Daemon X Machina PC Review – Stylish Mech Action

There’s really nothing like soaring through the world in a high powered mech, shooting everything in sight. Luckily, this is precisely what Daemon X Machina delivers during every moment of gameplay. With the PC port now available, the game’s definitive version is available for mech fans everywhere. However, that doesn’t make the repetitive mission structure easier to digest.

https://youtu.be/sdDvgeDXJxY

Daemon X Machina has a long, drawn-out story where players assume the role of a mercenary working for a company called Orbital. Your goal is to take down AI enemies known as Immortals, whose only purpose is to destroy humans. Players get to jump into mechs known as Arsenal as they head out to the front line of this war and put up a range of defense for the human race.

The story itself has some rather epic moments, but it takes a lot of patience from the player to care about the cause. There will be times when your team is double-crossed, but it’s so tough to follow because the game conditions you to just do one thing, shoot everything in sight.

This is facilitated by the mission structure, where your main goal is to take out several enemies and travel from area to area to do so. Did some new mech enter the battlefield? Who cares? Just shoot it down. Why won’t this door open? Probably because you forgot to destroy all of the enemies. Sure there are a few other mission types, but they don’t ever make the story compelling.

The PC port of Daemon X Machina has been incredibly optimized. The level of control makes the experience feel smooth and responsive. Repetitive mission structure aside, this game is fun as hell. Shooting down enemy AI and utilizing various mech loadouts is a blast without being hindered by framerate or low resolution.

This is a highly stylized game prides itself on its mech design and flashy explosions, and it truly captures the sense of action that it’s aiming for. Whether this is based on mindless fun or not, I couldn’t seem to turn away from progressing the story and seeing what new enemies await their destruction during each mission.

During missions, you will face off against many grunt enemies that don’t pose too much of a threat. I found that I enjoyed the encounters with other Arsenal fights a lot more as they require the player to use a bit more strategy to their approach. However, the boss battles in the game steal the show as some of the most epic encounters.

The boss Immortals each require players to take out weak points in their design. Sometimes this is easier said than done as these massive mechs are extremely agro and will do anything to take you out. The encounters require players to spend a bit of time upgrading their mechs and even conserving ammo to make it through alive. This gave these battles, in particular, provided a genuine feeling that I was fighting for survival, which made them the best representation of what this game has to offer.

Daemon X Machina does a great job of rewarding the player for their time. Whether it’s with new parts or upgrade materials, there’s always something new to check out when you return back to base. Customizing Arsenals can get rather deep with the game allowing players to pretty much modify each part of their mech. After becoming more accustomed to the game, I found that I spend more time in building the perfect mech to fit my playstyle, but I continued to find new ways to improve my Arsenal up until the final chapters of the game.

Pilots can also be customized with additional body modifications. These upgrades help the player move faster or raise their health, but it does come with a permanent alteration to the character’s appearance, which I found fascinating. As the lines are blurred between humans and machines, the game’s world does begin to make sense. These small systems within the game do a great job of delivering that message to the player.

Additional modes include co-op and online battles. Both modes yield player rewards with new gear and credits to customize their mechs. After the story is complete, its an excellent way to continue your mech experience by showing off your creation to other players. Also, co-op mode against bosses seems to be the best way to take these Immortals down because my AI companions always seemed to get themselves killed during these fights.

Daemon X Machina has some incredible voiced audio tracks. Given how lengthy some of these story scenes can get, the audio from the characters made it a lot easier to digest and follow. Furthermore, the soundtrack is fantastic and adds a nice layer of intensity to the missions that I appreciated.

Daemon X Machina doesn’t end up getting too creative with its mission structure, but it makes up for it with some incredible set pieces and systems. There’s so much here for fans of mech action games to customize and explore that kept me entertained for hours. Do I completely understand the story? Not really, but I sure had a blast blowing up whatever came my way.

The PC version of Daemon X Machina is perhaps the best way to experience this high action game. Flying through the air and shooting down enemies at up to 200 fps looked and felt incredible. While the story might leave you scratching your head, this is undoubtedly an incredibly fun game to play.