Metal Bringer Steam Charts & Stats

Great game very easy to get into. I am having issues with random crashes with the popup 'fatal error' - hopefully will be patched out soon. The save always seems to pick up from the point of crash and its infrequent enough to not be a deal breaker

very well crafted game. Awesome mechas and builds. got lags sometimes due to too many explosions but it is just a minor issue.

default controls aren't great but gameplay is damn fun.

This game is a mixed one for me. It started off really cool, a neat concept game along with customizable mechs and deeper builds with the OS system that allows you to tailor your gameplay to a specific style. The story, NGL, I checked out of it very fast, it's nothing new "generic waking up from a cryosleep deep into the future with spoilers" The downsides really started showing about 8 hours in. The camera, good god. The camera. It sucks. It sucks SO badly, that was the biggest problem in this game. You have either 2/3 down camera or top down camera. Enemy mechs will be flying all over the place and above you. You will lose track of them cause the camera will not move properly. You have to move it yourself which while you're trying to dash, attack, dodge, jump and fly all at the same time is TOO much, you won't be able to bother with the camera, so you'll basically get shot from something you can't see. I won't post spoilers but the AI for the last 'fight' was mediocre and it became a chore and was not fun to play through. I got this on sale for $17.50 and I dunno, it's kind of worth it? I think cheaper would be a better deal for what the game offers. If you like charming art and/or mechs this isn't a bad game 8/10 at best with the last half of the game making it more of a 6.5/10

It took me a while to figure this game out, and in the interest of helping other people, this will be part review and part guide to actually playing the game :P The vibe and gamefeel of Metal Bringer for some intangible reason remind me of the Nintendo DS, a console which I've long-speculated is hiding a litany of undiscovered gems. Certainly some of the best games I've ever played were on that platform, and the chibi-pixel art style along with the obtuse mechanics and diehard Japanese flavor make this game feel like it escaped from a parallel dimension and landed on the PC. Essentially you'll be playing as a little chibi anime person who wields giant weapons and can decide to pilot an Armored Core style mech if you want. I avoided the Arms at first, but once I figured out how to use them they were awesome. The core gameplay loop here is straightforward roguelite kill stuff, die, repeat, but there's looting involved as well--if you do nothing but kill enemies and eventually die, you'll get a lot of currency, which you can use to level up your stats and affinities. The better play, however, is toughing out a run until you find either a blue Chip shop or orange Arms shop. Both of these shops will allow you to 'analyze' either parts or chips you find on your run, essentially permanently 'unlocking' them for use in future runs. This mechanic is central to the gameplay loop, and to my knowledge it wasn't particularly well explained, so once you wrap your head around it, you can decide if you like the game or not. Combat feels mushy but in a satisfying way--I'd compare it to something like Dynasty Warriors, where you *could* potentially deftly dodge out of the way of enemy attacks, but there's so much on screen at any one time you're much more incentivized to just swing away and hopefully kill everything in one hit, or stun them until they're dead shortly after. This works pretty well in practice, and I was surprised to find my stubborn refusal to switch builds was still eventually rewarded with a clear; it seems like you can brute force your runs, to an extent, just by upgrading your resistances and base stats, which isn't necessarily a bad thing--it just took a little while to figure out. There's also a fair amount of lore on display here, coupled with obvious passion for the world the game the is set in and the narrative it's telling. I foolishly skipped most of the lore until the very end, but seeing the 'false' end made me wanna replay the game and pay closer attention. Apparently there's a New Game+ mode? So that's awesome. My only major critique of this game, which isn't even really of the game itself, is just that because the systems are so dense and the instruction is so obtuse (okay maybe that is the game's fault but it's being translated so I can forgive a lot) AND because the game is originally in Japanese, there's very little online information available about it--which means if you get stuck or want some information, you'll probably be out of luck unless you're willing to scour Youtube videos. Again, not necessarily a big issue at all, but you'll have to commit to figuring things out on your own to a certain degree. Even if it's not the best rogue-ish anything I've ever played, the feeling of smooshing loads of guys, gathering up the bits and pieces of their exploded bodies, and romping around in a cool ass mech with giant swords is awesome. For that reason, I'd somewhat heavily recommend this game, as it's rare at this point for me to be happy with any action rogulite that isn't doing something new or interesting. If the cool art, mysterious setting/lore, or raw mech gameplay seems appealing, give this one a shot. EDIT: After scraping out a 'true end 'win, here are my tips for doing the same: - Focus on one weapon/build type. Variety might be appealing, but you have far more chip slots if you say, turn off every ranged chip and focus purely on melee ones, or vice versa. This applies to damage types as well--if you know the weapon you're starting with is beam type, turn off your solid enhancement chips, etc. - Levelling up your OS stats heals your Arms when you're deployed on a mission. You can abuse this by saving up a bunch of currency, then spending it on your cheapest, most inconsequential upgrades to get a bunch of quick healing. This is also a good strat just for opening chip slots. - Damage resistance is way more important than DPS and is kind of build-making--your ability to get through all the areas will be fine with whatever build, but for the final boss gauntlet, you'll need damage type resistances to get through, as well as money for healing and hopefully some rice balls as well. - If you're ever in a rough spot in terms of Arms health you can basically skip through areas over and over looking for a repair shop and then rush to it. That's all I can think of. Good luck to anyone else who plays looking for the true end! :3

