Sometimes you want action points, customizable equipment, and cool robots. That's when I stumbled upon Mainframe Defenders. The game is a tactical strategy game in which you command a team of four robot soldiers to outwit and defeat the enemy in objective-based missions. I was initially put off by the game's harsh black-and-green presentation, but the clever animations in the game quickly put that to rest. Screenshots don't do justice to the look and feel of this game in motion. Some of the best roguelikes keep it simple by presenting a basic system and then giving you the parts and pieces to manipulate it, and "Mainframe Defenders" is just such a game.

From a simple squad of four, each with their own weapons and unique upgrades, I quickly split each robot into its own role. One's job was to quickly heal and mop up wounded enemies. One would breach the entry path to a new room and tank. The other's job is to knock down large enemies with a single alpha strike. The other was to time the damage in all directions to eliminate weaker targets. When I finally failed and had to start over, I found myself building four different robots, each with a versatile robot that could do any job. The diversity of build options is a credit to this game.

If you find it interesting, you can purchase Mainframe Defenders on Steam and Itch.io for $10.