It really has been far, far too long since the last truly decent mech game, and the Nintendo Switch’s Daemon X Machina comes so very close to being exactly what we’ve been waiting for all these years.
Daemon X Machina reviewDeveloper: MarvelousPublisher: NintendoPlatform played: SwitchAvailability: Out September 13th on Switch
That’s down, in part, to its heritage, and its leanings; this is at heart a spiritual successor to FromSoft’s beloved Armored Core series that’s been missing in action for so long, with series producer Kenichiro Tsukuda onboard. Indeed, it comes so close to that formula that it feels like a direct follow-up to 2008’s Armored Core: For Answer, injected with some lysergic colour to help give it an identity of its own.
That formula, should you need reminding – and it’s fair enough if you do, given its absence across the past decade – is simple. Customise a robot as you daub it in decals and choose from myriad parts, juggling stats and the resources required to run certain pieces of armour and mods until you’ve got a build that’s just to your liking. Then go forth and be badass in your big bastard mech.
DAEMON X MACHINA – Mission Zero – Nintendo Switch Watch on YouTube
If you’ve any love for piloting 50-foot robots then there’s so much to smile about in Daemon X Machina (and if you haven’t, then I’m really not sure what to say). In action, this thing can soar, as you mix and match aerial and ground assaults, boosting your way around targets that are in your soft-lock sights and clearing out wave after wave of cannon fodder before clashing laser swords with rival robots in skirmishes that trace across the skies.