Haiku the Robot: An Indie Delight that Strikes a Familiar Chord — Time Well Spent
<h1>Robots Can Be Knights Too</h1>
<p>To teach himself the rhythms of a great novel, legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson retyped The Great Gatsby word for word. A quote says that, ‘he’d look at each page that Fitzgerald wrote and copied it. The entire book. He wanted to know what it felt like to write a masterpiece.’ As I played <strong>Haiku The Robot</strong>, I felt something similar was going on, because the game’s resemblance to genre-classic Hollow Knight is clear throughout. Most of Hollow Knight’s insectoid enemies have direct, nigh-on-identical robotic equivalents, down to their attack patterns and sound effects. Hollow Knight’s UI, its animations, its fast travel and upgrade system have all been imitated. The similarities are undeniable. It’s a good thing then that the game is so much fun to play.</p>
<p>In his defence, Haiku’s solo developer, James Morris, AKA Mr Morris Games, shows no intention of hiding his influence. I’ve never seen a homage done quite as overtly as this one, but it’s true to say that the metroidvania genre as a whole has its fair share of similar examples — Axiom Verge feels like classic Metroid, Bloodstained feels like Castlevania. So let’s label Haiku a kind of bite-sized companion piece to Team Cherry’s great creation, a product that if it’s good enough deserves a place in any gaming library, particularly while we wait for Silksong, Hollow Knight’s long-awaited sequel.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@oliverrevolta/haiku-the-robot-a-familiar-feeling-indie-worth-your-time-b7b069342a6a"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>