'Maze Machina" pits laboratory mouse against genius inventor. — Picture courtesy of Tinytouchtales

NEW YORK, Jan 18 — Skeletal, metallic, genius inventor Automatron has been painstakingly building a collection of tiny cog-powered robots.

Unfortunately, you’re the captive mouse tasked with testing them out.

Penned within a glass-topped display case, 16 tiles lie beneath your nimble feet, each bearing a symbol that can enhance your movements in some way.

Each tiled layout contains the secrets necessary to defeating or, more likely, outwitting Automatron’s cog-powered army of sword-swinging, bow and arrow-wielding and mirror-waving creations.

Each 5-to-10-minute game session is designed to deliver a quick burst of intense play, says the three-person team behind Maze Machina, with simple swipe-based interactions laid over endless combinations of attack, defense and utility moves.

Its designer previously worked with the same collaborators on the top-rated Card Crawl and Card Thief, hence visual similarities, then brought a tactical approach to grid-based action in Enyo before taking the concept in a different direction through turn-based Maze Machina.

Maze Machina is available for iOS and Android. — AFP-Relaxnews