First off: if you want a solid customization-focused mecha game and can look past the jank, DEFINITELY BUY THIS. There's a lot to love but I'm leaving a negative review based on some crippling first impressions in hope it's more visible to the publisher. This may change as I play more. [h3]The Good[/h3] Insane customization, exactly what I want to see in a mecha game. There's 26 weapon types grouped into classes but even in classes they have slightly different behaviors. Every weapon I've found so far has been fun to use and has a niche it excels in. Tons of head/leg parts with different mobility options and a choice between light frames with 2 weapons vs heavier frames with 2x2 weapons. The combat is simple but satisfying. It feels inspired by the trend of wave-survival roguelites popularized by Vampire Survivors. It does a great job setting itself apart with the active, engaging mech combat. You mow through waves of mooks for resources and then fight simple but engaging bosses with neat gimmicks. The upgrade system is also very satisfying and avoids many common roguelite pitfalls. There are two main types of upgrade. "OS Tuning" affects base stats/proficiency and increases based on your playstyle but you can also spend currency to level them manually. "Apps" are skills, each has a point cost taken from a pool. These are the major, gameplay-affecting upgrades which range from "gain more currency" to "add new moves to a combo" to "completely change how a weapon plays". I like that the progression sets itself apart from most roguelites. Almost all progress is incremental and persistent, though you will be scavenging enemy parts a lot in early runs. You aren't at the mercy of RNG to get the things you need to win, instead unlocking more content the further you survive that helps in your next run. [h3]The Bad[/h3] The camera sucks. This is the top complaint in every negative review and I fully agree. It's not unplayable by any means but the controls are... unconventional. R-stick pans, bumpers turn. There's only two vertical camera angles. I believe this is to emphasize the pseudo-isometric artstyle, but it hurts the game too much. I'd much prefer a traditional R-stick orbiting camera. The camera has a tendency of auto-panning to a priority target. Thankfully this is the one behavior that CAN be turned off, but many players may not know that unless they dig in the settings. The artstyle is great, but the pixel shader's default cell size is way too big. It can be nearly impossible to figure out what's going on in a busy fight, especially on lower resolutions. The ability to configure the cell size or turn the shader off entirely would be huge. The lack of a floor-wide map is crippling. You can see your current room in full with map markers for sites of interest, but each floor can be maze-like. Some unusual room connections make it hard to figure out where you are. Most floors have multiple exits so you'll typically stumble on one of them, but clearing entire floors and their gate bosses requires memorizing the layout. Apps don't tell you what they do until you analyze (pay to unlock) them. I can only imagine this is intentional, but it's a questionable choice. The first few batches you unlock will matter the most and their prices make this expensive experimentation. Likewise, there isn't much of a stat display in general so it can be hard to weigh what apps/OS upgrades you should invest in. This one's probably just me but the song that plays in the intro/lobby is grating... the soundtrack overall is quite good but that one track is rough on the ears :') Also, I discovered an annoying bug where the game can softlock if you open one of the D-pad menus while exiting your Arms. Luckily you just have to restart and it keeps your progress. [h3]Overall[/h3] Buy it if you want a mecha game with a ton of customization and/or if you like wave-based roguelites with lots of unlockable content. The current 30% off sale is a steal, full price is questionable. Beware that there is jank which may or may not be fixed, especially with the camera.

