Giant robots are inherently cool, yet they’ve never broken into the mainstream in the way they deserve. Take the original Daemon X Machina, which was an under-appreciated gem of the previous console generation. This game about building giant mech suits had some awesome stages and boss fights, all dolled up in an incredible aesthetic, yet it just never clicked with the audience.
Daemon X Machina had fantastic gameplay, with responsive controls that made switching between ground and flight easy, giving combat a three-dimensional feel that made it almost feel like you were controlling a fighter jet.
Sure, the story of Daemon X Machina was terrible and had garbage voice acting, but that’s not what people showed up for. What people cared about was exciting mecha fights, and it delivered that in spades.
With that information in mind, the sequel, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, is here to take up the mantle, expanding on pretty much every aspect of the original. Yet, it lost something big in the process, not helped by it being nowhere near ready for launch. A lot of games have been delayed in 2025, and this should have been one of them for a myriad of reasons.
Welcome To The Machine
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion throws the player into the deep end. After designing a protagonist, it’s revealed that they’re an Outer; a person with special abilities that sets them apart from mankind. They’re thrown into a fight for their life, as the space station they’re on is under siege, and they’re thrust down to the world below in one last desperate escape measure.
You find yourself on an alien world, where biomechanical alien lifeforms, known as the Immortals, roam the world. There’s an ongoing power struggle between the Outers and regular humans, with the protagonist forced into becoming a mercenary and build a powerful Arsenal, the name of the mech suits in this game. The battle to control the surface world quickly kicks off, as the mysteries of the protagonist’s past are gradually revealed.
The game doesn’t do a great job of introducing its various strange concepts, and expects the player to catch up very quickly. Story really isn’t Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion’s strong suit: it’s set dressing for the combat and exploration. The best way to describe it is by tuning into an anime halfway through the season, as the characters never stop to explain anything.
Story really isn’t Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion’s strong suit: it’s set dressing for the combat and exploration.
That being said, you don’t pick up a game like Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion for the story. This is a game where hitting the skip cutscene button isn’t a great crime, and I struggled to stay engaged, especially in the face of some woeful voice acting that wouldn’t be out of place in an old 4Kids anime dub. That being said, the reason you tune in is for the robots flying around and shooting at each other. So, how does it handle that?
Building An Arsenal Out Of A Box Of Scraps
When the protagonist crash lands at the start of the game, their Arsenal is in bits. Luckily, the planet has plenty of corpses of warriors who fell in battle against Immortals. It’s also possible to steal gear from enemies that you’ve slain. In Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, you can take one piece of loot per enemy for video game reasons, which can include armor pieces, weapons, ammo, consumables, and the like.
Over the course of the game, you’ll build an ever more powerful suit, cobbling it together from pieces of stolen gear. One thing this system encourages is experimenting with weapons, as the player can hold four at a time (along with a shoulder-mounted armament), and as better options present themselves, you’ll want to make the most of what’s available.
The ever-shifting gear situation keeps things fresh, though the whole system is a bit too fiddly. There are so many individual elements to manage that it can drag down the entire experience, as managing the pieces can slow things down.
That being said, customization is a huge part of this genre, and there are certainly a lot of options available for those who love to fine-tune things. There is also a ton of scope to change the appearance of an Arsenal, for those who want to make their suit resemble their favourite one from an anime.
You have access to a Base, which gradually adds new facilities over the course of the story, which can be upgraded by spending resources. There’s a lot to tinker with, as the player gradually unlocks more of the open world.
Super Fighting Robots, Fighting To Save The Open World
The biggest difference between Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion and its predecessor is the shift from segmented levels to an open world. You can don your suit and go flying around the planet to your heart’s content, fighting monsters, unlocking fast travel points, and claiming gear from fallen enemies.
The visuals of the world are alien and imposing, but not exactly technically impressive. In terms of graphics, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion feels a few generations behind, with even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild outstripping it. Everything from the foliage to the character models feels dated, and not in a fun, retro way. The soundtrack, however, is a standout. Special shout-out to the heavy metal soundtrack, as it perfectly matches the tone of the gameplay.
