Robox (1986) is a graphic adventure game developed by Laro Schatzer and Marc Pilloud for the Commodore 64 (C64). Adrian Demleitner researched it in depth for the research project CH-Ludens and conducted two interviews with the developers. The German-language game features numerous locations, a good parser, and challenging puzzles. It was released in 1986 by the German publisher Markt & Technik in "64'er Software Extra Nr.04: Abenteuer-Spiele - Volume 1", and is well documented.

Story

In the distant past, the ruler of the far away planet Mirlandis had his brain kept alive artificially after his death—in a soulless body. In this hybrid form, half-robot and half-human, half-alive and half-dead, known as the Robox, a hatred for all living things took root. He ordered his robot army to destroy all life in the universe.

The game begins on a rainy Sunday in the year 2036. According to the introduction, you are an average citizen whose life has seen nothing particularly exciting so far, except for the occasional visit to a 3D movie theater. You would love to take a trip to a foreign planet, but unfortunately, you lack the necessary funds. And so it is that you find yourself today in your cozy little house, which was left to you by your beloved, but now deceased, grandfather Samuel.

After exploring the house, you will soon find a switch to open a secret room, and eventually take part in an interactive quiz show. The prize is a trip to a vacation planet. This trip will turn out a little differently than planned... (Source: C64-Wiki)

Game objective

During the flight, there is plenty to experience: you meet a robot named Robbi. He becomes a loyal companion who can offer helpful advice in many situations. Thanks to Robbi, escaping in the dingy spaceship becomes possible. This is urgently needed as the onboard computer has reported an attack by UFOs. Unfortunately, the crew does not take the warning seriously.

Later, after a crash landing on a mysterious planet, the real adventure begins. After exploring the area, gathering equipment and overcoming many dangers, you finally reach the command centre of the evil robot boss, Robox. This is where the finale takes place, naturally culminating in the deactivation of the electronic brain. (Source: C64-Wiki)

Design

The game features nice multicolor background graphics, but each one has to be reloaded separately. This means the player has to wait a few seconds every time they change rooms.
The F1 function key allows you to switch the game to “text-only mode.” Reloading is then only necessary twice during the course of the game.

The title screen features minimal animation and background music. A version of the classic Battlestar Galactica theme can be heard (the original was composed by Stu Philips). There are no further animations or sounds in the rest of the game.

The game’s parser is largely designed for classic two-word inputs consisting of a verb and an object. For a few commands, you must combine two objects. In addition to prepositions like WITH and ON, you can also use the conjunction AND effectively in the game, for example to pick up two or more items at once.

Save files can be saved and loaded. The number of items in the inventory is unlimited. The game consists of three parts; if you want to load a save file, it makes sense to start the game directly from disk two or four. This saves unnecessary loading times.

Only a few puzzles have multiple solutions; in most cases, there is only one correct way to progress in the game. (Source: C64-Wiki)

Reviews

In the C64-Wiki, H.T.W. judges Robox as "a top-notch graphic adventure game in German featuring numerous locations, a solid parser, and tricky puzzles that can be solved with a bit of thought. You'll only need a little luck in the final section. Highly recommended.”

And reviewer Shmendric comments in the C64-Wiki: “Robox is undoubtedly one of the highest-quality adventure games Markt&Technik has ever published. The two programmers have created a whole gallery of high-quality multicolor graphics—including even a slightly animated title screen, which, as a nice little bonus, is accompanied by a simple yet effective SID version of the *Battlestar Galactica* theme.” He goes on to praise the quality of the graphics and the storylines and concludes with the words: “Since I believe Robox is the best German-language text adventure ever made, I'm giving this game a glorious 10 out of 10—which, of course, only fans of this unique genre will understand. It's a real shame that the development team didn't make any more games.”