Daemon X Machina

 Switch
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 304 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 216 out of 304
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 304
  3. Negative: 49 out of 304
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  1. caronte69
    Sep 13, 2019
    6
    un mundo vacío, los gráficos no son los mejores, misiones repetitivas, historia predecible y aburrida y eso que no estoy hablando de los bugs que tiene. No es suficiente ser fan de los mechas para darle buen puntaje
  2. ObsidianLion
    Sep 18, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Story:

    Story is full of anime cliches, tropes and single trait characters. It has issues where things are mentioned, but not explained and it reminded me of Final Fantasy XIII, where you are bombarded with weird names and affiliations early on and have no idea who belongs to which mercenary group. Innocence, Bullet Works, House Valentine, Terrors, (Something) VII, and each of those groups has 3-5 members who have constantly shifting allegiances between missions. Trying to kill each other in one, working together in another. It doesn't help you memorize them. Your character is mute and has no opinion on anything that happens and everyone else treats him like a dog to bring on missions.

    World setting:

    There is almost no world building in the game. You are told you are working in a "poisonous zone" (for regular humans) where the moon fell, to secure a resource that is transported outside of that zone to the normal world. You never see the outside world. You get work in mission form for one of 3 big "companies". You never see any of them, or their reps. All contact is done through mission objectives and mails which are so bland that by the end, you won't feel there is a difference between either of them.

    Gameplay:

    You control a mech called Arsenal. You can load it up with 6 weapons total, but not all weapons are equal in worth on the field. The shield in particular is useless. Same for some auxiliary attachments like the ones that stop status effects, which are very rare and if you get them, very short. For short periods of time during missions, you can enhance your speed, your armor, or your firepower (I finished the game and never used this, as it was never needed). Another ability you have is the option to make a mirage (a physical copy of yourself that fights with you) while depleting a gauge of a resource you can replenish mid mission in certain spots. You are teleported with 2 allies to a location where you need to destroy something or protect something or (only 3 times during story), collect something. Missions last between 3-15 minutes.

    Customization:

    Now this is where this game is supposed to hook you. Unfortunately, it fails. Although there are many things to customize, there is almost zero relevance in terms of your success on the mission, because the missions are too easy and you cannot change the difficulty.

    Like in monster hunter, you have the option of a meal before the battle that can raise your stats for the next mission. It's useless. "1% increase in land speed." Wooooow. Amaziiiiiing. -_-

    There is an option to augment your pilot like in Deus Ex, cybernetic implants and all that. Never needed it. You have one mission that you play out of your Arsenal. These implants also affect your Arsenal performance. You get a warning that enhancing past a certain point severely alters your body. Cool. I thought this would mean something in the story late game, like maybe it will affect some cutscene where maybe I am corrupted and controlled to do something I don't wanna do, being mostly mechanical and all? Nope, nothing is done with this.

    There are chips for your mech and weapons. Parts can have up to 3 chip slots. No, not the ones you crafted, only the ones you can randomly find in missions. Everything you craft has no slots. You change gear so frequently all the time that swapping the augments between armor and weapons after almost every mission just seems like a hassle. There is no good way to farm mech parts with slots. It's all random.

    I finished the whole game, every mission, and didn't use any chips on my parts, didn't get any character implants besides the first 3, and didn't use any food bonuses. That's how easy the game is, and how worthless these customization options are.

    Replayability:

    The game has no difficulty setting, unless you count the side goals some missions have (kill enemy in certain time limit/kill x amount of enemies). I finished the game in 23 hours. I played through all story missions and all free missions, with almost no grind for pieces, and already I had collected 70% of everything. Once you finish the game, you get one more free mission. One mission. you finish it and that's it. You have nothing more to motivate you to play the game and get better parts.

    Enemy and stage variety:

    Around 12 normal enemy types, 7 giant enemies, and there are maybe 10 different stages which you revisit. Seriously, by the end of the game they force you to do the same stage 4 times in a row doing the same objective (Black Lotus stages).

