Review: Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion (Switch 2)
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is a direct sequel to 2019’s Daemon X Machina. Don’t worry about that, though.. These games may have stories, but they’re not about them; they’re about mech combat. And on that front, Titanic Scion delivers.
The game does start you out as if you should have an idea of what you’re doing. After creating your character’s appearance (purely cosmetic, so no worries about classes and skills), you’re freed from captivity (or maybe experimentation) aboard an enemy spaceship. You make your escape inside your mech suit, called an Arsenal, and it’s already fully decked out with equipment you may not have any idea how to use. Eliminating other mechs allows you to take their parts for upgrades, but what do they do? I had no idea, and was completely overwhelmed by the excitement of it all.
No worries, as you quickly find it all stripped away, setting you back to zero. The introductory level drops you on a desolate and hostile planet with a very strong sense of purpose for the rest of the game—explore, fight, level up, and get back to your mission…possibly exacting some revenge along the way.
Thankfully, the planet provides many things to help along your way. First, you’ll get some friends who have a large base nearby. The base provides training opportunities, upgrade abilities, numerous missions, a story arc, and…ice cream? Yep. The story centers around the Reclaimers—a group of rebels on the Ground fighting for their freedom from the Outers. Outers live in a skybound paradise called the Garden. You’re actually an Outer who’s been…outcast. Sharing a common goal (but for different reasons), you align with the Reclaimers despite the objections of a member or two.
That enough story for you? Because that’s pretty much all you get. The plot is there simply to drive you from battle to battle, and that’s OK. It helps that the characters are quite fun and highly stylized with anime-cool. Just be sure you stick with the Japanese voice acting. Please trust me on that.
The gameplay focuses on two elements: planet exploration and enemy combat. I’ll start with exploration, because that’s what quickly won me over. How could it not? From the moment you land on the Ground, you can see this is a vast world worth exploring. Your Arsenal immediately gives you the ability to fly around, and the developers gave you plenty to seek out at all altitudes.
A mapping system can momentarily reveal where items of interest are, and it’s worth your time to excavate as much as possible. Sometimes, you just need to open crates. Other times, you need to play a mining mini-game that can provide high quality items as you get better at it.
Getting around it isn’t always a matter of running and flying, however. Various vehicles are scattered about for comandeering, and—despite all that armor—you’re more than welcome to just hop on any wild horse you come across. Unlike with Link, there’s no need to tame these creatures. Sure, you can set up warp points, but you’re going to miss a lot of items (and fun) if you rely on them too much.
The main gameplay component, of course, is mech-based combat. Your Arsenal gives you access to a wide array of weapons, abilities, and armor that you’ll need to equip and master if you want to get the most out of Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion.
This can be a bit overwhelming, as the UI doesn’t really do much to explain what’s good for what. Weapons that will work well against armored foes won’t be as effective against “fleshy” creatures, for example. And if you load up on powerful melee weapons, you’re going to have trouble against the enemies who tend to distance themselves from you.
You are able to swap out weapon sets, and you’ll quickly need to learn strategies for that. My initial approach was to always have a melee and ranged weapon at the ready, but I found this just left me with only one usable item at most given times. I switched that to two single-hand melee weapons that I’d swap out for a double-hand ranged weapon when necessary, and things got better. You can also save entire Arsenal kits back at the base, making it easy to return to a preferred loadout when a particular battle calls for it.
Enemies, of course, come in all shapes and sizes. You’ll need to know how to repel large numbers of smaller flying creatures, then take on a smaller pack of tougher ground enemies. Of course, there are also massive bosses to eliminate. These tend to involve busting down their armor before you’re able to really do any damage.
That said, I often found the bosses less troublesome than the indigenous creatures I’d find along the way. Maybe I’m just better at dealing with a single, more powerful enemy than a swarm of lesser creatures.
Either way, you don’t have to do this alone. Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion comes with online multiplayer that allows you to play through the story with up to two other soldiers. I wasn’t able to test this during my review period, but I can certainly see the appeal. Although the AI squad members were more than capable of eliminating enemies on their own, going into battle with friends would be much more fun and efficient (depending upon the quality of those friends, I suppose).
Life on the Ground isn’t without its issues, unfortunately. The planet isn’t much to look at, for starters. That may be great for realism, but it doesn’t provide the “wow” moments that open world games of this type tend to. The gameplay loop—take a mission, push your explored range, unlock a warp point, return to base for rejuvenation and upgrades—eventually grows old, too.
A more engrossing story would help. I really like the character lineup here, but they’re not given much of interest to do.
And finally, the game’s performance reminds us the Switch 2 is still behind its contemporaries in power. Framerate drops and stutters are reminiscent of action gaming the Switch. Titanic Scion is playable on the Switch 2, but it sometimes struggles. Note that I only played the game in docked mode; I’d need to change my glasses prescription to read the Arsenal customization minutiae in handheld mode.
The overall experience, however, is enjoyable. Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is most enjoyable when you’ve fiddled with your loadout so many times that you’re completely optimized for the encounters ahead. The separation’s in the preparation, I’ve been told, and this definitely is a game for the preparers.
