Gato Roboto

A venerable template comes alive in this beautifully compact adventure.

With its heavy Metroid inspirations, Gato Roboto can feel derivative. However, it plays well and the world and combat encounters are well-designed

Added together, the checkpointing and easy fights make Gato Roboto feel like it never really gets going. In an ideal world I would have seen more interesting puzzles and challenging enemies, but as it is, and because there are only a handful of sectors to explore, your couple of hours with Kiki are likely to feel a bit empty.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if you go into Gato Roboto with the only expectation being "Metroid but with a cat protagonist," you won't likely be disappointed. But if you hope for anything beyond that, you'll likely wind up entertained but unsatisfied.

With tight controls, retro-styled minimal art style and a superb sense of progression, this is the perfect Metroidvania to play whilst you're waiting for an actual Metroid or appropriate Castlevania game.

Overall, Gato Roboto is one of my favorite indie games I’ve had a chance to play this year.

While Gato Roboto could stand to be a more fleshed-out metroidvania game, it's still a highly enjoyable action game overall. Kiki's adventure is one chock full of classic NES-era action, nicely challenging combat, fun gameplay and charming visuals. It's a short burst of action, but one you won't forget anytime soon. So thankfully, there is more to the game to love beyond just a cat inside a mechanical suit. But come on, can you really resist Kiki's kickass cuteness?

A nostalgia filled throwback to the Game Boy and awesome 2D platformers featuring super cute characters and a great soundtrack! If you love classic games or pixel graphics this is a must play!

While the game itself is fairly solid mechanically, when it’s firing on all cylinders and working its hardest to bring you the best it has to offer, it is merely okay. Unfortunately, most of the time the experience is pretty lackluster, and ultimately its problem is that it doesn’t do anything new – despite its quirky premise, it feels uninspired. It feels less like the euphoria of a cat café, and more like tending a litter box.

Gato Roboto has some wonderful aesthetic choices and innovative boss fights, but the awfully short length and generic enemy design hamper an otherwise quirky title.