Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Girl and the Robot

Back in 2016, a company called Flying Carpet Games released a new video game called "The Girl and the Robot." I was very interested in this game because it very much smacked of a fairy tale. Obviously, I had to partake in it at some point, and last year, I finally did.

Now, I'll get the criticisms out of the way. The Girl and the Robot is not really a very good game and I ultimately left it a bad score on Steam. The reasons for this were because of a number of things: graphics were sorely outdated (like early PS2 era), the controls were spotty and sometimes simply refused to work, there were a number of unusual exploits that all but broke the game such as being able to shoot through doors (not the intention of the developers I assure you). I actually rage-quitted this game once before coming back in a month to finally complete it. The story of this blog has everything to do with the reason I came back at all.

The Girl and the Robot is actually a very well told fairy tale about a girl in distress, and a robot knight who goes to her aid. That is why I kept playing. I loved the chivalry theme of it. And when you look at this game for the story, it is so desperately trying to tell you, through all its glitches and bad game play, that there really is something there. There is a beautiful story about male and female. The fact that the knight was a man of metal didn't seem to change that for me.

Throughout this game, you have to manage both the robot and the girl. The robot is strong and can fight. He is her protector. He is her knight. His honor is based on his ability to see her through to the end of the game.

The girl's role is to help out as much as she can (pulling levers, ect.) and to provide him with comfort when he has been through great trials for her. (The latter is used as a healing mechanic for the robot knight. The girl can be killed in one hit therefore healing is not important for her.)

The relationship between the girl and her robot knight is what made this game interesting to me. Not fun, mind you. Just very, very interesting. Enough for me to come back and finish the damn thing. I loved how the two were working together. I loved how she seemed to fall in love with her much larger robot knight. I loved how he would bow to her. Take her upon his shoulders. Do whatever he needed to do to keep her safe. It was beautiful despite the dated graphics.

I freaking love stuff like this. I go out of my way to experience stories like this when I see them. We need more stories about male chivalry because there isn't much of it in our world anymore. There was a time when stuff like this was common. Sad.

Now, I do not recommend this game despite enjoying it, and here is the big reason why: It is not finished and it never will be. The girl and the robot are up against a very awesome evil witch. I'm not joking. She is a great villainess and also quite hot. But damn if the game suddenly ends on a cliffhanger with it looking like the girl is doomed. There was no mention of this in the game's description. It honestly felt like they gave up, ended it, and shipped the unfinished product to the stores. I don't think they will ever continue the story which is very sad. At best, you can look up video of the game on YouTube to see some of the interactions between girl and robot, but I don't recommend spending actual money on this game in its present condition.

But let this final point sink in: I loved the theme of the girl and the knight. They did good there. And I won't soon forget the time I spent with them. If they ever finish and/or polish the game up, I'll be happy to go back to it.

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