PAX East Spotlight: ‘Mayan Death Robots’

Among the great titles Analog Addiction checked out at PAX East this year was Mayan Death Robots, the title which pits two players against each other in the name of obtaining Mayan worship. Each player chooses from a selection of robots, each offering their own unique weapons. From there, the two combatants are placed into the arena and must destroy their opponent’s power core or knock it off of the level before their own meets that fate. Rather than alternating between who’s turn it is, Mayan Death Robots puts an interesting spin on this game type by having both players simultaneously make their moves.

The pressure of knowing that your opponent is going to be attacking you the same moment you attack them leads to a unique mindset while playing. Most characters have quick attacks in addition to longer ones with the potential for more damage, but taking longer to perform the entirety of your assault means that the platform you’re standing on may be destroyed mid-attack and suddenly your trajectory is going to be completely different as you fall and land somewhere else. Mindful gamers will likely find themselves attempting to compensate for the anticipated fall when a strike on their footing seems most advantageous.

It is important to note that there is no single player mode in Mayan Death Robots. While there is a campaign mode, it is strictly a two player endeavour, still pitting one against the other. While sitting down with the lead designer, Karel Crombecq, he explained that it is because of the unpredictable nature of humans and how difficult it is to properly capture that in an AI. Crombecq elaborated by stating that with computer opponents, it almost becomes a matter of making them too good or not good enough, but humans are able to blur that line without issue and even the best players can slip up, press the wrong button, or get distracted.

In the two player campaign, both players are still fighting for the worhip of the Mayans, although they do so throughout history. While the stage itself does not matter as much, you will occasionally see small details in the background acting as a reference to significant events leading up to and culminating in the Spanish invasion. Throughout the course of the campaign though, the actual Mayan gods will not simply sit by idly as these imposter robots take their place in the eyes of the Mayans. On occasion, if you anger them enough, these legitimate gods will appear and begin to wreak havoc, forcing both players to momentarily forget about one another in order to deal with the much bigger and significant threat. The campaign will completely remove both power cores until the god has been destroyed, so the sooner you defeat the god, the sooner you can return to demolishing your opponent’s power core

During a single game, each player has the opportunity to increase their explosive radius by killing the Mayan worshipers of their opponent and their various temples. It may not be immediately apparent to new players as the tiny individuals walking around do not seem crucial in combat, but killing each one who supports your opponent increases the size of the blasts from your attacks, effectively making even a single rocket far more effective and deadly. If a Mayan god appears, the player who dealt the most damage to it by the time it dies will also receive a very sizable increase to their blast radius, giving further incentive to momentarily divert your attention away from your opponent.

Defensive tactics are also made readily available within Mayan Death Robots as players possess the ability to build blocks of landscape. There are limits to where these blocks can be built, and they come in the predetermined shape of Tetris blocks, but if your core has suddenly become exposed or you want to shield yourself from imminent danger as you jump to a new location, these blocks of land offer the perfect solution. Of course, it is not as easy as simply building turn after turn. The block count will stop at five, meaning players are only able to lay up to five at a time, but each turn they receive one more block to use. For this reason, if your opponent has just laid down five blocks as a defense, it is in your best interest to blast through them as quickly as possible to ensure they cannot simply rebuild all of what you just worked to undo. Killing your opponent is always an option as well, and doing so will reward you with all of the blocks they had accumulated, but again there is a limit of five. Upon death, your robot will spend the next turn spawning, essentially giving your opponent a free turn to further their assault on your power core.

Mayan Death Robots is currently in beta on Steam, but will offer ten different characters when finished, including the eight available at the present time. The game is a ton of fun to play with friends, although you may find that number dwindling as you repeatedly murder each other with explosive banana projectiles. Mayan Death Robots is slated for a release this summer for the PC, Mac, and Linux. Keep checking back with Analog Addiction for more on the title as it becomes available.