Roto
Force

Roto Force (2023) is a shooting game where you battle enemies as a slug who is permanently attached to the inside wall of each box-like level. As you frantically dash through the stages the whole room twists and turns accordingly, meaning not only do you always land back on the wall but the enemies and bullets rotate around you. It's a claustrophobic, super-fast challenge where you squeeze survival out of desperate situations.

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You are a Roto Force robot tasked with fulfilling your boss' far-fetched whims. One stick controls your movement and the other controls your aiming. In this way, you run and dash to avoid attacks, collect health, and stick to every surface.

The twist is that the level rotates to keep you at the bottom of the screen. It starts simply enough, but soon you need to be constantly looping and dashing through the rooms to avoid incoming fire and expertly aiming your attacks and learning your opponents' every move.

As you progress you gain a bigger better dash along with an arsenal of weapons. Learning when to use this extra movement, as well as the different controls of each weapon is at times bewildering. But when it clicks you gain a surprising sense of control and grace for such a rudimentary game.

The result is a game that marries traversal and shooting in one pulsing, oozing challenge. Quickly moving around the mind-bending stages as you dodge and attack makes for demanding and tense yet hugely entertaining fun.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Roto Force 18 months ago. It was re-examined by Thom Robertson and updated 4 days ago.