Due to the release of Daemon X Machina being well underway, I decided to take a crack at the demo to see what was up. Developed by Marvelous Entertainment, it is in the spirit of the famed Armored Core franchise thanks to Kenichiro Tsukuda and Shoji Kawamori. Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where a neutrino blast caused a large chunk of the moon to crash into the planet, mercenaries are hired to fight against a belligerent AI. As a fledgling mercenary, you work with other mercenaries belonging to various factions and teams to combat the world’s greatest threat as well as each other.
The general gameplay revolves around fast paced all-ranging action with multiple weapons at your disposal. These range from swords, machine guns, missiles, to even weapons ripped from other mechs and the environment itself. With multiple ways to customize your arsenal, you should be able to have an answer to all situations as well as befit your play style. In the demo itself, the only objective the main missions had was to defeat all required enemies, though in the full game other objectives are available.
To help compliment your arsenal, your mobility is also very tight, be it on the ground or in the air. Moving around in this game is hardly a struggle, allowing you to dodge attacks coming your way with ease. The game also never becomes disorienting, so you don’t have to worry about where anything could be. Even if you have to balance your boost gauge, you aren’t swarmed with attacks so it is very manageable.
The only part I feel mechanically off is that there is no intuitive way to manually reload. While it is not an actual hindrance, it would feel nice to have it just to be better prepared when there is a pause in the action. Balance wise, as far as the beginning missions are concerned, I feel Daemon X Machina hands out far too much ammo and health. As such, the demo was very easy even for the start of the game. If resources are limited in later missions, then I feel the challenge would be perfect.
Visually, Daemon X Machina looks wonderful. The maps are all fantastic and offer varied set pieces, the mechs look awesome with their attention to detail, and the visual effects make everything pop. My only critiques to the visual design is the oversaturation on the character models and how certain maps don’t fit in a post-apocalyptic setting. When certain buildings are perfectly intact and planted trees are still alive, it hurts the atmosphere. The audio design is also fine, even if nothing about it particularly stands out.
As a whole, I had a good time with the demo. Hopefully the full game brings out the best of the best for what Daemon X Machina has to offer. From what I heard about previous demos, this has addressed many complaints originally made and all for a smoother and better experience. So kudos to Marvelous Entertainment for hearing out fans’ concerns. As such, I look forward to playing the full product, as I have been keeping tabs on this game ever since its announcement.
