HomeNewsRAM: Random Access Mayhem
Come steal the bodies of your robot foes in RAM: Random Access Mayhem, out now in early accessStill has a demo
Still has a demo
Image credit:Xylem Studios / Hawthorn Games
Image credit:Xylem Studios / Hawthorn Games
Did last week’s paranormal body-swapperSlitterheadleave you cold? Do you consider its brain-jacking of rando cityfolk for monster-hunting purposes a sad waste of potential? Perhaps you’ll preferRAM: Random Access Mayhem, out now inSteam early access, in which you’re a fugitive AI hopping between warlike robot bodies in top-down view.
Yes, the subtitle involves both a colon and a dad joke, but the demo is entertaining -Nuclear ThronemeetsCtrl Alt Ego, in short. The one major criticism I have after 20 minutes or so is that the flat pixelart perspective makes walls and walkable surfaces look interchangeable, and this feels more like a question of acclimatisation than a real complaint.
RAM: Random Access Mayhem - Early Access Launch TrailerWatch on YouTube
RAM: Random Access Mayhem - Early Access Launch Trailer
Early-game gambits include teleporting into the head of the robot behind an attacking horde and shooting all the others all in the back. Beyond that, you’ll want to possess bots that are strong against the types in play. It feels like there’s decent variety: each bot has a primary and a secondary attack, and you can customise them with collectible upgrade sticks, picking from three techs each time. You’ll get more of those upgrades if you pull offBulletstorm-esque trickshots such as punching one robot into another or using your flamethrower to propel yourself around like a battering ram. I mean, a battering RAM. See, I can do dad jokes too.
“Cor, this top-down roguelike shooter is quite something, lemme tell ya,” a jovial Katharine (RPS in peace)wrote in February. “With its twinstick controls and bevy of robot opponents to mow down, this is a fast-paced action game that doesn’t pull any punches.”
The devs estimate that RAM’s early access period will “last around a year, depending on how the feedback around the game develops, with large updates every 3-4 months.” The current early access version offers six robots, two stages, daily challenge runs and minigames in a hub area, together with the beginning of the story. The final version will have a complete storyline, an expanded endgame difficulty modifier system, more stages and more bots.
To return to Slitterhead briefly - I keep seeing this described as a game we will one day call a cult classic.Ed Thorn’s reviewstrongly suggests otherwise. If you’ve played, how are you finding it?
