Review by: Tony Mitera

Plain Sight’s bizarre premise of ninja robots battling it out in space is certainly one reason the game stands out as being just a shade different than your standard “multiplayer only” fare. You play as a nameless little robot armed with a katana blade, and must battle it out against other robots in a three dimensional field of combat. Its colorful styling and basic gameplay tenants make it easy to approach, and yet leaves plenty of room for its skill-based sword fighting to shine.

As you fling your little robot swordsman around the various maps he will be magnetically drawn to whatever surface is the closest until boots hit the ground. Since there is no concept of gravity and only this attraction to orient yourself the concepts of up and down go out the window, letting you walk on almost any surface to get the drop on an unsuspecting (or orientation-challenged) foe. It also allows you to slingshot around corners by jumping or dashing around them. Some surfaces don’t behave like the others and let you wall cling onto them rather than walk which will at times disrupt your movement.

Dashing is your only means of attack as well as a great method of quickly covering a lot of distance. By holding the left mouse button you begin to charge your dash, and if an enemy is soft-locked with a blue icon around them the lock will actually trigger and turn yellow. Once your dash has charged enough to cover the potential distance the lock will turn red, at which point releasing the button will cause your homicidal humanoid to leap at the foe and swing his blade to dispatch them. If no enemy is locked the dash simply lets you have a sudden burst of acceleration in the direction the camera is facing.

That isn’t to say the red means dead, however. If the enemy robot reacts quickly enough they can put up a shield with the right-mouse button, which not only saves them from death but also temporarily disables the dash ability of their attacker. Additionally if two robots dash at each other they simply repel one another with almost the same velocity as they came at each other—this tends to leave combat resolution to the person who has more skill in controlling their bot more so than who has the more power ups, and makes one on one fights feel more like a duel that most games even come close to approaching.

As you kill enemy bots your energy pool grows, which makes you bigger but just as easy to kill. These energy reserves are only converted to true points on the board when you detonate yourself, and the more energy you have the greater the explosion. This explosion not only converts that energy and kills anyone caught in it but allows you to spend the equivalent amount of points on the various skills found for your robot. Increased shield duration, triple jumps, and faster dash times are only a sample of the nine skill categories found in the three skill trees, with each tree crested with a powerful meta-skill. These skills can certainly help turn the tide of a fight, but only dictate it if you are comparing players who already have vastly differing skill levels.

It is a stylish ball of fun filled with robots flying at each other with sword and suicidal tendencies drawn, but Plain Sight’s biggest strength comes from its nuanced combat delivered in a format that is easy to grasp. The moment the ‘40s style jazz greets your speakers at the main menu you know that you are in for something a little bit different, and the three dimensional gameplay found within does not disappoint. As one of the cheapest games you can find on Steam right now Plain Sight delivers some powerhouse gameplay in a deceptively small package.