PAX East 2015 -- Mayan Death Robots Preview

Mayan Death Robots is just as awesome as its title suggests. Featuring, well, Mayans and death robots, the turn-based artillery game definitely will capture your attention.

Cool Weapons, Awesome Robots

Mayan Death Robots is a unique take on games like Worms or Scorched Earth, as it has players pick their actions simultaneously. The choices must be made quickly, as there are only a few seconds before the action choosing turn is up. Each player takes on the role of one of ten different robots, each one with its own unique weapons. The one I played as at PAX East 2015 had a number of cool missiles at its disposal, while my opponent’s robot had some nifty lightning attacks. Every few turns, players will get a random “super weapon,” as Sileni Studios explained to me, which can only be used once.

The main goal of the average match is to destroy your opponent’s heart, which a little box-like thing on the edge of whatever map you might be playing on. Destroying your opponent will merely knock him or her out for a round, so most of the focus goes into firing on the heart. Terrain is destructible, so the landscape is constantly changing, providing additional obstacles or benefits.

The Mayans Attack

However, during the Campaign mode, matches can get a little crazy. Each robot is worshipped as a god by the Mayans, who build temples to it and try to help it out during battles. Over time, the Mayan on both teams start to developing various weapons, like catapults, to use on the opposing robot. This can apparently, the developers explained, become distracting and can cause players to focus on killing the Mayans rather than taking out the heart.

On top of that, Mayan gods, who feel shunned after the Mayans begin worshipping the robots, sometimes will attack the robots. This can create a boss battle, and the two opposing players must ban together to defeat the boss before attacking each other again. It is a lot of fun, and although which consoles Mayan Death Robots have not yet been 100 percent defined and the game will not feature a single-player mode, it looks like it might be worth picking up when it releases.