Steampunk and volcanoes, what else do you need in a game? The indie title Volcanoids, developed and published by Volcanoid, marries these two things in a strange world where angry robots want to kill you with lava.

The game takes place on Adranos, a small volcanic island with a big problem. They’re called COGs, very hostile robotic creatures that appeared around the same time the eruptions began to rock the island. With the population either killed or driven to flee by the pyroclastic flows that rage over Adranos, it’s up to a small crew to try and take on the COGs, and make the island liveable again. 

Gameplay 

You start your journey in a submarine on the edge of the mostly-abandoned island, alongside a grizzly old sea captain who serves as your tutorial. Out before you stretches a big, green open world, with a menacing volcano looming on the horizon.

As the name might suggest, the volcano will rule your life while playing Volcanoids. Anything you do is on a timer, which counts down to when the mountain will blow its top and unleash a wave of heat that will destroy everything on the surface, including you and your drillship.

Drillships are the second major mechanic. If you just stroll around the island with a revolver taking pot shots at every robot you see, you’ll quickly be laid out by their superior levels of technology. The way forward is claiming one of the COG drillships for yourself, and building a little moving steampunk fortress, which can dig down under the ground to escape the volcanic fire.

A lot of what you do will be in service of getting your ship up to scratch. Crafting needs from raw materials which must be gathered by mining or scavenging around outside. Eventually, foraging for things isn’t enough to keep upgrading and acquiring new gear, so gameplay turns to planning and launching raids on other ships. These aren’t as simple as just taking out the robot crew, they require using knowledge of how the ship works to sabotage components in a way that lets you succeed. Damaging the drill will stop it from tunneling underground to escape, and destroying the stations that make new COGs allows you to loot in peace. 

Eventually, you can end up with a beast of a ship, but you can never feel completely safe. COGs can stage their own raids while you’re out, and if the drillship isn’t adequately defended, all your hard work could quickly be reduced to scrap.

Expectations

Volcanoids has had a great deal of work and attention put into crafting mechanics. They’re extensive and complex and allow you a great deal of customization in building your ship.

What I’d like to see more of are things to interact with outside. Aside from other ships, wandering COGs, and nodes to mine for resources, there’s not much reason to linger out there. An approaching update promises the arrival of new enemy vehicles, which would be exciting, and would potentially mix up the combat, as well as create a more tense environment when walking around without the comparative safety of a ship.

Verdict

Volcanoids is an interesting project that treads a path all of its own. The constant countdown creates a good sense of urgency and watching the mountain explode through the periscope whilst huddling underground in my ship never seemed to get old. Hopefully, as the game works its way towards full release, the island can become a little more populated, to really hammer home the tension.