Perhaps the most intriguing part of Daemon X Machina’s customization is the fact that you can customize your pilot by adding mechanical arms, bionic legs, and other machine-based body parts. Your loadout never feels quite perfect thanks to the absolutely mind-boggling number of weapons available, something that’s worth praising and also cursing at the same time. It’s a novelty that wears off by the time you reach the higher ranked missions (you start a Rank E, then move up through the alphabet), but still one you’ll find yourself worrying over as you continue through the game. Is this assault rifle actually better than the last one you had? Do you really need that rocket launcher upgrade? The answer is usually going to be no, but that’s not going to stop you from wanting to unlock it anyway. But, as you continue to add new weapons to your mech (you can have six on you at a time), at some point or another it all starts to blend together. You’ll find an insane amount of customization on show here, both in your Arsenal (the mech you pilot) and for your character, too. One of the best things about Daemon X Machina is the customization.

Sometimes this monotony is broken up by massive boss fights with gigant-class AI, which are basically just bullet sponge enemies designed to take all of your ammo and still keep chugging. Next time you go to a new location in the same area and fight another AI. Missions quickly grow repetitive and bland, with the once visually stunning landscapes starting to blend together as you play more and more. The gameplay is fun at its core, but the problem here is that Daemon X Machina falls into the same holes that just about every other anime-mech game does. Despite the heavy emphasis on the story at the start, the game quickly devolves into a repetitive shooter that only seems to showcase that story in text and random conversations between missions. The game really wants you to care, but it never does enough to make you want to care about the characters, or even the status of everything. Sadly, there isn’t much depth to the story. It’s a bit convoluted when you really start to pay attention to the story, but overall the idea works well enough.

As you dive deeper into the story, you’ll meet other mercenaries-all fighting for their own reasons. You start Daemon X Machina as a rookie in a mercenary group dedicated to fighting evil AI in the name of big corporations. While the game fails to deliver on a few important cues, overall, it’s a fun, frantic, and visually appealing experience that fans of mech games will enjoy diving into. In a world that has moved on from sci-fi mech shooters to embrace the world of FPS games and over-used horror tropes, Daemon X Machina aims to bring back the love that gamers had for a somewhat simpler time.

Daemon x machina guide