    Conclusion:

    I loved the Armored Core games, and while the Armored Core franchise has existed for 2 decades, they couldn't even make a good copy of that game. The story is a a shallow mess. Some parts are dropped on you with no explanation and never mentioned again (Solomon). The mirage mechanic is never used by anyone but you, and no one comments on it.

    Buy on discount, only if mecha fan.    … Expand
  3. Xplocion
    Nov 8, 2019
    5
    The good: A new IP. Robotic action with Mechas. Many Mechas customization options. The first hours is really fun.

    The Bad: After a while (a couple of hours) the excitement ends and the game becomes repetitive. Generic and repetitive missions. Multiplayer only non-competitive cooperative. You miss a tutorial that teaches you to better manage the wick. The scenarios are as random and    The good: A new IP. Robotic action with Mechas. Many Mechas customization options. The first hours is really fun.

    The Bad: After a while (a couple of hours) the excitement ends and the game becomes repetitive. Generic and repetitive missions. Multiplayer only non-competitive cooperative. You miss a tutorial that teaches you to better manage the wick. The scenarios are as random and generic as possible. The Mechas look great, humans don't.

    Lo Meh !: you are trying to sell this game as the eighth wonder of the world and it is not. Before spending on this game I recommend trying the demo that is in the e-shop.    … Expand
  4. capthavic
    Sep 25, 2019
    5
    Repetitive, shallow, and boring. Wait for a sale if you absolutely must get it.
  5. RisingBlur
    Sep 20, 2019
    6
    I realy do like this game.
    It's flashy, has a nice artstyle, good music and fun gameplay BUT I expectet something completely different out of this game. Something more like Monster Hunter, just with giant robots.
    The giant robot fights and the battles where you have to fight a large number of enemies are a lot of fun but the problem is that 80% of the time you are fighting other Mechs.    I realy do like this game.
    It's flashy, has a nice artstyle, good music and fun gameplay BUT I expectet something completely different out of this game. Something more like Monster Hunter, just with giant robots.
    The giant robot fights and the battles where you have to fight a large number of enemies are a lot of fun but the problem is that 80% of the time you are fighting other Mechs. And fighting other mechs is like fighting flies in this game. It's just so unbeleaveably annoying to have up to 3 enemy mechs swirl arround you while you are just trying to aim at them. This game desperately needs some kind of lock on for other mechs.

    The game would easily be a 7 or a 8 for me if the mech fights where fun.. but I'm just getting angry from them.

    And more different giant immortals would be nice. These fight definetly where my highlight and the game would work way better as a Monster Hunter but with Mechs alternative than a Zone of the Enders with worse combat.    … Expand
  6. GreaseManelli
    Sep 24, 2019
    5
    Nowhere near the quality of the Armored Core games. Extremely, EXTREMELY dialog heavy anime storyline. Every single mission, even something as simple as destroy an airfield has at LEAST a solid 3 minutes of voice acting BEFORE THE MISSION EVEN BEGINS. Really shallow storyline all the familiar tropes are here. A few completely ridiculous boss battles (depending on your build, which isNowhere near the quality of the Armored Core games. Extremely, EXTREMELY dialog heavy anime storyline. Every single mission, even something as simple as destroy an airfield has at LEAST a solid 3 minutes of voice acting BEFORE THE MISSION EVEN BEGINS. Really shallow storyline all the familiar tropes are here. A few completely ridiculous boss battles (depending on your build, which is no different from AC). Awful final boss, end sequence tries too hard to have the MOST EPIC STORYLINE EVER. Alot of the missions reminded me of Ace Combat more than anything, it's really more about the story between the mercenary companies than anything else, so they'll be talking and grunting the whole mission.

