Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is the follow-up to 2019’s mecha action game that originally came out on Switch and was later ported to PC. Now planned for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC, the game aims to take advantage of the modern generation to create a vast open world to explore using your Arsenal.

A Robust Character Creation System

Before even starting the game, players have access to a detailed character creation screen. Using a pre-made model to use as a base, it’s possible to change various facial features like skin color, hairstyle, eyes, makeup and decoration. Funnily enough, in this early build, body options were much more limited, only allowing for height and head size changes, so it’s not even possible to make a character fatter or slimmer.

For the face, it’s possible to pick a contour to define the jawline along with the eye and mouth shape. A complementary skin detail option will determine expression signs that can make the character look older, muscular, "angrier" (as their default face) or more tired, for instance.

There are over fifty options of hairstyles, including straight and curly hair, and it’s possible to either pick a single color or make it feature highlights in a different color. Players can also change eyebrows, eyelashes, facial hair and all of those have a good variety to them.

While the eye shape is defined by contour, there are a lot of eye pupil options as well, with players able to make their eyes look like those of cats, sheep or an anime style with a specific art (like a heart), more lines or fewer. Besides changing sizes and positioning to eerie degrees, it’s possible to make both eyes different in design and color and to keep an eye or both closed.

Other details include makeup options for lips, eye shadow and blush, and accessories, scars and tattoos. It’s possible to choose glasses, masks and earrings and change their colors, which can also be done for clothes. All that said, the variety is striking, and it’s easy to spend hours making a unique look, which can then be saved in up to ten slots, so the player can try out different options and keep them for later even if they don’t plan to use them immediately.

Starting at Full Throttle

After picking your character, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion’s story already starts with a sequence fueled by adrenaline as the player must flee the space bases called Garden. It all happens because the player character is one of the Outers, a group of individuals that were born with special abilities that were originally caused by Femto energy. As a precious resource, these individuals are meant to become one of the Axiom’s elite soldiers, the Centurion.

The main issue is that becoming part of these troops will mean losing all their humanity, not having memories or free will and being directly controlled by the government. Having figured out this issue, the protagonist’s friend Nerve helps them escape and the two join forces by stealing Arsenals, which are fully customizable machines that are commonly used to explore space and the wastelands on the Ground.

This area inside the Garden is used as a tutorial, but it’s also a significant moment in the story and already showcases a lot of variation. It includes fighting, moving around trying to dodge enemy attacks, stealing weapons/items from defeated enemies, flying through what looks like maintenance shafts of the base, controlling a turret gun to fight off a horde and more.

After various events, we get to the Ground and what we find there is a huge planet filled with dangers. The area has Femto-transformed monsters called Eternals, hostile stray Arsenals and individuals from the multiple factions that are at odds in the narrative’s political climate. To fight back against the ones that tried to steal the protagonist’s freedom, it’ll be necessary to do odd jobs and to become a famous mercenary.

A Vast Open World and Much to Do

The Ground is a vast area mostly composed of wastelands. As a mercenary, the player has to get the lay of the land and exploring it thoroughly is a great way to find items, enemies to defeat, extra quests and information about the world.

There are even vehicles and horses that can be found at specific points on the map and using them makes traveling faster, though there are also fast travel points and players can even use Femto to run and fly. Some of the first missions in the game revolve around liberating fast travel areas from enemies, making the experience more convenient over time.

At some points of the map, the player will also find supply bases that allow for quick recovery at a price. There are also tunnels that are basically dungeons and other spots that may be used to get extra resources. As the player does more missions and advances the story, it’s possible to find even more things to do.

By defeating enemies, players can get weapons, armor pieces and various other items. Only one reward can be extracted from each enemy, be it money or equipment, so it’s important to keep in mind the best option. Enemies will still attack while you interact with this menu, so it’s also important to be careful about the surroundings.

To fight back against the ones that tried to steal the protagonist’s freedom, it’ll be necessary to do odd jobs and to become a famous mercenary.

Weapon options include swords that can be used with one or both hands, lances, maces, knives and knuckles. It’s also possible to equip shields to prevent damage or firearms, which have limited ammo, but are a great option in order to hit enemies from afar. It’s possible to carry up to four common weapons and to change between them on the fly. There are also two other slots: one for a shoulder weapon and another for an auxiliary slot that can be used for helpful additions like extra ammo for firearms, missiles or grenades.

Meanwhile, the armor pieces attached to each part of the body affect attributes like defense and VP, an armor value that protects the user from taking direct hits that will kill them. They also affect visuals, but the player can turn them off to keep their character visible instead if they prefer.

While there’s still a lot of room to cover in Daemon X Machine: Titanic Scion, the initial chapters show a vast open world filled with places to go, items to get and quests to do. The strong character customization is a great start and the mecha builds look like they’ll offer great variation as well. Right now, it’s still a little early to see the depths of its options yet and if the story will live up to the compelling start, but what was possible to see in the first hours is a remarkable action experience with an impressive heart.