better luck next time

New Review:

tl;dr: Much like an actual doll, it's utterly lifeless.

After much rumination, I've come to the conclusion that this game features Souls-like features and Armored Core features and yet doesn't display the strengths of either genre. Because the levels are "like Souls", you need interesting environments to explore and limited resources to ration in order to facilitate that, which this game does, to its credit. However, BP (ammo) is something I have only ran out of in a single boss fight (that helicopter boss in the Upturned Forest), so I don't really care about that, barrier (the blue bit of your HP bar by default) regenerates over time, so ideally, you're going to rush in, do some damage, zoom back out and wait for your barrier to regenerate. You can also spec into this stat to make your barrier stronger. Of course, you don't have to play like this, but if you want to save your healing items for say, because you missed a very easily missable merchant in the first area of the game that will sell you said healing items, then you'll probably value that stat a bit more.

Because the game is "like Armored Core" it features a lot of customization for parts and weapons, but as my initial review stated, your choices are rather lacking, because nothing really "feels" good to use, maybe that's an additional consequence of the game's poor audio design. who knows. To add onto the level design portion of the previous paragraph, Armored Core generally features more open settings (there are exceptions of course) to show off the speed and scale of the mechs, this combined with the "Souls" level design could have been potentially very interesting... if the aesthetic was interesting from more than a surface level, and if the levels weren't so empty. I can see the mega structure stuff... the Blame! inspirations and whatnot... It's just sort of flat when the final product is ostensibly "Cute Anime Girl in a Mech," it feels a little creatively bankrupt. Again, something a little disappointing considering I am a fan of Nitro Plus.

I'll reiterate from my initial review that the game has some pretty awful performance issues, and I have a brand new (in 2024 standards) rig. Really strange frame drops everywhere, even on the lowest settings, game slows to a crawl after leaving the Garage (Frame Loadout).

Gameplay in general was pretty dry, I don't really intend on revisiting this game anytime soon. I think ultimately, it is a misguided game that takes elements from both Armored Core and Souls, doesn't really do anything with it, and it lacks the strength of the writing team at Nitro Plus (mostly because there is no writing at all...). It feels bad to ♥♥♥♥ on a game like this so hard because well, for one, it is an indie project, and two, there is a severe lack of game -like- this. With Daemon x Machina being one of if not the only "AC-likes" on Steam prior to AC6 coming out. I still do not recommend this game.

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Old Review:
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tl;dr Why did you bother combining Souls exploration with Armored Core?

I feel like most of these reviews are succumbing to the keys jangling in front of them. So far, I have completed 2/3 main areas, and I've used one of the SMGs that you get in the first area of the game, because it is the only class of weapon with any DPS/performance. Pretty much every other weapon I've tried, Battle Rifle, AR, Shotgun, Grenade Launcher, etc. has been absolutely horrible. And don't get me started with melee weapons. They may as well not exist, as they all have non existent range, damage, and awful reload times. Just use an SMG.

Almost all of my rear weapons have ended up falling behind in damage in comparison to the trusty SMG and jumping in an enemy's face and deleting them. The enemy AI is horrid, the bosses so far have been a joke. I literally stood still on the Great Forest Boss and killed it without moving... Part upgrades in a Armored Core-esque game feels misguided as I feel the main point about your decision on parts is balancing your gameplay style with other things like mobility/HP/etc. Maybe it isn't a problem later? It's just weird is all.

As for the exploration... like... what's the point? Just give me a mission and let me shoot some enemies. I'm just boosting around checking corners for loot and parts, they even bothered adding shortcuts to levels, which is fine but again, why am I doing exploration in a game like this?

Narrative? None so far. I think excluding the exposition dialogue, the NPCs in this game have provided little to no info, no narrative, and, in typical Souls fashion, they do the "Zanzibart... forgive me" type dialogue. Unfortunate considering we're talking about Nitro Plus here.

Game also has incredibly strange performance issues. Especially after leaving the Garage "Frame Loadout", and I've gotten multiple crashes.

Overall... maybe like a 5/10 or less right now. Will update later.

more like ligma bumpany

yum yum delicious soda

The game runs well, it runs really well. However, there are a TON of issues with controller recognition. It detects my stick, but buttons are not what they should be. Also, the netcode is somehow worse than the console version. Good job, Capcom.

this game is alright now

this game is the same thing as suffering