[b]The premise:[/b]
It's a Zach-Like programming puzzle game where you write code to move robots around a 2D grid and perform tasks. If that sounds like your thing (and it certainly sounded like mine!), you'll probably like this one. The most well-known and obvious game to compare it to is [i]7 Billion Humans[/i], but to me it feels much more heavily influenced (in both gameplay and story, and art style for that matter) by [i]Marvellous, Inc.[/i].
It is different enough from both of those to qualify as its own thing, though.
[b]The Gameplay:[/b]
Like with most games in the "2D grid" sub-sub-genre of Zach-Likes, the puzzles are (usually) less about the code syntax and more about navigation, and specifically about what (and how much) information your program is able to gather about the space it's traversing.
The programming in this game is much more flexible than in most games like it. The aforementioned commands about navigation and information gathering are powerful, and the programming language itself is much closer to BASIC than to assembly code (you can declare and call as many variables as you want, do multiple math operations in-line, and joint conditionals and loops are built right into the syntax).
This could have been a double-edged sword, in that it's easier for the player to use but harder for the devs to build challenges around (as much as I get frustrated with determining the distance to an obstacle in [i]7 Billion Humans[/i], it's those very limitations of the game's syntax that lead to some of the most rewarding puzzles in the game!), and indeed, I found [i]Sam & MaRU[/i] quite a bit easier than most.
But what it lacks in pure challenge it makes up for with variety and spectacle. [i]Sam & MaRU[/i] regularly introduces one-off mechanics that only appear in a couple of puzzles, which gives a lot of the levels their own sense of personality and keeps things feeling fresh. The mid-game levels in this game are a lot more memorable than the mid-game levels of most games of this type.
Granted, some of those one-off gimmicks are better executed than others, and this is compounded by the fact that the instructions when they're introduced are sometimes a bit too vague as to what they actually do (the level where you [spoiler]use the "hackMainframe()" command[/spoiler] crossed fully into "Trying to read the developer's mind" territory, IMO), but at least the lesser ones don't wear out their welcome.
[b]The Story (and The Aesthetics In General):[/b]
The story is fairly simple, but it's well-executed enough, and is integrated into the gameplay well via clever use of the aforementioned level-specific mechanics, and also provides some bonus challenges in seeking out the lore hints hidden in some of the puzzles (also, as a tech-history geek, I loved [spoiler]the eventual-deuteragonist having the surname "Lovelace"[/spoiler]).
The art style is simple as well, but it's clear, and it communicates the layout well while still providing a sense of place.
The music, on the other hand... well, let me put it this way: the only music in the entire game, which plays over every puzzle, is a five-second loop of elevator muzak. Thank goodness for the volume settings.
[b]QOL[/b]
I do have a couple of miscellaneous QOL complaints:
[list]
[*] The tank controls. Ye gods, the tank controls. Even with the autocomplete, I still got tired of putting "turnRight()"/"turnLeft()" on every other line. There was no reason to make turning a separate command.
[*] No option to speed up (or pause) the code execution when testing, which makes debugging your solutions a much lengthier process than necessary, especially later on when the boards get massive and your MaRU takes its sweet time rolling across the floor.
[*] Sometimes the level informs me that my bot performed "better than expected," so I'm guessing this game has bonus optimization targets? But I couldn't find any mention of what the targets are or even what stats they're measuring (I mean, I go back and optimize anyway just for fun, but still, it'd be nice to have some sense of how far I am from the goal).
[*] On a related note, I do miss having the ability to save multiple solutions for the same puzzle at once (I mean in-game, not just in a text document).
[/list]
[b]How Much Bang For Your Buck[/b]:
The main campaign took me just over 5 hours (and I've played more of these games than is probably healthy), there's a couple of hidden bonus challenges to stumble upon, and of course there's the obligatory postgame "Go back and optimize your earlier solutions with the tricks you've learned in the later levels" thing (or is it only me who does that?). For $10 US, I'd say that's a decent amount of content?
[b]The Teal Deer:[/b]
If you like programming games, you'll probably like this one. Some QOL issues hold it back from being a genre classic, but for $10 it's good.
