I like an existential robotic — and Occasions & Galaxy, an indie journey sport, has plenty of them.
On the floor, the time period “existential robotic” looks like an oxymoron. Existentialism is, in spite of everything, a philosophical inquiry of human existence — humanity’s which means, objective, and worth. In different phrases, “Who’re we, and why can we exist?”
However the hyperlink between robots and existentialism is clearer than it first seems. They’re, in spite of everything, a product of their maker. Through the years, there have been quite a few articles, podcasts, talks, books, and analysis papers on robots and humanity. One neuroscientist even wrote that depressed robots can educate us about psychological well being.
I’ve all the time loved philosophical discussions and conversations about psychological well being, so it’s no marvel that I gravitated in direction of Occasions & Galaxy’s existential — and sometimes depressed — robots.
In some ways, they remind me of Marvin from The Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy — one other favourite robotic of mine.
In Occasions & Galaxy, you play as the primary robotic reporter, beginning your internship on the universe’s legacy newspaper of the identical title. You reside on the paper’s spaceship with the opposite staff; though the opposite editorial staffers are human and aliens alike, plenty of the ship’s menial staff are robots such as you.
In between reporting tales on the bottom, you’ll be able to discover the ship and work together with its many inhabitants (and inanimate objects).
I shortly fell in love with Janitorbot for continuously questioning its limitless job of cleansing the ship. Its pointed remarks and bot-speak make it very endearing — and, if you happen to select, you’ll be able to have a romantic relationship with Janitorbot in-game by flirting with it.
Janitorbot is, in some ways, the exact opposite of Hirayama from the 2023 movie Excellent Days, who works as a bathroom cleaner in Tokyo however spends his time taking pleasure within the little issues. For Janitorbot, the duty is rarely full, however as an alternative a supply of Sisyphean-like dread; in the meantime, Hirayama appears unphased by having to scrub the identical bathrooms every day. Janitorbot is not going to, and certainly can not, relaxation whereas a speck of dust is on the ship — an inconceivable job with reporters coming and going on a regular basis.
In the meantime, the aptly named Watercoolerbot sits in a nook of the bunk room, depressed about its lack of significant connection. Because it says, everybody has conversations round Watercoolerbot — nonetheless superficial they might be — however nobody ever talks to it straight.
Even interacting with the merchandising machine, trying on the video games accessible onboard the ship, and selecting up in-game collectibles similar to seeds could be an existential expertise.
Positive, operating round reporting intergalactic tales was enjoyable, however my favourite a part of the sport was interacting with these unhappy, bizarre robots. I felt a kinship with them that almost all actually had nothing to do with the existential dread journalists face in actual life.
Occasions & Galaxy is accessible to play on Home windows PC through Steam, GOG, and Humble Bundle. It’s additionally accessible on Nintendo Swap, Xbox One and Collection X|S, and PS5.
