A Robot Named Fight

A Robot Named Fight is a metrovania roguelite wherein you play a lone robot battling their way through a procedurally-generated world overrun by guts and flesh so they can find and destroy the megabeast. Fight is a Super Metroid homage that draws from games like the Binding of Issac. The mechanics click but the aesthetic not so much, so while I’m a big fan of Super Metroid I wasn’t able to get into this one as much as I’d hoped. Fight emphasizes exploration and item-driven puzzles. Death is forever, but the farther you get each run the more items you unlock for future runs. A full run is estimated around two hours, so this isn’t a coffee break game, but since gameplay is room-to-room finding a stopping point is never an issue.

I picked this up because I was really interested in the idea of a Super Metroid that’s different every run. I’ve played it a fair bit and enjoy it in small doses, but the disgusting visuals wear on me after a while, as does the map repetition. I started to get tired of encountering the exact same gut-encrusted hallways and rooms, often multiple times in succession. (I wrote this review before I got into the habit of taking screenshots and could not be bothered to take one for this post, a Startpage image search will show you precisely what I mean.)

I’ll add that Fight is the game that made me swear I’d stop playing roguelites for a while. I’ve developed procedural generation fatigue. Increasingly, it feels like procedurally-generated levels are just a way to cut corners and avoid committing to solid level design. It turns out I don’t want “4 billion unique runs,” I just want one really good run. I expect to return to this one from time to time, but I really wish it wasn’t so ugly. I’m not asking for rainbows and kittens or anything (well, aCTuallY~…), I just want something slightly less disgusting to look at for two hours.

Also, as an aside, I saw someone refer to this as a “metroguelike.” Clearly this generation of gamers is comprised of irredeemable savages. I propose we dispense with the Disgusting Roguelite subgenre entirely and devote ourselves to ushering in a golden age of Cutevania. I googled “cutevania.” It doesn’t exist? And this, gentle friends, is why we all deserve to perish.