    Gameplay is ok but Switch framerate gets old after awhile, some stages should've been cut. Lacking some build variety from Armored Core like true tank builds, dual shoulder cannons. Instead we get constant flight with an upgraded melee system, making this feel more like AC4.

    Anyone rating it more than a 6 hasn't beat the game or is a shill.    … Expand
  7. Wichael
    Sep 15, 2019
    7
    I would probably have given an 8 if this game had launched with PvP. I know it's coming but here I am close to finishing the campaign in my first weekend not knowing how long farming is going to keep me occupied. Also doesn't help that we currently don't know how long we will have to wait for that content update. Those are really my only issues with the game. Story introduced too manyI would probably have given an 8 if this game had launched with PvP. I know it's coming but here I am close to finishing the campaign in my first weekend not knowing how long farming is going to keep me occupied. Also doesn't help that we currently don't know how long we will have to wait for that content update. Those are really my only issues with the game. Story introduced too many characters/factions too fast but probably a third of the way through the game the characters became recognizable and the story hooked me. The combat is fun, you can equip your Arsenal to be a damage soaking tank or a fast and nimble dual sword wielding beast. Probably could use some more fine tuning of the cosmetic customizations, but as far as the gear customizations I felt like there was enough without feeling like I needed a spreadsheet. All in all I am enjoying it (currently ~22 hours).… Expand
  8. Spindot
    Sep 14, 2019
    6
    Game so far seems fairly generic in gameplay and story. Better than the initial demo but not great.
  9. Reed618
    Aug 12, 2020
    7
    I enjoy mech games and there are very few of them these days. My favorite is probably ZOE 2 but I also enjoy the armored core series. My hopes were pretty high for daemon but unfortunately it makes some big missteps.

    First of all the story and characters are just ok and they're poorly presented. There are so many text screens. It's quite odd that they hired so many voice actors and they    I enjoy mech games and there are very few of them these days. My favorite is probably ZOE 2 but I also enjoy the armored core series. My hopes were pretty high for daemon but unfortunately it makes some big missteps.

    First of all the story and characters are just ok and they're poorly presented. There are so many text screens. It's quite odd that they hired so many voice actors and they expect the player to sit through so much dialogue while looking at text screens. It feels so dull in comparison with the mech combat. I would prefer either a cinematic story that's engaging and fun or just no story at all. This feels like a pain to get through. The game also does an awful job at introducing you to the world. I'm about three hours in and I don't know what the immortals are, what femto is, where are all the people, who are these factions, how did the moon fall... it's just so weird that they have such an interesting sci fi concept and they present it in such an awful way.

    Second, some missions are a little too basic and the mission areas are often too small. This type of game is inherently going to feel repetitive but there aren't many bosses and the enemies are all very samey. This isn't a huge issue but it does make me less interested in what's coming next. Also one mission so far was just abysmal. I was controlling a giant robot and had to kill 200 enemies which sounds super fun but man... it handles sooo bad... it took ages to kill them all... just an absolute slog to get through.

    Honestly this game feels dated. Armored core offered the same experience on ps3. This just feels like a nicer looking armored core with a worse story. It would be nice to have a hub world to explore, people to talk to and missions to acquire before going out in my mech suit. A more visual introduction to this world as well would be really cool.

    This doesn't feel like an evolution of armored core but a slightly worse but nicer looking armored core and that's kind of disappointing.
    It's not a bad game though and there's definitely fun to be had. I feel like there's potential for a sequel to improve on these flaws but it doesn't seem like daemon did enough to make people interested in another title sadly.    … Expand
  10. Galix
    Apr 12, 2020
    7
    Juego que no está mal para quienes les gusten los mechas o los juegos de acción pero que puede no ser lo más recomendable para el resto.

    Lo bueno: - El apartado artístico es bastante bueno, tanto en el diseño de mechas como en el colorido de los escenarios. - Las opciones de personalización son muy amplias. - La jugabilidad es notable. Directa e intuitiva. - La gran variedad de    Juego que no está mal para quienes les gusten los mechas o los juegos de acción pero que puede no ser lo más recomendable para el resto.

