Metal Eden

Reikon Games built a game where each of its components is good enough, but the end result is brilliant. From a game design and artistic perspective, it's the poster child of why less can be more even when executing a fairly ambitious project. Metal Eden brings aggressive movement and intense combat back to its glory days, and it manages to do so while delivering important social commentary. It's fun, it looks good, and the theme matters now more than ever.

An aesthetically pleasing, fast-paced, and appropriately challenging FPS with platforming/parkour elements and a strong nod to the Metroid Prime series. The developers at Ruiner have already demonstrated their talent and demonstrate their prowess in creating atmospheric, futuristic adventures with incredibly captivating gameplay ideas.

Throughout my time in Metal Eden, I couldn’t help but imagine just how good a sequel I hope Reikon makes could be. This is a great start in the FPS genre for the team; its ideas are strong, and with refinement, Aska’s next mission could be as excellent as the Ghostrunner and Doom Eternal adventures it’s clearly inspired by. Though the star of the show – its first-person shooting and movement – is sometimes weighed down by an overreaching narrative and boring morph ball sections, when Metal Eden shines, it’s as bright as the sun that sheds light on Moebius’ dark underbelly.

Metal Eden isn't shy about flaunting its inspiration from the Doom franchise. Its combat and style shine through in limited environments with no rewards for exploring them. Even so, if you're a fan of old-school FPS games, the title will satisfy you with all the frenzy and brutality, even without any innovations within the genre.

Far from revolutionizing or innovating, Metal Eden is a first-person shooter that manages to combine the classics and the cutting-edge of the genre, immersed in an increasingly pervasive and disturbing theme. Dynamic, challenging, and exciting, it's not a perfect game, but it makes excellent use of its technical and aesthetic qualities to entertain from beginning to end.

Metal Eden is a superb and addictive first-person shooter, capable of overcoming its obvious inspirations and adding real value thanks to its gameplay and aesthetic choices.

Part Ghostrunner, part DOOM, and part Metroid, Metal Eden is a fast-paced first-person shooter that is sure to get your adrenaline pumping with its core-ripping action.

Metal Eden is the most ambitious project from Polish developer Reikon Games, who previously created the small top-down isometric cyberpunk shooter Ruiner. They've done a pretty good job here, but there's definitely room for improvement on the technical side. However, if you can overlook the occasionally uneven graphics, Metal Eden is a good, solid sci-fi action experience.

Metal Eden just needs a little more to truly stand out. Its intriguing story could use tighter pacing and sharper dialogue, its refreshing gunplay could use more variety, and its strong audio could benefit from a bit more polish. It falls just shy in most areas, though its visuals shine as brightly as its setting, but it’s far from awful, just not quite the best.