This May, the official Gundam channel announced a series of projects for the "Gundam" 50th Anniversary, including new anime series, theatrical films, and a live-action movie, but notably did not announce any new electronic games. However, many "Gundam" fans already guessed that such a significant milestone would not pass without a new game. Amidst these speculations, everyone discussed what kind of game the new title would be: some guessed a new "Gundam Musou," others a new versus fighting game, and some even speculated an "Armored Core-style Gundam."
As expected, at the Summer Game Fest in early June, the new "Gundam" title "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" revealed its first trailer. Contrary to many guesses, it is neither a Musou game nor a versus fighter. Many elements in this work are unprecedented for the IP, such as the theme of Steel Gundams fighting alien organisms—a scenario rarely, if ever, seen in previous Gundam works.
Players have many discussions and curiosities surrounding the mech design, combat modes, enemy design, and even the developer, Bandai Namco. We share this curiosity.
Fortunately, Bandai Namco recently held a closed media demo. As an invitee, we were able to verify our curiosity during this session—
It must be said, the result was somewhat unexpected.
The content provided in this demo included three pre-set mechs with unchangeable configurations and two stages. One stage was a standard mission involving mob battles and minor plot points, while the other was a challenge stage against a large boss. The overall content volume was small; clearing all three mechs took less than an hour.
Yet even in this short time, you can clearly feel how this title differs from previous "Gundam" works, and even from many mech action games we are familiar with.
When game works involve themes like "Gundam" or "mechs," they naturally tend toward specific forms, akin to "fan-oriented works," adjusting many specific game designs to satisfy particular romantic ideals. We easily recall classic gameplay designs for "mech" games—highly customizable mech loadouts, the ability to equip and control multiple melee and ranged weapons simultaneously, and special high-speed movement modes relying on thrusters. These designs aim to shape the player's avatar more like a heavy robot than a human in a suit—the clever non-human feel and the metallic sense of power during movement and combat better fit the fictional layer expression required by this genre.
However, perhaps because mech games are too "niche," there is currently a lack of developers exploring such atypical designs. Balancing fluid controls with the fictional layer's design goals—allowing players to feel like ace pilots controlling steel beasts without cumbersome controls—is a task requiring experience and asset accumulation, much like designing the action system itself.
This is where "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" surprises. Although it belongs to the "Gundam" IP, which is strongly tied to "hardcore fan-oriented works," the developers seem uninterested in diving into a fan-centric frenzy like the "Super Robot Wars" series. Instead, many design choices indicate an intent to make the game as accessible to the general public as possible.
This intention is hinted at early on in the game's story background.
The world-building of "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" has been a topic of discussion since the trailer's release because the entire "Gundam" IP, regardless of the timeline, almost always focuses on conflicts between humans or between mechs. One of the most famous concepts in the franchise, "Newtype," with its psychic abilities, points to the theme of "how can people understand each other" within this space opera setting.
However, the worldview of "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" seems to deviate somewhat from this track, becoming a simpler, more direct binary worldview of "humans vs. alien monsters." Aside from classic elements like Gundams and Haros, the entire story presents a strong sense of independence, with greater differentiation than many previous Gundam works with original settings. Such a setting naturally results in what might be the most accessible "Gundam" work in history...
However, the game has enlisted Kenji Kamiyama and Toh EnJoe for world-building and storytelling. The former is famous for directing "Ghost in the Shell," and the latter gained renown for scripting the recent reboot "Ghost in the Shell: The Ghost in the Shell." Therefore, we likely don't need to worry too much about the quality of the game's narrative.
Furthermore, the design choices aimed at making the game more accessible to a broader audience are quite evident.
First, although the developers retained the common equipment customization found in mech games, they simplified its scale. Players can only customize modules like the mech body, thrusters, and weapons, rather than customizing every tiny component like a mechanic. Additionally, unlike many mech games that allow multiple loadouts, players can only equip one main weapon, one firearm, and one Revelation (a special equipment type, such as funnels) at a time.
The mechs provided in the demo had fixed, unchangeable loadouts. Therefore, in this version, we couldn't fully perceive the true nature of the simplified equipment system. However, from the differentiation in weapons, the functionality of Revelations, and the varying movement characteristics provided by thrusters, we can sense that this system should offer significant build diversity.
While simplifying the equipment system, they also adjusted the action experience to enhance speed and satisfaction, keeping the learning curve of the combat system relatively simple.
The combat system consists of three parts: the basic action system centered around "BOOST Energy," the "Tactical Energy" system used for tactical skills, and the "OVER-RISE" system that provides instant bursts of power.
At first glance, the combat UI displaying these different resources might be confusing. However, as you progress, you'll realize that these resources are quite abundant and don't require strict management. The combat loop provided by these systems involves first consuming "BOOST Energy" for standard actions like dodging, dashing, using weapon skills, activating Revelations, and shooting. When "BOOST Energy" is nearly depleted, you can switch to using "Tactical Skills" to continue attacking and countering enemies. Once the "G.U.N.RISE Gauge" is filled, you activate "OVER-RISE" mode, which fully restores "Tactical Energy," enters a burst state, and grants one opportunity to unleash a special move.
Generous energy supplies and a multi-resource system ensure players always have ample tactical options during combat, allowing for continuous offensives against enemies. This provides solid gameplay support for the game's exhilarating combat experience.
Thanks to high-production values, the combat animations are fast, powerful, and flashy. The powerful thrusters give your mech strong aerial capabilities. Together, these elements create the game's unique, high-mobility 3D mech combat that meets modern cinematic standards.
Regardless of how one defines mech games, "looking cool while fighting" is certainly a key criterion. The combat performance of "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" is undoubtedly among the "coolest" in mech games in recent years, which is one of its core competitive strengths.
