Review: Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion Feels More Personal

While I really enjoyed gameplay in the original Daemon X Machina, it struck me as so impersonal. I didn’t feel all that special. I was just another one of Orbital’s Outer mercs dealing with the Immortal enemies in my Arsenal mech. Honestly? It meant I lost my motivation to play sometimes. Things are much more personal in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion from its opening moments and that, combined with some really enjoyable exploration elements and missions, made the experience worlds better. If a Switch 2 owner is looking for a follow-up game to play after Xenoblade Chronicles X, this is it. 

If you’re returning to the series, some of the concepts are going to feel familiar. Immortal enemies still exist. Outers who have special abilities due to Femto energy are present, and they live in the Garden space ship above the planet. (Ordinary humans are on the planet below.) Arsenals exist naturally, with folks on both sides piloting those mechs. However, if you are new to Daemon X Machina, do not worry. This is such an easy game to get into, and it quickly introduces you to its world and combat.

That difference between the Outers and the Humans is part of the impetus for the whole story. Our avatar is an Outer named Nova who served on the Garden with the Sovereign Axiom Neun unit and was about to be unethically tampered with. Nova’s childhood friend Nerve found out and saved them. The two tried to make a break for it, but when faced with an overwhelming enemy got separated. Nerve sacrificed himself so Nova could get away, and once on Ground Nova’s new goal is to get back to Garden to return the favor. This means being recruited into the Human revolutionary faction known as the Reclaimers by Forge and taking on missions and fights to be able to get back. Again, it’s really designed to make you feel not only important, but like you’re starting to become part of a community.

I adored the Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion story. I absolutely fell in love with its themes and characters. Even some of the enemies are fascinating or just generally super cool due to who they are and their abilities, like Gaze and Legion. The introduction, which gets us involved in the whole conflict and sets up the relationship with Nerve, is so fantastic that I played for three hours straight my whole session because I liked Nerve and Forge so much. My biggest issue with the original Daemon X Machina is that I didn’t feel connected enough to its world and motivated to fight for the cause, and that is absolutely never an issue here. Here, I get to be surrounded by other people and accompanied by NPC allies who help enlighten me about details about the factions, themselves, and the world as we travel together. And, since I can choose how I respond to them in certain situations, it even offers the sort of idea that they “value” me. 

Images via Marvelous

The customization elements are absolutely fantastic too. And they keep coming up in different ways. Things start with a very comprehensive avatar designer that lets you decide exactly how Nova appears. Once you get to the Fort’s base, you can adjust the colors and patterns on your Arsenal, as well as apply decals and make them to further enhance it. When you get new armor and weapons, your mech changes when those are equipped. We can equip all sorts of weapons, mapped to the left and right triggers, left trigger, and Y button. It’s possible to mix and match ranged and melee, as well as projectiles. After you take down boss Immortals, it can mean getting genes you can activate at the base to get new skills, changing your appearance and gaining active and passive abilities in the process. And since you’re constantly finding equipment, growing in levels to enhance your capabilities, unlocking extra customization items like decals and patterns, and able to pay to reset your body after activating and equipping skills, you can basically change your entire identity and loadout at any time. While the original game did offer similar sorts of customization, it just feels like Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion goes above and beyond to let me get personal and fight my way.

Once you are settled, you set out into a rather open world filled with Immortals. You might happen upon items to gather, caves to explore, or other points of interest. I’d say Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is comfortably full of things to gather, but I did feel Xenoblade Chronicles X ended up offering more points of interest and variety. It isn’t as populated in terms of landmarks or really diverse enemies in the same way. Like the Nintendo title felt like a genuine ecosystem, while this is frequently sending similar sorts of Immortals and Sovereign Axiom or stray humanoids at me. Still, I loved how environments embrace verticality, making it enjoyable to explore upwards and around myself. This also meant taking flight while fighting is easy. Happening upon mounts also ended up being quite fun. And again, being able to attack while riding is helpful. But if you don’t want to fly, run, or ride through expanses, fast travel is really easy to unlock and features lots of convenient hubs.

Images via Marvelous

Said fights are really great and, while you do need to keep in mind so many buttons tied to so many attacks, abilities, and items, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion isn’t all that complicated. The tutorials are quite handy, and we’re given so many ways to approach combat. I liked to equip melee weapons to RT and LT, with a ranged gun on LB. I didn’t want to become too reliant on Immortal genes, so I took care with fusion. It’s easy to lock-on to enemies, then swap between opponents. Aiming is quite easy with ranged weapons, and projectiles are so fantastic if you find grenades. I also loved that all the melee weapons feel different, so I quickly equipped a heavier, slower-moving mace for the bigger opponents and lighter swords and lances for faster foes. Also, whether it’s a small or large space, it is very easy to keep track of the bad guys who are against you and retaliate. 

I will say I did notice some Switch 2 Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion minor technical hiccups. If an enemy is far away from you, their framerate decreases and movement looks awkward. When driving in a car, gravity can feel like a suggestion, it sometimes felt like the world around me struggled to keep up with that speed, and again I noticed some framerate awkwardness. The stylistic direction of the character models, Immortals, and environments do mean that even if you are playing in handheld mode, it still looks pretty good and impressive. I also noticed that in two later fights with an overwhelming number of opponents, the congestion and situation didn’t feel as responsive and easy to watch as earlier altercations. But then, I also played primarily in handheld mode on the Switch 2, and that could also affect things.

Screenshots by Siliconera

As for the online, I can’t speak to how well it does or doesn’t work. I actually didn’t get to play with anyone during my time with Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion on the Switch 2. I will say that I did see a lot of people’s bodies, though. If you are connected to the internet, you can see the fallen and loot their bodies. Most often, I only got Femto or ammo out of it, but it could be helpful. 

With Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, it feels like Marvelous is really trying to let us create the mech experience we want and loadout we want in a world that needs us. I feel like the interactions between characters and storytelling are so much stronger here, and because of that I wanted to spend more taking on both large and small quests. I felt pulled into the world even more than before, thanks to the ambiance and lore around me, and the ability to really adjust every part of my mech made it easy for me to survive and thrive. On Switch 2 I will say that Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion might occasionally have a few moments, especially if undocked, but I could see that being fixed with patches and they’re minor.

Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion will come to the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on September 5, 2025, and a demo is available.

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