When I saw the Morbid Metal booth at this year's Tokyo Game Show, I was somewhat surprised.
It's worth noting that while Morbid Metal is published by Ubisoft, its development was entirely handled by the independent studio SCREEN JUICE. Interestingly, Ubisoft chose to spotlight Morbid Metal separately, giving it its own booth at the Tokyo Game Show, rather than focusing on its many internal "flagship" titles.
Given that Morbid Metal is a moderately popular 3D action roguelike, receiving such attention is reasonable. Several years ago, it already garnered significant interest for its high-quality visuals, flashy combat animations, and the mechanic allowing real-time form switching during battles.
Perhaps due to its existing popularity, the Morbid Metal booth attracted a steady stream of players at this year's Tokyo Game Show, with long queues forming for demo trials.
So, how does Morbid Metal perform? After trying it out firsthand at the Tokyo Game Show, I feel one word sums it up: "Satisfying."
Visually, the gorgeous combat animations are highly enjoyable to watch. The collision and fusion of futuristic sci-fi aesthetics with traditional Asian elements create a unique visual impact.
In terms of combat experience, the character's high mobility allows players to maneuver freely across the battlefield. The action system is clean yet deep, with different weapon forms offering new attack derivations that can be combined with skills to create lengthy combos. Hearing keywords like "maneuver freely" and "lengthy combos," you might assume Morbid Metal is a high-difficulty game that would deter many action-game newcomers. However, most high-reward actions in combat have been simplified to be relatively easy to master, including some "wheelchair" options akin to the infamous "Iaijutsu."
"Maneuvering freely" doesn't require mastering complex techniques or triggering special mechanisms; it's simply a matter of the character's inherent capabilities. The player-controlled mech has a fast dash speed that monsters can't keep up with, allowing for easy "marathon" kiting. After dashing, the mech can perform a double jump followed by another dash. Even the starting character has two skills that include movement abilities.
However, such powerful mobility isn't a design oversight but rather intentional. The game deliberately includes performance-oriented platforming sections in the corridors connecting battle rooms, allowing players to enjoy the thrill of high-speed traversal. Exploration rewards are even placed in map corners and pathway forks, encouraging players to use their high mobility to wander around.
With such prominent mobility, you might worry about targeting and hitting enemies while moving at high speeds. After all, for highly mobile 3D action games, the traditional lock-on mechanism that "forces monsters to stay in the center of the screen" is often impractical.
Therefore, in addition to the traditional lock-on mode that can be manually activated, the game also offers a soft lock-on mode.
In soft lock-on mode, players can freely rotate the camera, while attacks automatically target the enemy closest to the center of the view. This design preserves the player's freedom to observe the battlefield while making it easy to hit enemies during high-speed movement, greatly enhancing combat fluidity and satisfaction.
When it comes to the combat experience, although the game offers multiple attack modes and skill combinations, the actual execution is quite straightforward.
Simply put, attack modes and skill sets are linked. When players switch a character's attack mode (represented in-game as switching characters), the skills automatically change to match the new mode. Taking the two attack modes available in the demo version as examples, the "Katana" mode focuses on agility and high-frequency attacks, so it pairs with skills like "Thrust Slash" and "Dimensional Slash," which offer both mobility and damage avoidance.
Meanwhile, the "Poleaxe" is heavy-hitting, focusing on strong strikes and area damage, so its accompanying skills are wide-sweeping group attacks like "Whirlwind Slash" and "Overhead Smash."
On top of this, all skills can be executed with a single button press without complex inputs, using a cooldown system. Players can create smooth combos by combining basic attacks with skills.
As a result, players can easily remember the skill effects associated with different attack modes and effortlessly execute their desired combos. By focusing solely on the combat rhythm of the currently selected attack mode, they can flexibly adapt to various enemies on the battlefield.
A special mention goes to the "dodge" mechanic—dodging can cancel any ongoing action, and its timing window is quite generous. Triggering a "Perfect Dodge" allows players to chain into special counterattacks, dealing massive damage while invincible.
Just how "high" is this damage?
To put it simply, monsters that previously required a full combo of basic attacks and skills to chip away at can be instantly obliterated with a single dodge counter.
Indeed, the benefits of a perfect dodge are so exaggerated that during combat, I can just stand still, follow the "traffic rules," wait for monsters to "turn red," perform a perfect dodge, and follow up with a counterattack to easily defeat every enemy lunging at me. It's hard not to recall the mindless "parry-and-riposte" mechanics from early Assassin's Creed titles.
Therefore, if you're not concerned with looking stylish, you can rely on a single effective strategy and simply enjoy the satisfaction of powerful combat.
However, the current overpowered status of "dodge counters" is based only on the short demo experience and may not hold true in later stages. Considering the post-battle "choose one of three" rewards, the roguelike in-run progression offers generous stat boosts. It's possible that by mid-game, players' main damage output will become tied to their builds. At that point, "dodge counters" might no longer be an outlier attack method but will complement other diverse skills and strategies, contributing to a varied combat system.
Unfortunately, due to limited demo time, I haven't seen the full picture of late-game builds. However, from the already unlocked in-run progression items, the roguelike elements have shown many different build directions, hinting at significant potential.
Even if dodge counters remain dominant in the mid-to-late game, I don't think it's a major issue.
To encourage players to pursue more flashy combat performances, Morbid Metal features a scoring system similar to Devil May Cry.
While dodge counters are powerful, relying on them mindlessly as a "wheelchair" tactic doesn't look very impressive. To achieve high scores, players need to utilize other abilities to enhance the visual spectacle of combat.
Overall, Morbid Metal has found a clever balance between "satisfaction" and "depth." It allows casual players to enjoy mowing down enemies using "wheelchair" tactics, while also providing hardcore players with room to pursue stylish gameplay through its scoring system. Whether you're a veteran seasoned in action games or a newcomer just starting out, Morbid Metal is worth a try.