DAEMON X MACHINA

you will never be armored core

I'd describe Daemon X Machina as Armored Core 6: Lite. It has all the bones of a great mech action game but just mildly falls short of a few aspects. Its more accessible than AC6 and would be a good starting place for those interested in the genre. $20 feels reasonable. The gameplay loop is fun and there's a good amount of metagame involved where you're regularly developing and acquiring new parts that feels challenging without becoming overwhelming. Rarely did I ever hit a difficulty wall and need to spend significant time grinding for new parts. Most of the enjoyment was in the gameplay and the fast paced arcadey feel which made for good 30-60 minute sessions. For myself, the controls took a little getting used to but after a handful of missions it all starts clicking. The Arsenal's stats all do affect its performance on mission, however you can't ever get away from the "floaty" feel of the Arsenal. No matter how heavy your Arsenal is, it still will weightlessly glide through the air and have that slight delay in response time due to momentum, but for some reason all builds just feel a little off. Basic customization is all there and you have decent cosmetic options for both your Outer and Arsenal but it lacks the freedom that AC6 allowed. You're allowed only 1 decal per part group which doesn't provide for much expression. Decals are also unlocked by completing certain mission and milestones or found in the environment during a mission which further restricts the level of customization. While there's a full HEX pallet you can paint your Arsenal with, I would've also liked some finish options other than the standard gloss. The story is pretty surface level and some cutscenes can go on way too long with nothing happening. Dialogue feels like a poorly written anime that isn't even laughable, just bad and bland. The voice acting is all great and I think the actors delivered their lines to the best of their ability given the direction and writing. In the last leg of the story, the mission variety simplifies significantly and its more of a rush to the end than anything else. About mid-way through there was some intriguing foreshadowing that seemed to have been either lost in the finale, or I completely missed or misunderstood its resolution. End-game/Post-game is fairly lacking and there's little else to do after the story's resolution other than to complete the side-objectives and unlock all the parts. From here the remaining content changes to co-op missions which are a change of pace but ultimately aren't intriguing enough to drive a long end-game. I think these devs did a great job with the game and committed to an interesting art style. I'm looking forward to the sequel which should hopefully address the mild problems with the game.

Absolute peak, i come 7 times

💋

be warned of human sections if expecting an ac like experiance but overall fun

at first i was not sure about it because i could not get the hag of flying but it has grown on me and what price i paid for it totally worth every penny.

silly mecha fun.