I don’t see many Switch owners gassing up Marvelous’Daemon X Machina,a mech-based title that’s launching in 2019. Upon seeing the game’sinitial reveal trailerduring the opening of Nintendo’s E3 Direct in 2018, I immediately fell in love with the game’sart styleandepic gameplay.
Daemon X Machinais set in a world where the moon has fallen, and the human race is doing everything it can to survive against some evil artificial intelligence. So obviously, huge mechs are a requirement in that endeavor.
[pullquote]“I immediately fell in love with [Daemon X Machina’s] artstyle and epic gameplay."[/pullquote]
While the overall concept isn’t entirely original at first glance, there are a multitude of things sprinkled throughout what we’ve already seen fromDaemon X Machinathat has me excited at the prospect of what this game could turn out to be. Call me crazy, but I really get aFreedom Warsvibe from this title (maybe it’s the whole being-on-a-handheld thing). A ruined world where you take on enemies with your friends while fully customizing your own character and equipment; I’m always down for that.
In fact, four-player co-op is probably what has me most excited about this game. Who doesn’t want to take down larger-than-life bosses with friends anyway? We also haven’t seen much on the game’s single-player offerings, so it’s hard for me to get excited about that in particular.
I think a sense of community is important inDaemon XMachina, and I’ll be interested to see how the game launches and grows over time with this in mind. As of right now, we obviously don’t know much about how much focus is being put into online play, but I genuinely hope the team is putting a lot of thought into making it very awesome alongside expanding on the endgame content. One of my favorite things about the Nintendo Switch is the ways in which we’ve seen games with online components grow over time, likeSplatoon 2,Mario Tennis Aces, and more.
[pullquote]“Call me crazy, but I really get aFreedom Warsvibe from this title."[/pullquote]
Personalization is another reason I love games like this one. Not only are you customizing your character and mech’s appearance but also using skill trees to really create an avatar that’s your own. This ties in well to the whole online component I previously mentioned and another reason as to why the endgame is so important. In a Nintendo Treehouse Live event, we saw that outside of character customization, you’ll also be able to display the spoils of war throughout your base as weaponry that is hung up all around your personal hangar. Small details like that are just really damn cool and provide me personally with a genuine sense of growth, which I’m looking forward to seeing inDaemon X Machina.
Gameplay is the bread and butter of mech titles like this one alongside all the other components I’ve previously mentioned: if the gameplay isn’t there, no other aspects can really shine. Thankfully,Daemon X Machinalooks like anArmored Corefan’s wet dream…and it’s playable on the go. Alongside what appears to be a wide variety of weaponry, players can also use environments to their advantage. Desolate cityscapes can be crumbled as you drop huge buildings on enemies; furthermore, you may chuck out-of-commission enemies at others alongside things like cars and other debris. It’s an attention to detail that can only be provided on handheld or at home through the Switch’s hardware.
[pullquote]“Daemon X Machinalooks like anArmored Corefan’s wet dream…and it’s playable on the go."[/pullquote]
Another thing that has me really excited for this title is its character designer, Yusuke Kozaki. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, he brought to life many of the heroes fromFire Emblem Awakeningas well asFire Emblem Fates.So while this title isn’t one that’s being developed by Nintendo, it’s really cool to see familiar creators have their hands in a project like this one. Additionally, Shoji Kawamori, a veteran of theArmored Coreseries, is lending his hand in creating thein-game mechs, while Kenichiro Tsukuda, producer ofArmored Core 2and3,is producing this title.
On top of that, the visuals of this title are wonderful and I’m a huge fan of the color palette they’ve gone with. The artstyle really sets it apart from other media in a similar vein likeArmored Core, Gundam, Front Mission,and evenTitanfall.I’m a sucker for cel-shaded art in Japanese video games and with it inDaemon X Machina,the game truly is a mech anime or manga brought to life in your hands.
[pullquote]“The game truly is a mech anime or manga brought to life in your hands."[/pullquote]
On that note, I don’t have much more to say aboutDaemon XMachina, other than that it’s the Nintendo Switch exclusive that I have my eye on the most next year. I hope that it comes sooner rather than later on in the year because I’m so stoked to give this game a shot and I hope you are too.
Daemon X Machinawill release exclusively for the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2019. If you’d like to pre-order the title and haven’t already, you can do so right now over atAmazon.
