Indie diamonds in the rough: Jettomero Hero of the Universe

Jettomero is a giant friendly robot travelling around the galaxy trying to help, saving worlds and killing huge monsters. Guide him in his unique fun journey and explore a colourful procedurally generated universe.

Developer: Ghost Time Games
Game Engine: Unity
Price: £9.99 / Steam

Jettomero is a fun trippy game that is hard to define. You control a robot that wakes up alone on a small planet and starts a journey to self realization. The first scene brought to my mind "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry if the little prince was a big funny looking red robot walking like a drunken Godzilla. After the initial short walk - tutorial around the first planet our lovable robot protagonist launches to space.

I have to say that I was blown away by the splash of colours in the environment, the fluid funny animation and the fitting electro music. From the beginning, Jettomero attacks our senses on all fronts and it is amazing.

Don't expect me to talk a lot about the gameplay elements because there is not a lot. There is simple gameplay loop that is mainly an excuse for you to travel around the universe. So you arrive at a planet, you walk trying to avoid destroying buildings (or not) and you collect two sets of objects. The first set is some yellow crystals which are important in order to move forward in the game. It is the fuel that you need to travel between planets. The second set of objects are various body parts that give you a chance to customize your robot. These seem to be purely cosmetic as far as I played and they don’t affect the gameplay in any way.

After exploring some planets you will end up on a planet that a giant monster resides. In order to move forward, you have to defeat this monster. The fights are played in a typing/ quick time event fashion and although they don’t change much while you progress in the game they are still fun because of the colourful monsters, the weird names and the unique aesthetics of the fight. After you win the fight you are given a decyphering puzzle. The reward for solving this puzzle is a comic that tells about the past and the history of the game.

Multiply this by a set amount of times and this is Jettomero. It might get a bit repetitive after a while but it is not a big game anyway. I have to say that at least for me it wasn’t about the gameplay elements although the puzzle solving part can get a bit challenging. It was mostly about the crazy journey through the universe hopping around rainbow planets as big lonely clumsy robot saving the world.