Long-awaited metroidvania game Hollow Knight: Silksong is already proving to be a victim of its own success.

The unbearable hype surrounding its storefront-destroying launch, combined with the simultaneous release into the eager hands of both critics and players, has created a uniquely voracious narrative.

There’s a sense that one must devour Silksong all at once, or else risk being left behind and out of the loop on what is surely one of the biggest gaming events of the decade so far.

The problem is, Silksong is not a game to be binged. It’s a sprawling, complicated, and brilliant sequel that demands patience above all else. Only then does it fully reveal itself as a game that’s much more than the conversations around difficulty would have you believe.

Not even two weeks into its life, developer Team Cherry’s Silksong has largely been misrepresented and mislabelled as an impossibly difficult and sadistic continuation of 2017’s brilliant Hollow Knight. Of course, Silksong is a very challenging game; I agree with that wholeheartedly. It’s so much more than that, though.

As the dust settles, and now looking back on my first completed playthrough, I believe it’s going to take years for the collective player hivemind to truly unpack exactly what Silksong does well, and where it falters.

Rough starts and Bellharts

I made the decision to play the first five hours of Hollow Knight alongside those of Silksong’s. This is where the two games differ most drastically. Hollow Knight is much more generous with checkpoints, resources, and clear tutorial sections than Silksong.

Enemies hit hard from the get-go in the sequel, while Hollow Knight gives you some softball encounters to practice on before its first proper boss fight. These are very different games, diverging from one another almost immediately and taking very different paths towards completely different conclusions.

The opening hours of Silksong are likely to be where players find the most friction. Enemies frequently deal two full health segments of damage, though you’ll have more freedom in how you heal thanks to main protagonist Hornet’s increased speed and aerial options. Instead of a simple down attack, Hornet dives in diagonal needle drops. This in itself requires hours to master, and it’s made very clear that bouncing between enemies without touching the ground is the strongest strategy available to you at first.

Your main special resource in Silksong is the silk meter, which is primarily filled by hitting enemies. Upon collecting enough silk, you’ll need to make a quick decision: heal, or unleash a special attack to hopefully end a fight earlier. Risk vs reward is hammered home again and again in Silksong, and it's the first few hours where you’ll need to experiment with how you want to play. Eventually, you’ll get to the first town area, learn how to purchase items from merchants, and the currencies that you’ll have to focus on seeking out.

Rosaries are the main ones, but they’re also lost upon death, wrapped in a cocoon that must be retrieved in order to get them back. Shell Shards are somewhat supplementary, used to craft tools and open up your combat options.

My wallet is filled with moths

The economy between Rosaries and Shards is a tricky one to make the best use of. Silksong doesn’t give you many opportunities to get Rosaries consistently until a few hours in, while Shards aren’t particularly useful until you’ve bought tools and crafting kits from later merchants.

Tools become vital against flying enemies, bosses, and mobs of enemies, leading to one of the game’s key frustrations. To craft tools, you need Shards. To reliably purchase Shards, you must earn Rosaries, which come from exploring or, more reliably, killing enemies.

Many of the difficulty spikes I hit in Silksong completely cleared out my tools. I’d then have to travel elsewhere to farm Rosaries just to have enough tools to have another go at what was besting me. It’s reminiscent of the awful Blood Vial farming required for some bosses in Bloodborne, taking the player away from the action for repetitive bouts of repeated enemy hunting.

Unfortunately, this never really goes away in Silksong, and if anything, it becomes more common as you progress. The Shard vs Rosary reward balancing is ever so slightly off, making certain areas more and more difficult to progress through.

Shall we take a detour?

Silksong offers the same approach to problem-solving as seen in Elden Ring and its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, in that you’re supposed to go and find something else to do when a perceived skill wall presents itself. Silksong’s map is vast, and much of it is completely optional.

Many times, I’d find myself throwing Hornet into the same repeated encounter, as I grew increasingly tired of losing the same fight over and over. At a certain point, however, it clicked that I simply needed to open up the map, look for new paths, and follow them forward. Every single time I did this, I happened upon something that made my build stronger – be that secret bundles of Rosaries, new move sets and upgrades, or non-player characters (NPCs) that could be brought into particular fights alongside Hornet. I developed a mantra to live by: if a section took me more than five tries, I needed to go somewhere else.