Special shout-out to the heavy metal soundtrack, as it perfectly matches the tone of the gameplay.
Visuals aren’t everything, and outdated looks wouldn’t be a strike against the game if it weren’t for the abysmal performance. Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion has load times that are far too long for a game of the current generation, especially one that looks like this. The loading times are especially noticeable when fast traveling between areas, with the player locked in small areas, waiting an eternity for the world to appear.
The load times are so bad that you can enter an area and see the enemies standing still. I was able to take a selfie with an Immortal in the picture above due to it not loading its resources yet. This is, quite frankly, a shameful level of performance for a game released in 2025, and it will hopefully be fixed ASAP.
The other frustrating aspect of exploring in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is the fuel, or rather, Femto, situation. Your Arsenal can fly or dash along the ground for extra speed, but this is tied to your Femto meter, a mechanic that exists solely to slow the game down. There are mounts available, such as horses and motorcycles, but they feel extremely out of place in the setting. It makes sense to limit how many dodges the player can perform by tying it to a stamina mechanic, but tying it to dash only makes the experience worse.
There are mounts available, such as horses and motorcycles, but they feel extremely out of place in the setting.
Fight Or Flight
What’s the point of having a big robot suit if you can’t fight other people dressed in similar tin garb? Once you have your armor and weapons selected, it’s time to go destroy some enemies. These range from wandering Immortals, fellow armored mercs, and unique boss encounters.
The combat in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion has the basics down, with locking on and blasting foes feeling great. The movement is a bit iffier, as while ascending/descending feels fine, shifting from dashing to regular movement can be slippery, making it easy to overshoot where you want to move to. Some of the missions provide AI companions who fight alongside the player, but they’re not very helpful. The AI companions are about as useful as Goofy and Donald in Kingdom Hearts. They may as well not be there.
The problem comes from the difficulty, or rather, the spikes. This is more prominent with the bosses, some of whom are laughably easy, being susceptible to stunlocks with melee weapons or grenades, while others are ridiculously hard, even on the easiest difficulty.
The AI companions are about as useful as Goofy and Donald in Kingdom Hearts. They may as well not be there.
The issue with the harder bosses is that they’re balanced poorly. Some have incredibly powerful attacks with almost no wind-up animation, meaning that if you’ve committed to an attack, it’s impossible to dodge out of the way. There’s some real cheap Elden Ring boss moments here, with combat sometimes feeling unfair to all but the most cautious of players.
The problems mostly stem from the humanoid enemies, as the giant foes are far more interesting to fight and feel more manageable. An issue across the board is the hit points, as too many bosses are damage sponges, with fights becoming endless bouts of attrition.
The combat system in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion has a great core experience, but it’s just not ready yet, and shouldn’t have been shipped in this state. A lot of the enemies still need work to make them easier or tougher.
Gene Genie, Mutates His Back
Easily the most interesting new system in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is the Factors. Early in the game, your Outer gains the ability to steal and utilize the genetic material of Immortals, giving them access to unique skills. These special powers range from passive buffs to new attacks for weapons. There’s a staggering amount of options, with the weapon powers especially feeling great to use. Seeking out these new powers is a true highlight, especially with what they do to the protagonist.
These special powers range from passive buffs to new attacks for weapons. There’s a staggering amount of options, with the weapon powers especially feeling great to use.
One of the best aspects of the Factors is how they change the character’s appearance. Combining Factors creates new Skills, but each use slowly transforms the protagonist into a monster, gradually shifting them into a PS2 Shin Megami Tensei protagonist. It’s great that the game doesn’t cheap out and make these aesthetic changes optional, as they add a ton of character to the protagonist.
The Factors system is hands down the best new addition to Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, as slaying monsters for their DNA never gets old, and adds an extra layer of power outside of the Arsenals. It’s just a shame that the rest of the game can’t keep up.
Closing Comments
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion isn’t ready for launch. The performance and balance issues sour what could have been an excellent mecha experience. There are a few bright patches, interesting ideas, and a ton of potential for the game. It could be, and maybe it will be better in a few updates’ time, but it’s not worth checking out at launch.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
