These Robotic Hearts
of Mine

These Robotic Hearts of Mine (2011) is a narrative puzzle game where you uncover a metaphorical story by completing levels. Unusually, the levels don't tell the story directly. They are difficult rotation-based Rubik's cube-inspired puzzles. But they are also metaphors for story which means each new story element also serves as a clue for how to solve the puzzle. This unique blend of an emotional narrative, which deals with themes of loss, grief and friendship, with unusual and challenging puzzle gameplay makes for a novel experience.

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The story follows two young friends, a boy and a girl, who find a rusted old robot in an ancient forest, which they repair and befriend. All is well for a time, but they soon discover more robots, which the boy sets himself to repairing, at the cost of his true friendship with the girl.

Gameplay consists of trying to get all the hearts in a level the correct way up. You do this by rotating them around central cogs. Because they interlock you can transfer hearts from one cog to another, and each level gets progressively harder, often requiring complex sequences of moves. In each level, you are also shown the minimum moves required, which you can aim for for an extra challenge.

It's a unique game, that blends challenging rotational puzzles with an engaging and philosophical story, and creates a unique, rewarding and novel way to play.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked These Robotic Hearts of Mine 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 20 months ago.