Once I opened myself up to Silksong’s non-linear progression paths, I started to meet less friction. Side quests are smart new additions that gently nudge players towards points of interest: An old town built into caves of gold, silver, and bronze bells; a decrepit medical wing filled with Lovecraftian horrors and a few allies to meet; a new encounter at the starting village that changes its topography and makes use of music to deliver sorrowful worldbuilding.

Kicking over a log in the woods

Playing Silksong makes me feel itchy; I’m not sure how else to describe it. Anyone else who spent their childhood wandering around rain-soaked woodland and muddy river banks will know the feeling. You find a rotten piece of wood, roll it over, and jump back at the writhing cities of grubs, bugs, and spiders you’ve unearthed.

Stepping into every new area always feels like a log turned over. You’ll hear the scritch-scratch of tiny legs from somewhere in the shadows. Tiny gnats will whine nasally as you approach. There’s a griminess to Silksong’s initial zones that’s made all the more potent by the golden gleam and religious opulence of late-game areas.

All of this is achieved in a 2D game, mind you. Somehow, Team Cherry has managed to make even the simplest passages feel thick with dirt, fog, and dust. Light is expertly used to add extra volume and scale to the standard side-scrolling formula used in other modern Metroidvanias.

In comparison, the map is one area where there’s been the least innovation. You still need to purchase them before you’ll see certain areas; there’s still a Compass that takes up a Crest slot, and pins can be used to mark key information.

Given the added variety and scale of Silksong, it’s unfortunate that the map isn’t really up to the task of leading you through the game. There frankly needs to be more information on NPCs, added options for pin types, and a reworking of the way the compass works to measure up to the changes made in this sequel.

Sting like a Hornet

Playing as Hornet is a wildly different experience when compared to the silent Knight of the first game. Hornet has dialogue. She’s confident, empathetic, and sternly protective of her personal space. There’s also a concerted effort to contextualize Hornet within the world of Pharloom. You get the impression that she has a personal connection to the bugs you meet, and a genuine desire to help them.

I’m impressed by how well-rounded Hornet is as a protagonist, which makes the combat and boss fights all the more impactful. Silksong is once again filled with an expansive lore and world history. Having Hornet be a part of that lore is a master stroke that elevates the sequel above the first game.

Let’s dance

Silksong is at its best when you’re fighting a boss. Every single one is memorable: equal parts deadly and stunning, with clear design motifs bolstered by bespoke musical accompaniment. Many of the boss battles are intricately choreographed affairs. One early game fight with a needle-wielding foe plays out like a synchronized dance routine, all death-defying dives and sparking slashes of sharpened steel.

I’m struggling to remember another game that’s so filled with best-in-class bosses as Silksong. With enough patience and a bit of time spent exploring for upgrades, none of them feel unfair. The loop of slowly learning patterns and then executing daring counters is what all great boss fights are about. Silskong delivers again and again and again in this respect. I can’t wait to jump back in and face the gauntlet of bosses with new tactics, builds, and strategies, and there isn’t a single boss I’ll be skipping in a second playthrough.

Silksong is every bit the sequel that Hollow Knight deserves. It’s the spoils of a team going the extra mile. It’s challenging, yes, but take your time and explore the vast world of Pharloom, and you’ll be rewarded with yet another masterpiece. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Team Cherry, as it’ll never be a team that settles on delivering ‘just more Hollow Knight’.

Should you play Silksong?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

Silksong offers the option to turn off camera shake and customize HUD size. There are audio sliders for individual tracks, and you can remap controls. This is a very limited offering, with no color blind, difficulty, or repeated button input options available.

How I reviewed Silksong

My first playthrough of Silksong lasted 36 hours, and I spent a while doing every side quest available before the final boss fight, not counting courier missions. I still haven’t explored the two final sections of the map, and there are plenty of secrets and locked doors I didn’t get to before the end of the credits. I played Hollow Knight back in 2018, completing the main story and some of the first DLC. I intend to go back and play Silksong a second time, focusing on a different Crest, and making use of a completely different set of tools.

