When this game was announced, I was hyped because I like games with Mechs in them. It could be due to the anime influences growing up or the Power Rangers (The Megazord and it’s various iterations kick butt). but even so, I had nothing but high hopes for this game. Then the Demo Missions dropped and while I liked what I was seeing in terms of presentation, I felt the combat was sluggish. But of course, it was not a polished product, but a taste of what the developer had in store for us fans. And now, with the final product is in my hands, I was left speechless because it seemed like night and day. if you were on the fence before, due to the demo, don’t be. Daemon X Machina is worth your time.
After a strange accident happened and half of the moon fell into the earth, thus wiping most of humanity, a new threat emerged: the very same machines humanity created. Soon, a new source of energy was discovered called Femto. While that accident brought many hardships, it also improved humanity’s technological progress. But at what cost? This is just part of the rich story you will experience in Daemon X Machina.
In Daemon X Machina, you play the role of an Outer, a human that is apt to pilot the Mechs called Arsenals. Since there are many Outers in the world, they are mostly just mercenaries. As a mercenary, you undertake missions for Orbital, the mediator between the different factions that rule the Oval System. those factions issue the quests and Orbital is the one in charge of assigning them to reclaimers, which is another term for mercenaries since basically they “reclaim” enemy possessed territories. Once you start the game, you are given a basic starter mech and, after an introductory mission, you are officially recognized as a mercenary and can thus take missions. One of the aspects I like the most about Daemon X Machina is the number of options you have to customize your avatar and Arsenal. Let’s talk about the Arsenal first: you can equip two weapons one on each arm, with several weapon types to shoot similar to machine guns and assault rifles, laser weapons that have infinite bullets but with each shot depletes your Femto gauge, and special weapons like flamethrowers and stun guns. But what about my anime swords, you ask? well there are melee weapons as well they are divided into different subcategories: normal swords like katanas that can do quick strikes in succession. Heavy swords that can deal good damage but are slow to swing. and lightsaber, a la star wars, that look really cool and do massive damage but eat up femto.
But that is not all! You can also carry two more weapons on your Left and Right Pylons, allowing you to swap weapons on the go. for example, I carry bullet-style weapons and once I am out of ammo, I swap them for my swords to get up close and personal. But even if you think that you do not have enough weapons, you can also carry shoulder weapons like missiles( homing and heat seekers), railguns, and lasers. So you will have plenty of options to dish damage and carry out your missions. There is also a lot of different customization options for the Arsenal itself. you can swap the head, body, arms, and legs and with each part you change out, the appearance of your arsenal changes. Now to get these parts there are two ways to do so: first is to loot them from downed enemies during missions where you battle against AI-controlled Arsenals. Once you defeat them, you can approach them and you will be given a choice of 4 different parts. You can choose to keep one on you or automatically send it to your main base. now if one of your Arsenal’s frame is damaged, let’s say the left arm, and a left arm is one of the parts you can pick, instead of sending the part to your base, you can equip it right then and there. This adds a good layer of strategy since in fights, parts of your mech get damaged and instead of being vulnerable to attacks due to a part reaching the durability limit, you can swap it out with a part from another Arsenal.
This also applies to other mercenaries you fight against in some missions and sometimes you can even get rare parts. Even if you already have a part of the Arsenal’s line, no two parts are the same, so it’s wise to loot whenever you have the chance. Besides that, there are different modules you can install that give a boost to weapons and Arsenal parts alike. Some weapons have up to three module slots while some do not. But if you find a module you like and want to install it in another weapon, you can, so there are no limits to what you can achieve. The second way to get parts is to develop them in the Factory. Here you use the parts you have looted without needing to create new ones. After paying the fee and provide the parts, all you have to do is complete a mission and when you are back, the new parts will be waiting for you.
Now, on to your Outer customization. You will have access to the lab, where you can spend your hard-earned credits to change the appearance of your outer if the initial appearance is not to your liking anymore. You can also change more than just your appearance. You can “improve” your body with augmentations that give you boosts, such as having radar as an Outer, or being able to have more health, or even improve your attack power. However, these augmentations can change the appearance of your body permanently like giving you optic implants or giving you a robotic hand like The Winter Solider. These boosts are a necessity but at the cost of your humanity. But, luckily you can undo them if you feel so inclined and your avatar returns to its original appearance but on the flip side, you lose all boost you got through the augmentation. Finally, if all of this was not enough, before each Mission you can get a random boost if you visit the Ice Cream parlor. Yep. you read that right. You can eat ice cream before your missions to give you different boosts like an increase of accuracy, stamina recovery speed increase and many more.
Now the mission variety in Daemon X is something to commend the developer for doing. Each mission is different than the previous one and I do enjoy the different twists that happen during missions. For example, in one of the missions you are supposed to destroy an unknown AI enemy, but then all of a sudden, other mercenaries are out for blood. Yours to be precise. These twists make the missions exciting and add a layer of difficulty that will have you coming back for more. Now once you finish a story mission, you cannot go back to retry it, but this is where Free Missions come into play. These are side missions with different objectives to clear that can net you more credits, special parts and more. you can even challenge the bosses you have encountered through the story. these missions can be played as many times as you want and are a good way to grind for resources to help you through the story missions. There are also multiplayer options, both local and online, in which you can choose to play through story missions or fight massive enemies in a raid style mode. Graphically I like how the game looks and plays, the pseudo-cell-shaded style goes well with the game. It makes the Arsenals and enemies pop-out more, making it easier to find them while playing in handheld mode.
Performance-wise, I haven’t noticed any slowdowns and the load times for missions are real fast, thanks to the developer’s optimization which is a godsend because the game plays so well that I just want to tackle the missions as fast as I can. However, there is something I don’t like which is more a personal nitpick for me it is and it’s about the map. It’s located in the top right corner of the screen and there is no way to zoom or to press a button to get a complete look of the map, which makes it hard to find the fastest route to escape or to pick the safest route to complete the mission. I know that in a way it could make the game easier, but I think is a quality of life change the game needs. Another thing is in missions where it is raining and the occasional thunder strike. Sometimes during the flashing part of the thunder strike, there is a small hiccup that is barely noticeable but when surrounded by enemies, that hiccup could mean that your Arsenal could be destroyed and you would have to complete the mission as outer. It is doable but hard and when that happens most of the reward is deducted to repair your arsenal. The music is great and it gets me pumped up for each mission. The voice acting is superb. All characters introduced in the story have their own backgrounds and motives to fight. Some behave like royalty. Others just want to be heroes. And a few are annoying but fun in a way. All of these elements come together to deliver a great experience. And, I dare say, this is one of the best mech games this year.
Bottom Line, Daemon X Machina has surpassed my expectations. it has a deep customization scheme, tons of weapons to choose from, different Arsenal Lines to craft and loot to create your ultimate weapon, and a rich story full of characters that are woven together well.. I definitely recommend it one of the essential games to own on Nintendo Switch. Now are you a God or are you a Daemon? The answer to this question lies in Daemon X Machina.
A Review code was kindly provided for this review.