After I’d gathered a few mysterious objects on a fetch quest, groups of three or four bots appeared with enough collective firepower to make me feel fragile. I learned to bait them into firing both their shotgun barrels from an ineffective distance, then charge in for the kill with my ax. Combat requires tactics ammo is scarce, reload times are long and frequent, and wounds can cause you to bleed out if you’re not carrying enough bandages. I stalked my metal prey using the tall grass as cover, sneaking up on pairs of robots until I was right on top of them. Once armed, I began to feel more like the hunter than the hunted. Fortunately the hunger system is largely irrelevant - food is so prevalent I was never close to starving, but I did need to keep an eye on it for healing purposes. Picking up a new weapon or very useful gadget (like the almost-mandatory scanner that points you toward the objects you need) means sacrificing the amount of ammo, bandages, and food items you can carry. Managing your loot in your very limited inventory space, Tetris-style, creates one of the most important decisions you make in Sir. Considering that gameplay is largely about hiding from enemies, it’s a bit disappointing that you can’t take refuge in any of the abandoned houses on the deserted islands – you can only loot them like big crates. Soon after arriving on the islands, I scavenged a pistol and hand ax from one of the many deserted homes. A low-detail art style casts hard-to-miss red beams from their eyes that bounce as they walk, and - especially during the dark half of the rapid day-night cycle - they’re ominous when spotted in the distance. It’s impressive that the most common bots that patrol the islands can have the demeanor and intelligence of the gangly and awkward Star Wars prequel battle droids crossed with a Monty Python sketch, yet still manage to be menacing. What really matters is that you’re alone and outgunned on a randomized island chain where darkly comic British robots have murdered everyone, and it’s highly advisable that you get out of there by performing repetitive but increasingly difficult MacGuffin fetch quests before they kill you as well. A vague setup about an experiment gone wrong, followed by a reminder that we should really eat something, is most of the story.
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