Good News, Mech Fans: Armored Core Spiritual Successor Will Soon Be Free

Is Daemon X Machina a “good” video game? Yes (no). Well. Daemon X Machina was recently described by a friend of mine as a 7/10 Armored Core spiritual successor, with the important note that every Armored Core game is a 7/10. This means that it is a good game by the Renata Price “B-Games Are The Best Kind Of Video Game” metric, which I will stand by until the day I die. It is also free on the Epic Games Store starting Thursday, the 27th, so you have no excuse not to try it.

Like the Armored Core series that obviously inspired it, Daemon X Machina is a customization focused mech game about auto-aiming weapons and movement driven combat—which originally released on the Nintendo Switch back in 2019. You pilot an Arsenal, a modifiable mech platform that can carry everything from swords to railguns and twin bazookas. You then pilot this mech around relatively simple maps, killing enemies and scavenging their parts as you go. You then incorporate these parts into your own robot death machine.

This feedback loop is relatively simple, and the game’s auto-aiming can make weapons feel homogenous over time—but there’s enough of Daemon X Machina to sink your teeth into before things become too rote. It’s also worth noting that the game has co-op multiplayer, which allows players to tackle massive enemy units with their friends. Like any game, co-op will greatly expand what you can get out of the experience—since your friends will help smooth out the lulls and weaker moments of a campaign.

It’s also important to note that there’s crossplay between the game’s Steam and Epic Games Store versions, which means that you’re free to play with whoever you want—even if your friends maintain a blind vendetta against the Epic Games Store.

As a firm mech lover, I for one can say that I will be diving into the PC version the moment it’s free to temporarily sate my mecha desires.