    Lo bueno:
    - El apartado artístico es bastante bueno, tanto en el diseño de mechas como en el colorido de los escenarios.
    - Las opciones de personalización son muy amplias.
    - La jugabilidad es notable. Directa e intuitiva.
    - La gran variedad de armas y armaduras con distintos efectos que ofrecen un amplio abanico de opciones a la hora de combatir.
    - La banda sonora espectacular.

    Lo malo:
    - La historia tarda en arrancar y no es gran cosa.
    - El escaso o directamente inexistente carisma de los personajes.
    - La similitud en la gran mayoría de las misiones que hace que se vuelva algo repetitivo.
    - La sensación continua de principio a fin de que nuestro personaje no tiene voz ni voto en el desarrollo de la historia.
    - Si bien no se ve mal, gráficamente podría haber dado bastante más de sí.
    - Conseguir todos los coleccionables es realmente tedioso y el incentivo para hacerlo es insuficiente.    … Expand
  11. Bloodborne98
    Nov 6, 2019
    5
    Great game play great story and I highly recommend this game its litrally the best game I've played in years compared to mech warrior this ultimately comes very close plus its awesome you can get out of your mech if it becomes destroyed and fight as the pilot as well really awesome
  12. Pxel_Dennis
    Jan 2, 2021
    7
    Armored core-like games are disappeared from the market even if people love them, this one is a try to revive the genre but it fails because they tried to make it more casual-friendly ruining almost all aspects of it.
  13. Magenta1991
    Nov 14, 2019
    7
    Es divertido pero no más allá de eso, para los amantes del Mecha sin duda debe ser un tesoro, se agradece que sigan apostando por este genero para que llegue a occidente. Vale la pena probarlo solo por el gameplay. La historia es mala y la música cumple.
  14. withinmyself
    Feb 15, 2020
    5
    I am so tired of games getting fluffed reviews from playtime in the first few hours. This turns into a rouge like game with stupidly impossible missions that are no longer fun any more. Which REALLY sucks because I REALLY liked this game. I think some of the missions might even be bugged or something too. It's really too bad because this is the best damn mech game I've played sinceI am so tired of games getting fluffed reviews from playtime in the first few hours. This turns into a rouge like game with stupidly impossible missions that are no longer fun any more. Which REALLY sucks because I REALLY liked this game. I think some of the missions might even be bugged or something too. It's really too bad because this is the best damn mech game I've played since Titanfall 2 and I was looking forward to putting a ton of hours into this and now I just can't. Trust me though.,.. I WILL TRY LOL/... but I know it won't let me..... please fix this game?????? thank you… Expand
  15. SenpaiJake
    Mar 25, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. To be blunt, DxM is a good game. It's a solid mecha action shooter with some in-depth customization systems for both the pilot and suit. But, the game's lack of a solid and well-versed narrative thwarted with waaay too many different characters and a stack of missions too short and awkward to enjoy make getting into those systems hard.

    I haven't played too much of this game. I've put about 20 or so hours in, mostly in the story mode, and I will say while I didn't expect the world, I did expect more. DxM at its core is a mecha action game where you are supposed to farm for different parts and weapons to make differenet suits for different situations, to (I believe) ultimately go into online and dominate in PvP or grind with others for better parts. The base system of the game is built to be just that: you do missions, online or offline, where different bosses and enemies will be there to give you a shot at picking up parts specific to that mission. Think like how Monster hunter or God eater would do it, essentially. That core system works and it is good, but the rest of the game hinders the majority of people being able to get behind it.

