There’s nothing in this world as cool as a giant robot. The first Daemon X Machina made that explicably clear. So, it’s something of a surprise to find that Titanic Scion, the brand-new entry in the anime-fuelled mech series, initially swaps out the mechs of the first game and replaces them with Exosuits. It’s suddenly more Anthem than Armoured Core, and while that’s initially something of a disappointment, it makes way for a faster, more immediate combat experience that gives you a ton of customisation options as you set forth on a mission for revenge.
Entering Titanic Scion is entering a war that’s been raging for hundreds of years. Founded in revolution and colonisation, the world of Daemon X Machina saw humanity split itself across two planets, Earth Prime and the ‘blue planet’. A further rift was then caused by an anomaly which saw some people born on the blue planet with special abilities, with society branding them an Outer.
Society’s cruel treatment of them led to an uprising, with the Outers eventually taking control and enacting a strict military regime, separating themselves from the rest of humanity in the Garden, a space station set above the Ground. After years of war and conflict, revolution and response, it’s little surprise to find the humans fighting back under the title of Reclaimers. That’s where you come in, though not in quite the way you expect.
There’s a well-featured character creator here, with a bunch of preset options, male and female body types, and the ability to customise your face with a strong selection to choose from. There’s then three accessory layouts which really give you the choice between having a giant poncho or not, but overall I was very happy with how my hero turned out.
You’re an Outer. The opening sees you being rescued by your teammate Nerve, who pulls you out of a machine that was just about to erase your thoughts and turn you into an unthinking killing machine. In doing so, you’re both now the most wanted traitors in the Garden, and there’s a thoroughly chaotic jaunt through the bowels of the Outers’ station as you attempt to escape while learning the controls.
You do so by hopping into an Arsenal – this time out, a personal mech-suit – which allows you to install and equip various offensive options, from blades and assault rifles to lances and energy shields. Downing enemy Arsenals lets you loot their equipment, but only one, forcing you to make some tough decisions about what to take and what to let go. Fortunately, Titanic Scion gives you a rundown of each item’s stats compared to your own, so you can still make a choice on the fly, even with bullets and explosions filling the air around you.
Looting and tweaking your loadout is key to progressing, and there’s so many things to equip and tinker with that I think people will be able to get their Arsenal feeling and performing exactly the way they want it to. You can carry two weapons per arm, with both offensive and defensive options, and then there’s a shoulder-mounted weapon and auxiliary items.
The new two-handed weapons are brutally slow, but the resulting damage they’re capable of made them an early favourite of mine. Whatever you pick, being able to swap between the different weapons in your loadout on the fly means that you’re able to deal with enemies in whatever way you want or need, as long as you haven’t brought four swords with you.
Locking on is hugely important during battle, as is your radar, and if you don’t keep moving and searching out all the enemies, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed. Combat can feel messy at times, but target indicators help you to find your enemies as you and your teammates tear them apart. There’s multiplayer for up to three players, and you can run through the story together, but only if you’re at the same point. Solo players get to enjoy the assistance of the AI characters, and while they do their bit, it’s not a patch on playing with a group of friends.
After being blasted out of the Garden, you fall to the Ground, discovering that the barren wasteland isn’t completely made up of junk, dust and monsters when you’re rescued by Forge and Toby. Though you’re not totally sold on being helped by a human – turns out people from the Garden are kind of dicks – you’ve little real choice but to follow them, and join up with their Gym.
It’s called a Gym thanks to the Coliseum. Controlled arena battles are held here, with Forge owning what feels like the most backstreet premises in the post-apocalyptic landscape. He convinces you to become one of his fighters – make that his only fighter – and after a short tussle you end up joining up with him and allying yourself with the local freedom fighters known as Reclaimers. It’s fair to say they don’t like you, but they like what you’re capable of.
Returning fans might decry the move to exosuits, and in some ways, it feels like it should reduce the scale of the game. However, that’s tempered by the move to an open world, and you still gain the ability to call down Heavy Armour later in the game. Getting around is so reminiscent of Anthem, especially if you’re blasting around in your suit, but given that I’m one of the few people in the world who still has Anthem installed, that’s a clear positive. You’re not limited to just using your suit either, and you can explore the open world with different vehicles or even alien horses, which weirdly make the game feel more like Dynasty Warriors than Daemon X Machina, as you can charge into battle with a lance.
While enemy suits drop equipment, Immortals, the monstrous creatures you come across on the Ground, drop parts and development opportunities, as well as elements that you can Fuse with your character, intentionally creating mutations in your DNA. You’re going to spend a great deal of time in menus min-maxing your setup. That is right up my alley, but I can see it wearing some people out. There’s a touch of Borderlands to how Titanic Scion’s looting and loadouts feel, but it’s nowhere near as over-the-top with its loot and the different options you have.
There’s such a mix of influences and similarities to other games: Anthem, Armored Core, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Borderlands, but Titanic Scion comes away feeling like its own thing. Running around the open world is an absolute blast, and I love the anime-fuelled visual design and the setting that the team have created. That’s buoyed by the awesome guitar-heavy soundtrack, which adds a healthy dose of adrenaline to everything you do.
Performance on Switch 2 is, annoyingly, merely fine. It runs at a locked 30fps most of the time, though occasional drops happen while driving in one of the vehicles. It feels as though there should be a 60fps option here, especially when the demo’s PC and Steam Deck performance suggest that it should be possible. Here’s hoping that they add in some further graphical options or find a little more performance to achieve it.
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