Dog in the Machine reinvents the domino tactics of Into The Breach as a mecha dog show, with players teaching their hounds tricks

Into The Pooch, amirite

If the organisers of Crufts ever have to produce a season of Robot Wars, the results probably won't be a million miles away from Dog in the Machine - a new turn-based tactics puzzler that's sort of Into The Breach but with a greater emphasis on props and tricks.

The story in brief: it's Future-O-Clock, and we humans all live in a whirring mecha-city, attended by our loyal mecha-dogs (it's not clear to me what's happened to actual, flesh-and-blood dogs, as yet - hopefully we haven't rendered them extinct through in-breeding, or slaughtered them to make lard). Except that oh blast, humans just been exiled from the city, through causes unknown.

In our absence, the city's infurnal cleaning bots are trying to break down all of our beloved labrobodoodles for parts. How pawful! Fortunately, the handsome electrohounds absolutely excel at teeing up domino-chain reactions on modestly sized grid maps. Here's a trailer.

Developers Studio Chahut and publishers Goblinz Publishing have just reminded me that Dog in the Machine has a release date - 27th September. Thanks to that email, I became aware of Dog in the Machine's demo, which I have now played a little and enjoyed. In each level, you move your Autodog around to defeat a bunch of bots. You've got a limited energy supply to bestow on regular moves and repeatable "core" attacks, once-per-turn special abilities, and wildcard "tricks" such as duplicating the previous special ability, or "teleporting" by way of a tunnel.

Given that you're outnumbered, you've got to be efficient and preferably, turn enemies against each other. A simple strategy is using a charging bite to knock one foe into the path of another's attack. A more complex approach is to exploit terrain fixtures such as conveyor belts or impact-triggered laser defences. Very Into The Breachy, yes, though it's relatively relaxed, as you can undo moves without penalty, and it feels like there's a greater focus on the terrain fixtures. Some of the maps are like pinball machines, almost.

In addition to trashing the rampaging roombas, you've got to worry about an alarm bar gauge that ends the game once filled. Enemies add points to it, but you can remove those points by damaging and destroying them. It's a bit like the alert system in Invincible Inc, though it doesn't seem as elaborate.

I like the cartoon sci-fi aesthetics. It's all very colourful, clicky-clacky and burbly-whirry. I also like the idea that the whole thing is sort of an agility competition in disguise. So far, the "tricks" are just familiar gambits like boosting your attack stat for a turn, but I hold out hope that Studio Chahut have based a few on, say, pole weaving or playing fetch.

The only thing I really don't like is the title. It's a reference to Ghost in the Machine, Gilbert Ryle's best-known line critiquing Cartesian dualism. If they'd gone with Dog Ex Machina, referencing "deus ex machina" from theatre, they could have done a joke about "dog" being "god" spelled backwards, duped innocent Steam users into thinking that it's an Ion Storm revival, and thrown in some alliteration for good measure. See, this is why I should exit games journalism and become a highly paid consultant. Read more and try the demo for yourself on Steam.