Robo-Butcher

What sets Robo-Butcher apart from the usual wave shooter is its floor plan. This is a 2D arena built out of platforms, so where you stand counts for as much as what you're holding. You play a humanoid robot working through successive waves of machines, cracking open crates for power-ups and feeding what you earn back into your arsenal between fights. Enemies have weak points worth learning, which turns later waves from an endurance test into a targeting problem.

How to play

Move, shoot, clear the wave, upgrade, repeat; the upgrade choice is what decides how far you get. The common beginner habit is planting yourself on one platform and trading fire until the maths stops working. The arena exists to be used; the players who last longest keep repositioning so that only part of a wave can reach them at a time.

Tips

• Keep changing levels of the arena. A crowd that has to climb to reach you arrives in ones and twos rather than all at once.
• Open crates before you're cornered, not during. A power-up grabbed mid-panic spends most of its duration on your escape.
• Put upgrades toward whatever killed you last time rather than whatever sounds strongest — surviving longer earns more than hitting harder.

Who it's for

Waves keep the pace up, so a session is as long as you decide. Some familiarity with arena shooters helps but isn't required. It's a desktop game; the constant movement and aiming want more room than a phone gives. Parmesan Partisan offers a more stationary take on holding off waves, and Gelatino is the change of pace when you've had enough of being shot at.