A complete review is on the way, but in the meantime, enjoy some initial thoughts on Japanese developer Marvelous’s freshly released Daemon x Machina on Switch.

Thought No.1: A mech combat game? Heck to the mother-mech-ing yeah.

Daemon x Machina is a cell-shaded action game, with flying mech battles, a customisable protagonist, and a complicated plot played out in cutscenes and voiceovers. Think Dragon Ball Xenoverse, but with mechs.

You can be honest with me – customising your mech is why you’re interested, right? It has certainly been the highlight for me so far. Customisation is surprisingly in depth and, to be frank, has been my main driver for completing story missions. Each weapon, arm, processor, leg, all the things, can be replaced and upgraded via the shop, scrap, or custom-made. Even your human protagonist can be modified with genetic enhancements.

Oh, I defeated the evil AI and saved my friends? Cool, cool, cool. Let’s skip to the part where I can upgrade my mech some more. Momma needs a new missile load out.

Combat has also been serviceable and becomes more enjoyable as you unlock abilities through the story. As for the story itself, it has been … convoluted thus far, but hey, aren’t most mech anime sagas? There has also been a huge number of different NPC characters thrown at me, who I suppose I will eventually care about. Again, see earlier point re anime sagas.

I’m preferring playing docked, mostly as the soundtrack is hype over our sound system, but it also plays acceptably when undocked. Preferably with good headphones. Played loudly. Speaking of, I’m absolutely in love with the soundtrack so far. It’s rock, it’s metal, it’s dramatic in all the best shōnen anime ways. This soundtrack is the one, guys. We’re going to elope, have babies, and grow old together.

I’ll have more coherent thoughts once I’m closer to completion, but for the moment I encourage you to go live out your Gundam fantasies.

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Bringing the old-school to the current generation

I was so excited to get my hands on an advance copy of Link’s Awakening to review. Zelda is one of my favourite gaming franchises and, as someone who didn’t get to play the game on GameBoy as a kid, this is the best gift I could get from Nintendo.

While we’ve got a full review in the works, I wanted to get my first impressions out there for folks who might be just as excited as me to have a “new” Zelda game to play.

 Link’s Awakening is a bright and festive remake of a GameBoy classic, with side-by-side comparisons of many screens being very similar in layout, albeit with a fresh and festive new style of graphics. The first thing that struck me was the adorable feel of the world’s textures and shapes. These are very much in the plastic-y, chunky style of Lego or Playmobil toys; cute. With the tilt shifted blur effect around the edges, it feels very much like a world in miniature, which is novel and genuinely charming. 

“As someone who didn’t get to play the game on GameBoy as a kid, this is the best gift from Nintendo.”

For folks who have played a lot of recent Zelda games, you may find this game simplistic and old-school. But to me, that’s absolutely the point. It’s a great entry game for youngsters who are new to the franchise, making it a great way for parents who want to share the joys of Koholint Island with their kids.

Don’t think that it’s super easy though; the dungeons and puzzles still present a reasonable challenge! Additionally, the game has included an exciting Chamber Dungeon feature, which allows you to build your own custom dungeons based on ones you’ve already traversed.

The game’s performance is clean and fast on the Switch, and it somehow balances a nostalgic, handheld experience with fresh graphics and features in a great retelling of a classic story.

More to come later on in our full review, but in the meantime, I highly recommend pre-ordering this game. Link’s Awakening is a bright and festive remake of an absolute GameBoy classic, and it’s going to be essential to any Zelda lover’s library.

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