In Dog in the Machine, being a good boy apparently involves throwing robots into machinery, causing explosions and making a wonderfully terrible mess. Studio Chahut’s turn-based tactical roguelite has plenty of clever ideas beneath its colourful appearance, and we’d readily recommend it to anyone who enjoys experimenting with abilities and watching elaborate plans unfold, often rather chaotically.
A Dog’s Life in Automatown
Automatown is a dystopian city where humans have been exiled and their robotic pets are no longer welcome. Here, we control an AutoDog determined to escape and reunite with its human companions. The premise is charming enough, although the story mostly serves as background for a series of increasingly complicated tactical encounters, which, to be fair, was just fine by us. We went in expecting explosive battles, and that’s exactly what we got.
Battles take place in compact, grid-based arenas filled with hostile robots, obstacles and all sorts of mechanical contraptions. We have a limited amount of Energy to spend on movement and attacks, while our enemies can raise an Alarm Level that ends our run if it reaches its maximum. We, of course, want to eliminate those pesky machines as efficiently as possible, and the devs sure as hell have come up with plenty of entertaining ways to help us do just that. For example, we can push enemies into one another, trigger explosions, activate lasers and use conveyor belts to manipulate their positions. With a little planning, a single attack can set off a chain reaction that destroys several opponents. Saying that watching those tin cans blow each other to pieces is immensely satisfying would be an understatement.
New Tricks for Our Doggo
The Trick system adds considerable depth to the combat, allowing us to combine different abilities and create some rather destructive attacks. After battles, we acquire new Tricks that can modify our existing moves, while Training Stations allow us to combine them using Mechabones. There are some wonderfully destructive combinations to discover, and one particularly entertaining example involves three abilities called Wide Bite, Boom Boom and Hunt Survivors.
Wide Bite allows us to attack several enemies at once, while Boom Boom makes affected targets explode when destroyed, damaging anything unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. Hunt Survivors adds another useful effect by marking enemies so that destroying them restores Energy. Combine all three, and a single attack can potentially wipe out a group of robots while recovering some of the Energy we’ve spent. It’s the sort of wonderfully ridiculous combination that makes us want to experiment with every new Trick we discover. Poor robots never stood a chance!
Another welcome feature is the ability to undo our actions before ending a turn. We can try an attack, examine the results, reverse our decision and experiment with a different approach without losing Energy. It’s particularly useful when we’re dealing with several enemies and environmental hazards at once. Of course, experienced players looking for a tougher challenge can enable Irondog mode, which removes this safety net. We didn’t dare do that, as we had enough trouble with the regular difficulty!
Another Run, Another Bone
Between runs, we can spend our hard-earned resources on permanent upgrades, discover additional abilities and gradually unlock eight AutoDog varieties with different characteristics and starting attacks. To paint a somewhat clearer picture, the Wrecker family focuses on destructive attacks and status effects, while the Shover family specialises in pushing enemies around and using the environment against them. Both approaches offer entertaining possibilities, and experimenting with different combinations helps maintain our interest.
Unfortunately, certain encounters present a noticeably greater challenge than those preceding them, while others begin to feel rather familiar after a few runs. The repetition becomes more apparent once we’ve discovered an effective combination and find ourselves relying on it repeatedly. We still enjoyed the combat, particularly its emphasis on positioning and chain reactions, but we would have appreciated a more consistent challenge and, well, a greater variety of encounters.
A Very Good Boy!
Dog in the Machine is a delightful little tactical roguelite that kept us entertained throughout our shorter gaming sessions. There’s some room for improvement, particularly when it comes to difficulty and repetition, but we thoroughly enjoyed teaching our mechanical companion new tricks and causing absolute chaos. Who knew being a good boy could involve destroying so many robots?
Our score: 8/10
- Genre: Turn-Based Tactics, Roguelite, Strategy
- Platforms: PC (Steam – Windows, macOS)
- Developer: Studio Chahut
- Publisher: Goblinz Publishing
- Release Date: September 29, 2026
- Game Modes: Single-player
- Price: $17.99 (Steam)
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