I tried to get into Hacknet, but it wasn’t working for me. I don’t think it’s a problem with the game, it’s just that a game that simulates hacking into servers felt a little bit too much work for me. So instead I’ve been playing Haiku the Robot, a Metroidvania where you play a robot in a post-nuclear world.

I’ve played Haiku, the Robot for a short while. It starts out simple with a small linear path but, as usual for a Metroidvania, you quickly find new tools that give you the ability to explore new areas in the game world.

This cute adventure is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which only robots remain. Many of them malfunctioning and hostile to the protagonist. Along the way you will meet several NPCs that will teach you the mechanics of the games and give you quests to complete.

The main goal of the game seems to be to find and defeat several bosses scattered around the world. Once defeated, you will gain a new item that lets you explore new areas, and find new bosses to defeat.

You can also find chips that give you lesser abilities. These don’t seem to allow you to find new areas, but they will make certain parts of the game easier.

What surprises me most about this game is how open it actually is. Once the first boss is defeated, a large part of the entire world is unlocked. I’ve found the second boss so far, but I’m not even sure if I have to do this one next – there may be others I could have encountered first.

The game is obviously designed for a controller, but that doesn’t mean they’ve skimped out on keyboard controls. I’m using the keyboard on my laptop, and not once have I felt like the controls have gotten in the way. Sure, I’ve died a lot, but it’s been my own stupid fault every time.

So far I’m having a lot of fun with this game. I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m definitely going to play this one through to the end. I need to know what lies behind the Mainframe Vault!