Really wanted to like this game but I couldn't. Moving the mech feels good and there's actual build variations in your loadout, but the game gets so repeitive between bland enemy design and some seriously spongy ass dudes. There's a lot of story but it's pretty bad and it feels like I was reading something with chunks missing out of it.
Also this is pure opinion but the art style is pretty bad. There's cool mech designs but the color pallete of this game is just so grading. Any level with the blaring bright red skies is so bad to look at.
(The framerate also chugs sometimes but this probably isn't an issue on the PC port.)

The perfect example of a modest game that manages to punch above its weight class.

Since mainstream entries in the mech genre are so few and far between nowadays, it is not difficult for someone who does not actively seek the genre out to forget the more peculiar traits of these games. The weighty jumps of the machine and their wind-up. The way the lock-on functionality works, and how its effectiveness is governed by (at least) three different stats. The meters, and the number of verbs at one’s disposal—enough for them to not fit neatly into a regular controller. Learning to overcome the friction is part of the appeal of these games, but having too much of it can make the entire experience crumble by ruining the intended game feel.

Luckily, the movement in Daemon X Machina is airtight, even in the most chaotic and frantic combat situations. The experience of piloting your arsenal can be fine-tuned to the finest minutiae, and even rising or lowering a stat by a few points makes a noticeable difference in performance, directly impacting either your movement, combat capabilities, or raw damage output. Unlike the paper-thin attempt at a story, acquiring new parts and customization options never feels superfluous, as expressing yourself through your arsenal becomes the game’s main goal.

This means that, similarly to other titles such as Monster Hunter, Daemon X Machina is fundamentally about a person who loves their job so much they spend their payment in becoming more efficient at it, and nothing else. The game asks the player to come up with a build tailor-made for the given combat scenario, although regrettably it only dares to really push them hard in one direction: ‘can you do it again, but faster?’. Repetition and grinding are baked into the core loop, but, as satisfying it might be to set the arena ablaze with your unit—and it is incredibly satisfying—, the game does not do enough in terms of variety for most mission justifications to stay in your mind, drowned under the noise of exploding machinery. Including more varied scenarios and side-objectives would help in pushing players out of the comfort zone of their winning build without disrupting the design goal of ‘blow stuff up and look cool while doing it’ too much, and it’s the one area of the game that feels somewhat lacking.

So, variety-wise, the stand-outs are few, but they exist. Colossal Immortal (read: ‘big robot’) missions lean on spectacle effectively and are diverse enough among themselves for different players to have different favorites. Some non-standards missions such as infiltrating a facility on foot or escaping with a stolen, wind-fast arsenal are among the most memorable sequences the main game has to offer. The secondary cast acts as the element of novelty in you average mission, as skirmishes against other mercenaries abound and are rife with banter and exposition. Although narratively the game does not really coalesce into anything of note, these characters are well-defined and entertaining enough for their company to be appreciated.

But the flying. The flying feels good.

Neat game that could use some seasoning but was still a pretty cool play.

Had to play this because my copy of PLA STILL isn't here so I had to pass the time. lmfao

Played the long game on this one and got it for free on Epic so thats nice.

Keyboard controls were abysmal though. I somehow managed to not break my wrist playing it

Si te atrae todo lo relacionado con los Mechas y las batallas entre estos, creo que este juego te gustará bastante.

En general se me hizo bastante divertido, aunque no pude jugarlo online y me centré en la historia individual.

Tiene buenos personajes, una historia que cumple y poco más... ¡Ah, sí! Un menú de inicio chulísimo con un temazo musical BRUTAL.

Eché de menos mayor personalización de los Mechas, más variedad en las misiones y que nuestro protagonista fuese un mudo inexpresivo (de verdad, que alguien acabe ya con la tontería de los protas mudos que no aportan nada y los hace insulsos).

En general me gustaron más los Zone of the Enders en su momento, pero este no estuvo nada mal.

PD: La batalla final es un infierno y exige levear equipo y tal...

I really enjoyed the aesthetic of this game, great use of colors, and some really good UI bits. The gameplay is a mixed bag, the controls feel pretty solid but the mission design ranges from pretty good to absolutely abysmal. I really do love all the customization stuff, and optimizing my mech to dual wield swords was a lot of fun.

Can't say enough bad things about the story. Somehow, despite dumping tons of exposition on you every 5 minutes, it feels very underwritten. There's a billion characters, but 90% of them have no bearing on the plot and were mostly just there to yell annoying banter during missions. Also it runs like ass on the Switch.

Overall I still think this game is worth playing if you're a fan of mech stuff because there's a lot to love in that regard, just be prepared for a bad story and some bad missions.

Mechanics and ost are GREAT!
Everything else is okay to "I don't care", which is unfortunate since I actually liked ACVD's story more, however little there is there.
The bosses are fun, but I can't say they're much to write home about.

Hopefully the sequel is better.

This is the new mecha shooting game I'd been waiting for. Controls great, designing your own machine is great fun and the weapons in general are a really nice mix. The structure of the game works well as it takes a lot from Monster Hunter - short missions ideal for portable play and plenty of scope to mess about. Only a shaky framerate and a bad final boss take the shine off what ends up being an interesting campaign, with plenty of variety to it.

I'd buy an expansion or a sequel for sure - hopefully we won't have to wait that long for it.