“Jettomero: Hero of the Universe” by Gabriel Koenig.
“Play as Jettomero, a giant, indestructible, and incredibly clumsy robot determined to save the human race. Explore a procedurally generated universe by flying through space and landing on planets while trying not to destroy everything in your path. Relax as you blast through the cosmos on a hero’s uncertain quest. Will you ever save the humans?”
Mechas are often displayed as the big fighting units, controlled by a human pilot and ready to either save the world or destroy everything. However, in “Jettomero: Hero of the Universe” you will experience a different approach to this trope: As the players step into the role of the enormous robot Jettomero, they will experience a non-human character wondering about its real purpose in life.
Jettomero suffers from amnesia, but by warping through dimension holes and wandering on planets to battle dangerous kaijū-like creatures, they are able to gather encrypted data about their past. By decrypting those log files, the true identity of the mech becomes clear, so that the players can get an answer to the nagging question on their minds: Was Jettomero constructed as a savior or is the robot indeed a bringer of death who only forgot its true goal? The mech itself seems to be sure to have a good character in the beginning, but the scared attacks by the inhabitants on later planets seem to tell a different story.
With the stylish presentation and a fluid transition of different genre mechanics – exploring the planets and trying to avoid collateral damage caused by the slightly wonky movement scheme, striking down monsters in a fast-paced typing match as well as solving logic puzzles to decrypt the logs -, “Jettomero: Hero of the Universe” is a lovely game to get lost in for a couple of hours. It does not push you to progress quickly through it, but invites you to travel through the galaxy in your own speed. [PLAY]
