Your world, filled with fantasy and wonder, is being invaded by the cold metal of emotionless robots. Do you stand down or fight to win back the land? The Trouble With Robots puts you in command of these worried citizens of various races to take back what is rightfully theirs. Command peasants, elves, dwarfs, and even centaurs to fight the legion of robots trying to colonize the forest. With 40 cards to choose from, you can create devastating combos to crush the opposing tin can forces and send them packing.

At first you start off with your basic cards (Peasants, Heal, etc.) with a 5 card deck limit. As you move forward you obtain more powerful cards and a higher deck limit to be equally met with more challenging battles. All the cards work wonderfully together and allows you to make some serious combinations, my favorite being the Trolls and Wardens. For example, the wardens are archers but have a special ability to summon a peasant whenever you use a troll card. Peasants have low health but can pack a punch in numbers and I found myself jumping for joy when I called on a troll that rolled out with 9 peasants since I had that many wardens on the field. The cards are not only limited to units but there are also spells too. Spells such as fireball and lightening can be mighty useful for thinning out the crushing army of metal scrap heading towards your precious village.

At the beginning of each level you will have a set of cards dealt to you from your deck and a full magic wand. The magic wand is broken up into five sections and this is what you use to call on your units or spells. Each card cost one section and can be used anytime during the confrontation. At the start of each level and during, it will indicate how many waves of robots there will be. Cards are dealt with each wave but if you find yourself out of cards you will be able to call down lightening onto one robot, which also cost one second of the wand. This comes in handy when you have bigger enemies to defeat because not only does it cause damage but it also stuns them for a duration of time. All of your units have their health indicated above their heads in a */* format. The one thing I admired about the game mechanics is that it was designed very well as far as keeping track of your allies health. As they become more damaged the numbers change from green to red. This became very handy as your units are usually swallowed up in the mayhem of the fight. Also damaged units tend to shy away to the back of the line to hide themselves from danger which is also a very adoring quality. If you strategize properly you can heal your units with ease allowing them to bounce back with a vengeance.

The Trouble with Robots is a very rewarding and enthralling game. I found myself absorbed in it’s cleverness and charm within the first couple levels and from there could not put it down. The games pacing is very well done as they introduce bigger and better cards when you proceed through each challenge. I was genuinely excited to complete each level just to see what I might unlock next and how I could incorporate it into my current deck. The humor is also very endearing as they parody movies like Lord of the Rings and Braveheart.

The game is set with a price of $18.99 which may seem a bit hefty but I highly would suggest playing the demo the day of its launch. Hopefully either the game will go on sale or there will be a bunch of free content/expansions planned for the game soon. I would hate to see such a wonderful indie game be passed up by fans of the genre just because it cost too much.