Could not get past the horrific camera angles and inability to see more then 5 feet ahead of your character. Makes what could have been a great game completely unplayable. Would take 2 seconds to fix and then I would love it.

I really like the game so far, but i wish it would give you the option to remove the pixel filter.

This is an isometric twin stick shooter with nonlinear progression that requires you to partially reset progress to level up, the moment to moment gameplay loop is simple and gets more engaging the more abilities you stock up on! The controls are similar to ones on the PSP where you have buttons to pivot the camera rather than your stick. I see a lot of people struggle with the camera so I found that, first off, using a controller was important, as well as rebinding the buttons to move the camera in a comfortable space, I use a ps4 controller and Square plus Circle worked well for me! This game has a story too, which is fairly simple. The whole atmosphere has fairly laid back vibes with implied darker themes. Enemies will say things like "Darn, you got me!" when destroyed, so that can probably give you an idea of the more light-heated aspects, generally humor is what you'd expect from a japanese title, similar to pokemon. Graphics are what made this stand out for me, it feels surreal like I'm playing an old arcade game but it also has ray-tracing, that was pretty cool. For 20 dollars USD I think it's worth, honestly there are worse games on steam for more, just don't expect it to change the way you view gaming or anything like that. This is one of those titles where you pick it up, play for like an hour, then put it down and go about your day!

Cute mecha roguelite with plenty of parts and upgrades to grind for in a short and simple gameplay loop. Definite pickup on sale and still acceptable base price. The good: -Plenty of different weapon combinations and upgrades to keep things fresh. Ranged or melee builds both have their strengths. -Fluid movement and good controls. I've seen complaints about the camera, but it can be rotated easily if it's an issue, which it very rarely is. -Quick progression so you don't feel like you're grinding the early levels forever just to get somewhere. The less good: -The chip system isn't all that intuitive. There are several chips that I never did get to do the thing they said they should. In a run, your HP will suddenly drop because your helper bot picked up a chip offscreen. There is also a pretty low ceiling for the number of chips you can install vs total available, so while you can have a melee weapon and a ranged weapon, your chips have to prioritize one or the other for best effect. -The mech parts system is fine and scratches the collector itch, but it's irritating to find a cool weapon for the left arm but not be able to equip 2 because you haven't found the right arm version. There are so many filler parts. I happened to collect the highest HP torso and legs pretty early and didn't realize it, so the rest of the torsos were just meh. -There's a big emphasis on collecting lore and unlocking different heads and bodies for your pilot, but the story is very simple and your pilot is usually in a mech or too small to see, so you don't really see the body anyway. It also keeps mech 6 on display while you're customizing your pilot, so you can have a weapon blocking your view unless you fiddle with the camera. The ungood: -This oversight needs its own section. You can customize 6 different mechs but only have one chip loadout, so while you can have some preset mechs to try different ranged vs melee builds, you have to go back and fiddle with your extensive chip loadout if you want to switch from ranged to melee perks, but the chip options are extensive, so it takes a while to switch them. Even just having 3 mechs and 3 chip loadouts would make more sense than how they did it.