History VideoGame / RobotCity

* LogicBomb: [[spoiler: This is almost to be expected when a robot violates the Three Laws. Also how you defeat Avery's guard robot.]]

* WhenItRainsItPours: At certain points, sudden thunderstorms will start, increasing depending on how many screens you've moved. They can turn into flash floods which wash you back to your apartment if you hang around for too long.

* TheFaceless: Dr. Avery, who is off-world the entirety of the game. When he finally talks to you at the end, all you see is an audio graph of his voice. Averted with you, however, given that some of the endings show your full body. Even more so in the original novels.

* NPCRoadblock: You have to negotiate with several robots to allow them to give you access to sensitive areas. At the beginning, you even have to tell your valet robot that you're dying, to sneak out of your apartment.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: If you equip Alpha with his Bodyguard skill cube, [[spoiler: at the end of the game you can watch him effortlessly pummel Avery's guard robot, and even ''rip out its power core''!]]

* AlternateContinuity: The game compresses elements from the first two books in such a way that they don't entirely follow the original timeline. For instance, your life pod lands right in the city [[spoiler: instead of on a remote asteroid]], and Katherine and Dr. Poole came together in a shuttle, [[spoiler: rather than teleporting here with you via the Key.]]

* WhenItRainsItPours: At certain points, sudden thunderstorms will start, increasing depending on how many screens you've moved. Shelter is mandatory, as it can end badly for you if you're caught out in it for too long.

* AlternateContinuity: The game compresses elements from the first two books in such a way that they don't entirely follow their layout. Your life pod lands right in the city [[spoiler: instead of on a remote asteroid]], and Katherine and Dr. Poole came together in a shuttle, [[spoiler: rather than teleporting here with you via the Key.]]

* CompressedAdaptation: The game condenses portions of the first two books together, while omitting most of the first. You begin in a life pod that lands directly in the city, rather than on an asteroid, for instance.

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: At some points, you can distract the Hunter robots before they capture you by saying, "Look! The real killer is behind you!", allowing you to get away from them.

* GrandTheftMe: Supervisor robots have the ability to temporarily take remote control of other robots for certain situations. [[spoiler: Exploring the city and its computer logs reveals that one of the supervisors took control of a worker robot to kill Dr. Poole, without having to do it himself, though it still broke the First Law of Robotics.]]

* ApocalypticLog: Dr. Poole's journal is scattered in 6 pages around the city, revealing his examination of it, as well as his plans. It stops on one character in the 6th entry at the exact time of his murder. Also extends to the computer inside the Compass Tower, which describes in precise detail what will happen when the city becomes unstable, potentially rendering it uninhabitable for humans before long.

Robot City is a first-person pre-rendered mystery video game, developed by Byron Preiss Entertainment in 1996. Based closely on the Creator/IsaacAsimov novel series of the same name, primarily the second book.

* AlienGeometries: Due to the city's abnormally shifting state, this will often happen while you're exploring it. One passage you went down will be different when you turn around, or back alleys will become dead ends.
* ApocalypticLog: Dr. Poole's journal is scattered in 6 pages around the city, revealing his examination of it, as well as his plans. It stops on one character in the 6th entry at the exact time of his murder. Also extends to the computer inside the Compass Tower, which describes in precise detail what will happen when the city becomes unstable, potentially rendering it uninhabitable for humans.

* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Katherine leaves prerecorded video messages for you on your apartment's computer.

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: Dr. Avery's laboratory, hidden in the Compass Tower. It can only be accessed after you fix the city itself, and it finally reveals who you are.]]

* NpcRoadblock: You have to negotiate with several robots to allow them to give you access to sensitive areas. At the beginning, you even have to tell your valet robot that you're dying, to sneak out of your apartment.

