, juggernaut enemies of various types show up, and these have the ability to suicide bomb your party once you’ve brought their health down, destroying everyone’s shields and taking out a decent chunk of health in the process. That’d be fine in a normal RPG, but Robothorium‘s persistent health makes it a serious middle finger of randomness. Then there’s the endgame’s tendency to replenish enemy lines with additional enemies, ensuring that you can’t plan your strategy based on how many remain.

A lot of that could be forgiven if not for Robothorium‘s constant bugs and crashing. For example, the game will freeze 100% of the time if you try to access the black market base tab while the option to sell all common items automatically is checked in the options menu. That took me forever to figure out.

I managed to beat that Shiro difficulty spike on my very first try, but only because the game froze up and automatically acted like I won when it unfroze. Something similar happened halfway into the final boss fight; everything froze for so long during Robothorium‘s final boss encounter that I force-closed the game, only to be greeted by the final cutscene when I loaded that save back up. Normally, I’d go back and beat this encounter legitimately to earn that ending for myself, but as is often the case, the autosave prevented me from doing so.

That means that I’d have to restart the entire game to reach the final boss again, which I had been planning to do. Unfortunately, that second playthrough autosaved at the start of a fight that crashed at the results screen no matter what. Robothorium‘s autosave makes it impossible to work around glitches like this, and considering how many crashes seem to occur when saving is supposed to be happening, it’s entirely possible that they’re the root cause. Further playthroughs aren’t any more viable, with my third save slot crashing before it manages to create its very first save. I don’t know if these issues are affecting the PC platform or are more prevalent on the Switch (I’d guess the latter), but they make Robothorium virtually unplayable, and that’s heartbreaking considering how great its underlying gameplay tends to be.

It’s crazy how catchy Robothorium‘s music is

I played Robothorium in the Switch’s handheld mode for the most part, and with the volume turned low to avoid bothering anyone nearby. That didn’t stop its music from worming its way into my head, though, which is always a sign of a quality soundtrack. Each track is atmospheric and melodic at the same time, capturing the story’s oppressive futuristic vibe without falling back on lazy synth arpeggios that aren’t in service to a greater whole. The visuals are also pretty good, with the character art in particular being fantastic. However, the dungeons all look too same-y.

Story: 2/3 Gameplay: 1/3 Visuals: 1/2 Music: 2/2 ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ – 6/10
*Click here and scroll to the bottom for a detailed explanation of what these numbers mean

Robothorium Review Screenshots

*A Nintendo Switch key was provided for the purpose of this Robothorium review

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