    Monster Hunter never had much narrative, but it has a bunch of unique items and armor and super fun missions to play. God Eater has an interesting narrative with some decent and unique things to make. DxM in those terms has very copy and paste armor pieces and a handful of weapons where the only deviation are the add-on parts you give to them. While the "system" is good, as aforementioned, the "missions" are not so much. The story missions are either so easy it's insulting to try and grind or even make a unique set, or they're so awkwardly designed to be unfair and downright hard that you need to suddenly go back and grind for a specific part to beat it. It makes for a mix of repetitive to somewhat boring gameplay, even though a mecha action shooter should be in-your face explosive action that keeps you hooked.

    When you couple this with the worst part of the game - the story - you turn DxM from a potentially great mecha to a sappy, watered down shooter. The story in this game is awful, and for a few reasons. Besides some context from random trailers, the writers of DxM give you NOTHING to go on. As you progress through the story missions you get bits and pieces of the history of the world in the game, but not nearly enough to make any climactic action or drama leave in impact on the player. The main arching point for the game is the AI system going rogue (or something?) and the mercenaries who work together a LOT but also fight each other a LOT start to question why they are fighting each other. Just to turn around and, every time, say "oh well you shouldn't come to battle if you don't want to fight," then go back to asking WHY ARE WE FIGHTING EACH OTHER?! It's a ridiculously bad narrative with no meaning or seams that hold it together. It goes all over the place in its attempt to be a philosophical, post-apocalypse tale that would copy masters of the theme like Yoko Taro. It's just bad overall, and when you mix that in with the fact there are so many characters going by so many codenames, the average player can't keep up enough to care. They tried to remedy this bad plot with some text message conversations you will get after each mission that are so dragged out that there's no point in reading them, even if they gave us some hint as to what the hell is going on.

    Story and bad single missions aside, multiplayer is the silver lining to this game. You have PvE, basically playing a slew of missions together with other players to get parts and experience, and other modes like PvP which are really interesting, but also a bit worthless since the game didn't bother to balance out a lot of the customization areas for things such as the auto-aim auto-lock and long distances electric gun weapons. Multiplayer has been a relatively fun experience to do for an hour or so once in a while to get some more parts and just grind out.

    However, multiplayer is dead.

    So this game loses its own silver lining because it tears away most interests in its bad single player setup, and general setup of its core missions. A lot of potential, but now that no ones playing, I wont be coming back to that story mode for a LONG time.    … Expand
  16. AbbachioSexyAss
    Sep 18, 2021
    6
    Not, that bad as people say, it's a bit repetitive and some grafics are glitchy, if you play once a week or so it's ok if you like mecha games.
  17. Jopawho
    Aug 18, 2020
    7
    Vraiment surpris par ce jeu je ne suis pas un fan de Mecha et pourtant je l'ai trouvé super cool, je m'attendais à pire mais finalement ca va. Bravo à Marvelous pour ce jeu (j'ai aussi hâte d'avoir entre mes mains ce fameux No More Heroes 3
  18. zran
    Apr 25, 2023
    5
    overall decent game, except when you have to use mechanics what rarely are used, especially mechanics what generally aren't used on combat yet you are required to do them in the final battle of the game

Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 68 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 68
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 68
  3. Negative: 2 out of 68
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 28, 2020
    70
    Daemon X Machina has a lot of personality when it comes to moment-to-moment action, but everything else sometimes feels like an afterthought. [Issue #42 – October 2019, p. 72]
  2. Nintendo Insider
    Oct 28, 2019
    70
    There’s much to applaud about Daemon X Machina. The third-person mech action game delivers an experience unlike any other on Nintendo Switch, thanks to the striking mech designs and red-drenched world merging with combat that can readily thrill in the game’s many large-scale encounters. However, shortcomings such as the convoluted plot and repetition let it down – holding it back from reaching the brilliance that Marvelous nearly achieved.
    Read full review
  3. PLAY! Zine
    Oct 16, 2019
    85
    The best description is this is basically Armored Core X Gundam. It has great mech and character customizations, fast and chaotic combat and a good enough story. If you have a Switch and are a mech fan then this game is a must buy.
    Read full review
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