Kickstarter Spotlight – Haiku the Robot

*Disclaimer, I have backed this game on Kickstarter*

Haiku the Robot from Mr. Morris Games is quite a pleasant surprise for me. I streamed the demo for it’s Kickstarter yesterday and immediately fell in love. This game from a fledgling solo indie developer is absolutely worth your time and money.

the story

Haiku is a Metroidvania in the truest sense of the word. You have a huge open map with many biomes. Much of the map is blocked to your progress until you find a power-up to allow you through. Things such as rolling, double jump, and a bomb. Haiku is a tiny round and adorable robot. Your story takes place after the destruction of humanity. 4 robots have evolved and brought order and stability to the world. Life for the machines prospered for many years until a virus began to spread. As this virus took hold the machines could no longer function and the world began to break down. It is up to Haiku, and you, to restore order.

the art

The art was one of the things that immediately drew me in. Haiku’s world is built with beautiful pixel art with an almost sepia color scheme, reminiscent of Game Boy Color. As you explore the world you will come into other biomes really bringing this world to life. The enemies are clever and each is unique in look and combat.

There is a demo available and I truly recommend you try it out. This game plays so well. The combat is fun, the controls are tight and responsive. The sound is perfect. The music sets the mood so well. Tension is built so well with the sound in this game. Right down to the heartbeat as you’re about to die The amount of polish really shows this has been a game with a lot of love put into it.

What’s amazing is with how well polished this game is, the dev has only been coding for a year! Clearly he has found his calling. If you’re a fan of Metroidvanias I absolutely recommend this game! Try out the demo, back this game. Hell, there are physical rewards for backing too that look amazing! Socks, T-shirts, and coffee mugs! with 32 days and a goal of $29,000 USD, this funding will help the developer be able to quit his day job and focus 100% on this game and get it made quicker and better.

Check out Haiku the robot on Kickstarter and play the demo. Follow The dev on Twitter for updates.