Reviewed on an ROG Strix Scar 18 (2025)
Reikon Games made their name with Ruiner, a neon-drenched cyberpunk brawler that thrived on style and brutal momentum. With Metal Eden, they step forward into the high-octane, high-sci-fi space to showcase their prowess, pushing everything toward speed, spectacle, and heavy themes. I spent my time running, ripping, and rail-sliding through its metallic world, and there were moments where the rush reminded me why I fell in love with action games in the first place. But the experience also comes with cracks. For every breathtaking moment of fluid combat and gorgeous art direction, there’s dialogue that lands flat (a lot of it) or mechanics that overstay their welcome. The result is a game that shoots for greatness, grazes it often, but doesn’t quite hold steady.
Heaven Intersected
The setup behind Metal Eden is familiar to fans of high-concept sci-fi. Imagine something out of Altered Carbon, where questions of identity, mortality, and technology intersect. At the core lies the timeless philosophical dilemma: if your consciousness is transferred into another vessel, is it still you—or just a hollow facsimile stripped of its soul? The narrative latches onto that premise with ambition, giving the world a fascinating backdrop of futuristic society wrestling with transhumanist ideals.
Of course, no story like this is complete without a grand antagonist. Here, it’s the predictable megalomaniac tethered to your past, holding secrets that connect directly to your character’s history. It’s classic in execution and at times feels more trope-driven than revelatory. Where the narrative falters most is tone. Dialogue swings wildly between moody and edgy, sometimes undermining its own gravity with lines that feel forced. Characters you meet along the way act with erratic motives, rarely consistent enough to feel fully realized. The result is a story world that looks compelling on paper but struggles to carry the same weight in practice.
UE5’s Total Recall
Where Metal Eden leaves no room for debate is in its visual design. The art team deserves full praise for crafting a setting that feels alive, dangerous, and hypnotic all at once. Every corridor, city skyline, and rail sequence drips with detail, balancing neon glows with grim industrial shadows. The design language here is sharp, almost surgical, while still finding room for bold stylistic flourishes.
The environments breathe personality, and no matter how chaotic combat became, I found myself pausing just to take in the surroundings. From the intricate enemy designs to the kinetic spectacle of explosions lighting up a room, the presentation consistently held me. This is a game that proves how far strong art direction can go in elevating an experience, even when other areas stumble.
Doom Meets Cyberpunk
This is where Metal Eden shines brightest. Combat is fast, responsive, and endlessly satisfying when the pieces click. The signature mechanic—ripping cores from enemies to fuel your arsenal—feels brutal and refreshing. Each encounter pushes you to chain abilities, swap weapons on the fly, and stay in constant motion. It thrives on adrenaline, rewarding aggression with momentum. Traversal is another highlight. Wall runs, rail slides, and mid-combat parkour keep encounters from ever feeling too static (when played above Normal Mode). The game wants you moving at all times, and when you embrace that rhythm, it delivers excellent pulse pounding action.
That said, not every mechanic lands. You eventually get the ability to use Samu–I mean, The ball transformation mechanic. It’s welcoming but becomes more hindrance than innovation, disrupting the flow in several encounters. Some sequences lean too heavily on rail shooting segments, which dilute the pace compared to the game’s tighter combat arenas. Still, when it comes to raw play feel, Metal Eden earns its keep as one of the slickest shooters around.
Review Score: 7.5/10
Metal Eden is bold, stylish, and relentless in its commitment to fast-paced action and stunning visuals. Its story reaches for depth but doesn’t always land, weighed down by erratic dialogue and familiar tropes. Yet when the guns roar and the cores fly, the game delivers a rush that few can deny. Reikon has built a world worth visiting, even if it doesn’t quite linger as long as it should.
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