In terms of specific combat systems, the game also includes many designs to meet players' desires for greater interactivity, varied combat styles, and lower operational burden.
The weapon design in this game is quite meticulous. Each weapon not only offers different light and heavy attack combos but also introduces different combat systems, including unique C-button derivations, weapon skills, and characteristics. These make the usage experience of each weapon vastly different and individually enjoyable.
For instance, the Assault Sword equipped on the Spiral Gundam in this demo is a weapon with a grappling hook dash skill. Its characteristic is "charge," allowing many C-button combos to be enhanced into charged heavy attacks by consuming extra "BOOST Energy." The damage is exaggerated—it looks like a one-handed sword module but outputs damage comparable to heavy weapons in many action games.
The Gunblade equipped on the Gilda emphasizes mid-range kiting. Its dodge-heavy attacks and many C-button combos charge the weapon skill via thrusting motions. Activating the skill fires several laser beams at the enemy, creating a unique combat loop of "dash in" and "retreat after using skill."
While ensuring excellent and interesting mech performance, the developers also enhanced the satisfaction of combat through enemy design.
As the battle progresses, monsters called "Revelations" will enter phases requiring specific player actions, such as releasing a swarm of bio-funnels that must be cleared with area-of-effect attacks, or exposing weak points for precise strikes.
In normal states, players rely on "Tactical Dodge" to interact with enemies. This ability is primarily used to evade attacks, but unlike standard dodges, successfully timing a "Tactical Dodge" allows the player to teleport to the enemy's side and follow up with an additional heavy strike.
In current action games, "precision dodging" is no longer a unfamiliar concept, but "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" further enhances the satisfaction of this mechanic. When entering "OVER-RISE" state, players not only gain more abundant "Tactical Energy" but also acquire the ability to automatically trigger "precision dodging" when hit by enemy attacks, similar to "Ultra Instinct" in "Dragon Ball Super." At this point, the player is practically invincible, needing only to figure out how to deliver a massive blow to the enemy.
Precisely because of "OVER-RISE," the combat process doesn't heavily test the player's manual dexterity. While interaction is ideal, the "G.U.N.RISE Gauge" fills up so quickly that achieving a state akin to "Ultra Instinct" is not difficult. Therefore, ignoring mechanics and simply "going all out against the enemy" is actually a viable strategy in this game.
Supporting this aggressive playstyle is the enemy toughness design. Dealing massive damage to an enemy in a short period can interrupt their actions and even knock them down stunned.
In addition, the game features an interesting "part destruction" system for enemies. Sustained, high-intensity attacks on specific enemy parts will destroy them, dealing massive damage, causing the enemy to stagger, and impairing their ability to attack using that limb.
For example, in the first stage, if you sever a giant's arm, it truly loses one side of its offensive capability when swinging wild punches; in the second stage, if you cut off an enemy's tail, you effectively reduce the range of its tail-based attacks.
The "part destruction" mechanic was the most surprising aspect of this game for me. In the comments section of the first trailer, a player joked that this game is like "using mechs from 'Mecha BREAK' to fight 'Monster Hunter'-style monsters in an 'Armored Core 6' aesthetic world." Clearly, the game's premise of piloting mechs to hunt giant alien monsters reminded him of the "Monster Hunter" series, but at the time, everyone just took it as a harmless quip—
But after actually playing the game, the vastly different styles and self-contained weapon systems, along with huge enemies featuring "part destruction" designs, gave me a strong sense of "this really is Monster Hunter." When I checked the resume of producer Yuya Tomiyama and discovered his involvement with the "God Eater" series, Everythinggj seemed to make sense.
Getting back to the point. The combat system of "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" differs significantly from many classic mech action games of the past. It leans more towards being a "satisfying action game"—with rich combat choices, low barriers to understanding and execution, gratifying combat feedback, and varied experiences. These elements make the title feel closer to a "standard" action game rather than a traditional "mech" action game.
But the extensive aerial combat, reliance on thruster-based movement, and the chaotic experience of funnels flying and shooting everywhere still highlight the essence of this game's mech combat.
Therefore, I can assert that "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" is likely the mech combat game most aligned with "mass appeal" in recent years. With production values meeting contemporary standards, excellent action choreography, and satisfying 3D combat, it retains its unique appeal even if you strip away the "Gundam" label.
One minor drawback was that the difficulty in this demo felt somewhat too low, possibly due to the game still being in development. While allowing aggressive playstyles is a plus for action games, excessively low difficulty turns combat into a smooth ride, which can easily make the gameplay feel like a "brain decomposer."
Additionally, during this demo, "ranged" attack options like firearms and funnels felt remarkably underwhelming. When a single charged heavy attack deals over 3,000 damage, a gun that only deals 100-200 damage per shot hardly inspires the urge to fire. Although I personally don't have a strong preference for ranged weapons, the experience of "clearing a 'Gundam' game demo without firing a single shot" was still quite peculiar.
Of course, these are all issues that can be resolved with numerical adjustments, which are easy to fix.
Overall, the demo of "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT" exceeded expectations. While maintaining high standards in audio-visual presentation and action choreography, it makes mech combat accessible and enjoyable for everyone. More importantly, all its current features impose almost no burden of prior knowledge regarding the IP.
Making "Gundam" works easier to watch and experience has been a consistent goal of the IP in recent years. While retaining the unique flavor of "Gundam," recent anime series have indeed been accessible even to those completely unfamiliar with the franchise.
Against this backdrop, "GUNDAM ROGUE ORBIT," released as part of the Gundam 50th Anniversary project, seems to have lowered this barrier to entry to a historical low.
Perhaps when the full game launches, we will see the rise of "the first Gundam game for the younger generation."