Robot Detour

Robot Detour is a line-drawing puzzle game about a small robot delivering batteries to his wireless friends. The robot pulls a power cable as he moves, and the goal is to find a way to his friends without having the cable be severed by spikes. The mechanics are original yet easy to understand, ensuring most levels are short and playful affairs.

The puzzles of Robot Detour take place in single-screen levels. Your robot character starts to the side of a power supply, and the goal is to have him reach one of his friends. It’s easy to see where you need to end up, but you’re pulling a fragile cable from the power supply, and the main challenge comes from making sure that the cable never touches any spike in the room.

Since going straight to the objective won’t work, you’ll need to wrap around obstacles to line up the cable on spike-free paths. The game features six areas with a focus on different mechanics. The second area introduces blocks whose positions change halfway through the level; this makes for bite-sized exercises in spatial visualization.

Overall, Robot Detour’s levels are as gentle as its mechanics are intuitive. Hints are available in the form of positions and arrows on the screen. One of the areas requires moderate dexterity, but there’s an option to skip it altogether. The game shares with Filament the idea of a robot rolling out a wire, but its focus on hazards and obstacle mobility leads to new gameplay, and its endearing art direction very much gives it a voice of its own.

This description was written by Oriane Tury.