** AlienGeometries: Due to the city's abnormally shifting state, this will often happen while you're exploring it. One passage you went down will be different when you turn around, or back alleys will become dead ends.
** ApocalypticLog: Dr. Poole's journal is scattered in 6 pages around the city, revealing his examination of it, as well as his plans. It stops on one character in the 6th entry at the exact time of his murder. Also extends to the computer inside the Compass Tower, which describes in precise detail what will happen when the city becomes unstable, potentially rendering it uninhabitable for humans.
** AssholeVictim: David Poole, partly because the planet he hails from, Solaria, depends on robots as servants, with little human contact whatsoever. This extends to positronic robots, which he can't grasp as anything more than JustAMachine.
** BaseOnWheels: In times of emergency, [[spoiler: like now,]] the city's command center detaches from the rest of the city and flees underground to protect itself from input. You have to track it down in a mining robot and dock with it to get inside.
** CompressedAdaptation: The game condenses portions of the first two books together, while omitting most of the first. You begin in a life pod that lands directly in the city, rather than on an asteroid, for instance.
** ComputerVirus: Dr. Poole had created [[spoiler: a virus that would destabilize the city's network and eventually force it to break down; he died just after he uploaded it through an unprotected access port. To fix it, you have to find the data card it was stored on to allow the central computer to write an antivirus from its source code.]]
** DiegeticInterface: 3/4 of your HUD consists of rotating panels for your DialogueTree and inventory, while the other portion accesses game settings and your [[CommLinks com-link]] with the Supervisor robots, complete with ID info on whichever robot is speaking to you, in person or otherwise.
** FeaturelessProtagonist: You, having no identification other than a label on your jumpsuit reading "Derec", which doesn't help much, being the name of a company that makes jumpsuits. Furthermore, your tissue, facial features and DNA have no match in any database. You are able to talk, at least. [[spoiler: Dr. Avery reveals at the end that you are his clone, placed in the DARLA pod as a test subject for Robot City to allow its robots to understand humans.]]
** GrandTheftMe: Supervisor robots have the ability to temporarily take remote control of other robots for certain situations. [[spoiler: Exploring the city and its computer logs reveals that one of the supervisors took control of a worker robot to kill Dr. Poole, without having to do it himself, though it still broke the First Law of Robotics.]]
** ImprovisedWeapon: Dr. Poole's cause of death was blunt trauma to the neck, and exploring the city turns up blood on a Calvin Wrench, a tool which was assigned to a worker robot that mysteriously stopped working.
** JumpScare: The Hunter robots, who can appear out of nowhere and send you straight back to your apartment, as you're not allowed to be wandering the city. There's no telling where they'll come from, and getting caught too many times results in a game over.
** MacGuffin: Like in the books, the Key to Perihelion is a very valuable artifact, being a hand-held teleporter that can send its user anywhere in the universe. [[spoiler: Dr. Avery had intended to use it to eventually copy Robot City to other planets for colonization, and you can give it to Katherine to help both of you leave the planet, if you choose to do so.]]
** MadScientist: Dr. Avery, who published an in-universe book on the Laws of Robotics, believes that positronic brains are the next step in evolution. Furthermore, he created Robot City using a material that could be manipulated solely by its integrated computer network, allowing for rapid construction in minutes. His motives are...vague, at best. While useful, not all Spacers accept the safety of this concept, hence Dr. Poole's abhorrence to its potential downsides.
** MistakenForMurderer: You are placed as the prime suspect for Dr. Poole's murder, as the Laws of Robotics forbid any robot from killing a human. Naturally, it's up to you to prove your innocence by exploring the city for evidence.
** MultipleEndings: You can [[spoiler: let Dr. Avery blow up Robot City with enough time for you to leave in a shuttle with Katherine, disable a computer that triggers the self destruct sequence and allow Robot City to continue, and still leave, or you can stay with her on the planet to run the place together.]]
** NpcRoadblock: You have to negotiate with several robots to allow them to give you access to sensitive areas. At the beginning, you even have to tell your valet robot that you're dying, to sneak out of your apartment.
** RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Almost every robot in the city, especially the Supervisors. Helps that positronic brains allow them to act more easily like humans.
** RobotBuddy: Alpha, formerly owned by the late Dr. David Poole. He can be customized with several skill cubes that give him extra abilities, though only one at a time due to technical issues.
** [[spoiler: SelfDestructMechanism: Dr. Avery decides to use this to obliterate Robot City itself, just after you save it. You do get the option to stop him, though.]]
** SinisterGeometry: The city's buildings are largely geometric shapes with very little in terms of windows, doors, or decorations, though somewhat justified given its unfinished state.
** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: Dr. Avery's laboratory, hidden in the Compass Tower. It can only be accessed after you fix the city itself, and it finally reveals who you are.]]

** ApocalypticLog: Dr. Poole's journal is scattered in 6 pages around the city, revealing his examination of it, as well as his plans. It stops on one character in the 6th entry at the exact time of his murder. Also extends to the computer inside the Compass Tower, which describes

** ComputerVirus: Dr. Poole had created a virus that would destabilize the city's network and eventually force it to break down; he died just after he uploaded it through an unprotected access port. To fix it, you have to find the data card it was stored on to allow the central computer to write an antivirus from its source code.

** ApocalypticLog: Dr. Poole's journal is scattered in 6 pages around the city, revealing his examination of it, as well as his plans. It stops on one character in the 6th entry at the exact time of his murder. Also extends to the computer inside the Compass Tower, which

** GrandTheftMe: Supervisor robots have the ability to temporarily take remote control of other robots for certain situations. [[spoiler: Exploring the city and its computer logs reveals that Creon took control of a worker robot to kill Dr. Poole, without having to do it himself, though it still broke the First Law of Robotics.]]

** MulitpleEndings: You can [[spoiler: let Dr. Avery blow up Robot City with enough time for you to leave in a shuttle with Katherine, disable a computer that triggers the self destruct sequence and allow Robot City to continue, and still leave, or you can stay with her on the planet to run the place together.]]

** RobotBuddy: Alpha, formerly owned by the late Dr. David Poole. He can be customized with several programmable cubes that give him extra abilities, though only one at a time due to technical issues.

** TapOnTheHead: Averted. Dr. Poole's death was due to someone hitting him in the neck with a hard object, which

** DiegeticInterface: 3/4 of your HUD consists of rotating panels for your DialogueTree and inventory, while the other portion accesses game settings and your [[Comm Links com-link]] with the Supervisor robots, complete with ID info on whichever robot is speaking to you, in person or otherwise.

Robot City is a first-person pre-rendered mystery video game, developed by Byron Preiss Entertainment in 1996. Based closely on the novel series of the same name, primarily the second book. Based on [[Creator/IsaacAsimov]]'s universe

** DiegeticInterface: 3/4 of your HUD consists of rotating panels for your DialogueTree and inventory while the other portion accesses game settings and your ComLink with the Supervisor robots.

** RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Almost every robot in the city, especially the Supervisors.

** ShiningCity: Robot City was designed entirely by robots, as the perfect utopia for robots and humans alike,

** AssholeVictim: David Poole, partly because the planet he hails from, Solaria, depends on robots as servants, with little human contact whatsoever. This extended to positronic robots

** CompressedAdaptation: The game condenses portions of the first two books together, while omitting most of the first. You begin in a life pod that lands directly in the city, rather than on an asteroid.

** ShiningCity: Robot City was designed as the perfect utopia for robots and humans alike,
** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: Dr. Avery's laboratory, hidden in the Compass Tower. It can only be accessed after you fix the city itself, and it finally reveals who you are.]]
** UndergroundArea: To reach Robot City's main computer,