Running. Falling. A world of unfeeling contrast immediately welcomed me. Metal Eden wastes no time with its introduction, dropping you straight into the industrial labyrinth of Moebius.
I am a Hyper Unit, designation ASKA – some kind of futuristic super soldier – more mechanical than human, tasked with doing whatever the strange disembodied voice in my head tells me to. Jogging along these corridors and jetpacking across gaps, I am so captured by the world that I don’t really entertain the questions of why or who – there is only the now… and the dead.
Squat enemies charge at me, misshapen little things that could well be biological – but their stature is so tragic I am unsure if killing them is an act of aggression or mercy. I can shoot, I can jump and I can dash. So far it is all quite standard.
Then, I am introduced to the Core Ripper.
The crunchy centre of every weird cyborg, the Core
Downloading some information from another deceased Hyper Unit informs me that I have the ability to rip the mechanical hearts clean out of these enemies, further confusing my queries as to whether they are biological or machine. Once you have magnetically torn this Core from an enemy, you can throw it like an impact grenade at one of his friends. So begins an intimate dance of shooting, dodging and tearing out the insides of foes to blow up their mates.
This all takes place in four to five minutes of tutorial gameplay, setting the scene of developer Reikon‘s intense new entry into the world of first person shooters. If you are familiar with their previous title Ruiner, you can see a thick marbling of that game’s DNA permeating the isolating world of Metal Eden – a fantastical cyber-future where things have clearly taken a turn for the dystopian, with identity and personal drive suffering in the name of something sinister.
The story is vintage cyberpunk, speaking to the fantastical Core doohickey that I have been ripping out of enemies just moments prior – with my breathy narrator, Nexus, lamenting the usual folly of human excitement. Progress for the sake of progress, never considering the dangers that could be lurking – and sure enough, whatever tragedy had befallen the engineers of the Core has claimed this world of Moebius. The Core seems to be some technological marvel, for the un-ripped one residing in my plastic chest could be used to upgrade my abilities and give me cool new powers. Couple this with a tasty little suggestion that maybe ASKA is more than just a drone, and there is a narrative rich with potential, should the grimy ferrocrete of the planet allow such a tale to manifest.
Laser. Gatling. Minigun.
As I played across the two missions available to me, it became clear that this experience is one of those brilliant forays into personal flair and style. ASKA is uniquely equipped to deal death and deliver carnage in fun and creative ways, even within the limited scope of this preview build – and the arenas that you traverse have ammo and armour pickups squirreled away in places that beg you to embrace movement and consideration. There is even a power up that resets your ability to rip out an enemy’s Core, allowing you to ‘Kali Ma’ multiple folks in rapid succession. Coupling this with some of the upgrades to the Core Ripper, you’ll soon be dancing a delightful dirge of death.
The cadence of exploration and combat means that you should approach each combat encounter with a thought to how you might make best use of these spaces. The game is quick to introduce wall-running and a grappling hook, solidifying the idea that breakneck pace isn’t just encouraged, it is almost mandatory. Nexus even offers the sage advice of “Move fast and break stuff” to set the tone, essentially hinting that you don’t really need to be poking around every corner for a scrap of ammo – just keep on jogging, there is more action just around the bend.
Realistically, a shooter also lives and dies on its weapons – and Metal Eden has some punchy death dealers that are a blast to use. In an odd twist, you actually start with a middling assault rifle, quick to overheat and really only good for short stints of burstfire – before finding a pistol that apparently fires bricks. This thing hits like a truck, so it comes as no surprise that ammo for it is something to be scrounged and coveted. Then, if the rule of a shooter is to live or die by its guns – the shotgun within the game must be a critical juncture. Thankfully, the buckshot blaster of Moebius is a punchy bastard, rending massive robots to scrap metal with satisfying aplomb.
It also helps that the cybernetic dimension on offer is carefully designed to be present, but not overpowering. The moments between combat often offer vistas of industrial cyber bullshit reaching towards the horizon, looming structures stretching to impossible heights – before quickly stuffing you back into claustrophobic maintenance tunnels and deathly ledges. It is a setting that elevates the action, rather than overshadow it, and my hope is that the full game has been curated to keep it fun and interesting. The very first mission even ended with a deathmatch against flying drones, taking place on a suspended platform that offered a plummeting death on every other angle – feeling like the Quake 3 deathmatch maps of old. Go on, wall run for the armour pickup – it’s only the infinite void below you.
My dip into the world of Metal Eden was barely a paddling pool, but its tone and worldbuilding have sunk their cybernetic hooks deep into my pathetic human flesh. The tale of humanity dooming itself by way of cursed technological advancement might be a rote theme, but the fate of ASKA and her handler, Nexus, engaged me in a way where I am hungry to know more. If these Cores are so awful, why am I using one? What is Project: EDEN? Is Nexus an AI, or my human handler? They all beg for answers, and I am firmly seated to find out.
Metal Eden will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC on May 6.
Previewed on PC using code provided by the publisher
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