A closer look at the clunky bots and boxy spaceships of The Signal From Tölva

Do you remember Sir, You Are Being Hunted for its breathtaking art and scenic landscapes? Or do you remember mostly harrowing chases through the moors as bemonacled automatons try to skin you for sport?

We covered the studio’s newest game The Signal From Tölva last December, focusing on the stunning landscapes of the titular planet. Now, thanks to a video posted by the art team, we’ve gotten a better look at the pointedly clunky, resilient aesthetic of the machines that make up the world of Tölva, from the oil tanker equivalent of spaceships to robots that look like they were put together with an incomplete Ikea set.

The video dives into the technical aspects of turning concept art into in-game models, if you into that, but it’s also a welcome window into the look and feel of the forthcoming game, which artist Olly Skillman-Wilson describes as possessing a “junkyard technology aesthetic.” While some components in Big Robot Ltd’s formula clearly remain the same—it is, after all, still a game about shooting robots—the studio’s notions of what makes a game visually compelling have clearly matured past “steampunk.”

You can watch the video below: