Metal Eden preview: A chaotic and frenetic blast in a dystopian future

While I would argue that the name Metal Eden isn’t entirely unique, making me think of a PS3 era game you’d find on a supermarket shelf, what’s contained within the borders of this sci-fi action shooter is a true gem that pulls influences from far and wide with huge levels of success. Perhaps the biggest inspiration lurking beneath the shiny, though often corrupted sci-fi exterior, is Ghostrunner, but I’ll come to that shortly.

Imagine, if you will, a heroine in a far-flung future, an attitude and style akin to Metroid’s Samus Aran, launching herself about a gritty arena, snapping to grapple points, blasting away waves of enemies with the grunt of a DOOM game. You wouldn’t be far off of Metal Eden, which bothers more with the frenetic action of point to point battles than its perhaps tropey plotline.

Metal Eden was unveiled at Sony's State of Play this week

I say this with love, as I’m often a fan of sci-fi stories, especially if they’re taking humanity to the brink of collapse. However, I’d say this is just a backdrop to the action, moreso than other games, because while a robotic voice fed me intriguing lines of dialogue, they very much became an afterthought to the bombastic chaos of a run through the city of MOEBIUS.

While I spent an hour with the latest game from the studio who previously brought us RUINER, I barely breathed as the action swept me through various moments of pulse-pounding gunplay. Here’s where we circle back to Ghostrunner, because as I controlled Aska, running along walls, landing at the feet of an enemy to blast them away, the adrenaline was pumping in the same way I felt throughout the campaign there. Though Metal Eden does differentiate itself in some ways, the core of the game is all about dashing around, rarely stopping, and unleashing myriad weapons on robotic enemies. Small arenas are linked by moments of traversal, usually zip lines or using your jetpack to reach higher platforms. Once you’ve entered a more open zone, enemies will come at you in waves, and they hit hard - standing still will likely see you dying in the street.

Deep Silver

It’s not all gunplay, though the guns are sublime, Metal Eden has perhaps the best shotgun I’ve handled since Halo 2. A key ability is telekinetically pulling the cores from the chest of the enemy robots. These are either launched at others to explode and drop ammo, or can be absorbed to unleash a heavy-hitting melee that drops the shields of tougher bots.

Dotted around the arenas are launch pads and surfaces that allow a wall run to keep you moving, and these often have shields and health pickups nearby for a handy pickup. Believe me when I say, with all sincerity, that the guns feel tremendous. Properly crunchy and hefty. There were only a few to try out in the preview build, but each has their own vibe, with no weak point in the arsenal.

You start with an assault rifle that overheats quickly but spits bullets with a rapidity that feels exhilarating; then there’s the shotgun that spatters ammo in a scattering shot with plenty of punch behind it. A third gun, a pistol, fires a horizontal line of projectiles with an explosive kick, and all of these can be upgraded by spending DUST at vendors throughout the levels.

As I relied on the pistol to clear a lot of enemies, I upgraded it to feature a secondary shot which would lock onto enemies before blasting out a small rocket. Each gun can be refined to fit your playstyle or suit the combat. And this variety plays out in each encounter as you adapt to the different enemies, whether they have shields, or whether they’re flitting about through the air like mechanical gnats.

Deep Silver

I mentioned the grapple, which comes in handy a fair amount, pulling you up to heights, or adding to the versatility of the platforming. I’m unsure if it can later be used to pull in enemies, but even without that mechanic, you’ll feel like a badass as you zip around, pulled by a thread to a far off point to either slay more, or simply regroup.

There are ways to upgrade our hero, with three areas to focus on. When you complete an arena, you’ll get an upgrade point - I put mine into extending the distance of the ‘core pull’ so I could stop enemies from a distance, but there are plenty of options to choose from, and each leans into a fresh way to tackle the battles. While I didn’t get a chance to try it, Metal Eden continues to call back to Metroid by giving Aska the ability to turn into a small mechanical ball, which is shown in the trailer.

As my hour with the game came to an end, I could see the potential here. Whether you’re playing for high-octane action, a punishing experience to overcome, or with the idea of speedrunning through the levels, there’s a lot in Metal Eden to love, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting getting my hands on the game again in May.