02 Aug 2025
I've got a lot of respect for a UE4 game with 2D art, and Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion does it with style. Here's a bunch of gushing about it.
Oh I’ve got so much good stuff to say about this and I’ve only beaten the first level so far. That’s right, I had to run to the site and blab about it that much that I haven’t even touched the second level. The hand drawn and animated art is so good, and cutscenes are tastefully used for funny sight gags. But one thing I want to get into that sets the mood for what you’re getting into is the gun.
You get a gun. Infinite ammo, but just the one gun with a fixed rate of fire. The lack of ammo is a hallmark classic of games that just want you to wander around and fuck about. Take time shooting things or hopping on buildings, there’s a good chance you’ll find something in whatever you destroyed or vaulted. see: metroid prime
The first city level is kept small but dense in things to do, with each smaller area within it having The Main Thing You Do There, plus an extra thing or two. When I ran for the docks and helped out with the birthday party, there were a couple fun extra bits after I was done with the main part. Symbols above people’s heads also helps to let you know if you’re done in an area so you’re not hunting around for secrets too long.
I bring up all that because this is a game that wants you to keep going along, to keep seeing gag after gag without catching your breath too much. It’s a frantic energy that’s reflected in the gameplay and exploration.
It’s also reflected in the inventory system which is deliberately limited. You get your gun in the main inventory slot, and two extra inventory slots for whatever. Heads up, spoilers for the first level from here on out.
The first upgrade you’ll probably discover is a second gun that doubles your firing rate. It’s a welcome upgrade early on so you’re not stuck with a peashooter for the more frantic fights. After that, you’ll come across a metal detector that’ll show hidden items under the sand with beeps and sand clouds when it’s deployed. That winds up being a primary tool in a fight later when you’re trying to get a robot out from under the sand and works extremely well. It’s only used for the sandy areas, but it still gets a large amount of usage for a one-off item in the game.
The next item you get in the other slots is a submachine gun, followed by a second after a later boss battle. Its firing rate eclipses the dual pistols and getting dual submachineguns is double that destructive power. Taking that into the final fight is a great escalation of stakes, but since it’s not the primary gun it’s lost at the end of the level along with the metal detector.
There is so much interaction across this city. While it’s filled with a wide variety of people acting as decoration (don’t worry, your bullets only hurt robots) a large number of people are there to give weird ass quests or just comment on you doing sick jumps or eating a sandwich. When you find the other members of the team they head back to the apartment and you can have so much dialogue with them.
Even the convos with the robot invaders are fun as hell, they all get their own personalities and aren’t as robotic as you’d think. Even the final boss gets a good amount of dialogue over the multi-stage fight. I’m looking at hopping back in later to play more. The regular grunt enemies you fight don’t get any dialogue, but at least they’ve got a wide enough variety to never be tiring.
It does! Go check it out over on Steam, it’s like $10 right now and absolutely worth it. You can also check out the creator bubby darkstar’s bluesky account right over here. I regretfully didn’t talk too much about the great writing, but anything I say would spoil great gags that I haven’t already turned into a screenshot. Give it a play!
