Chibi-Robo has been a part of my life well before I ever played it. It's a game I had always known about, always wanted to play, always wanted to explore, ever since I heard about it. I never ended up buying it, but I fantasized about what kind of game it would be, and it just wriggled into the back of my brain.
It never could have lived up to those expectations from a time when games appeared to be endless wells of mystery and wonder and possibility. But now, with the understanding that it was part of the Love-de-lic lineage, I returned and finally played it. And even with all that, I was still surprised and delighted by so much of what Chibi-Robo had to offer. It's a game about being a little robot who cleans, but it's also a game about debt, divorce, and the energy crisis. Whodda thought!?
It never could have lived up to those expectations from a time when games appeared to be endless wells of mystery and wonder and possibility. But now, with the understanding that it was part of the Love-de-lic lineage, I returned and finally played it. And even with all that, I was still surprised and delighted by so much of what Chibi-Robo had to offer. It's a game about being a little robot who cleans, but it's also a game about debt, divorce, and the energy crisis. Whodda thought!?