I played Silksong on Nintendo Switch 2, making use of the 120Hz mode when docked. The Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller was perfect for this game, though d-pad users may want to go for an alternative controller (the d-pad on the Pro 2 is very subpar when compared to other options like the 8BitDo Ultimate).

I ran Silksong on my LG UltraGear 4K gaming monitor (27GR93U), making use of the extra refresh rate options. Generally, I played Silksong docked, though I did play about five hours handheld.

First reviewed September 2025

Long-awaited metroidvania game Hollow Knight: Silksong is already proving to be a victim of its own success.

The unbearable hype surrounding its storefront-destroying launch, combined with the simultaneous release into the eager hands of both critics and players, has created a uniquely voracious narrative.

There’s a sense that one must devour Silksong all at once, or else risk being left behind and out of the loop on what is surely one of the biggest gaming events of the decade so far.

The problem is, Silksong is not a game to be binged. It’s a sprawling, complicated, and brilliant sequel that demands patience above all else. Only then does it fully reveal itself as a game that’s much more than the conversations around difficulty would have you believe.

Not even two weeks into its life, developer Team Cherry’s Silksong has largely been misrepresented and mislabelled as an impossibly difficult and sadistic continuation of 2017’s brilliant Hollow Knight. Of course, Silksong is a very challenging game; I agree with that wholeheartedly. It’s so much more than that, though.

As the dust settles, and now looking back on my first completed playthrough, I believe it’s going to take years for the collective player hivemind to truly unpack exactly what Silksong does well, and where it falters.

Rough starts and Bellharts

I made the decision to play the first five hours of Hollow Knight alongside those of Silksong’s. This is where the two games differ most drastically. Hollow Knight is much more generous with checkpoints, resources, and clear tutorial sections than Silksong.

Enemies hit hard from the get-go in the sequel, while Hollow Knight gives you some softball encounters to practice on before its first proper boss fight. These are very different games, diverging from one another almost immediately and taking very different paths towards completely different conclusions.

The opening hours of Silksong are likely to be where players find the most friction. Enemies frequently deal two full health segments of damage, though you’ll have more freedom in how you heal thanks to main protagonist Hornet’s increased speed and aerial options. Instead of a simple down attack, Hornet dives in diagonal needle drops. This in itself requires hours to master, and it’s made very clear that bouncing between enemies without touching the ground is the strongest strategy available to you at first.

Your main special resource in Silksong is the silk meter, which is primarily filled by hitting enemies. Upon collecting enough silk, you’ll need to make a quick decision: heal, or unleash a special attack to hopefully end a fight earlier. Risk vs reward is hammered home again and again in Silksong, and it's the first few hours where you’ll need to experiment with how you want to play. Eventually, you’ll get to the first town area, learn how to purchase items from merchants, and the currencies that you’ll have to focus on seeking out.

Rosaries are the main ones, but they’re also lost upon death, wrapped in a cocoon that must be retrieved in order to get them back. Shell Shards are somewhat supplementary, used to craft tools and open up your combat options.

My wallet is filled with moths

The economy between Rosaries and Shards is a tricky one to make the best use of. Silksong doesn’t give you many opportunities to get Rosaries consistently until a few hours in, while Shards aren’t particularly useful until you’ve bought tools and crafting kits from later merchants.

Tools become vital against flying enemies, bosses, and mobs of enemies, leading to one of the game’s key frustrations. To craft tools, you need Shards. To reliably purchase Shards, you must earn Rosaries, which come from exploring or, more reliably, killing enemies.

Many of the difficulty spikes I hit in Silksong completely cleared out my tools. I’d then have to travel elsewhere to farm Rosaries just to have enough tools to have another go at what was besting me. It’s reminiscent of the awful Blood Vial farming required for some bosses in Bloodborne, taking the player away from the action for repetitive bouts of repeated enemy hunting.

Unfortunately, this never really goes away in Silksong, and if anything, it becomes more common as you progress. The Shard vs Rosary reward balancing is ever so slightly off, making certain areas more and more difficult to progress through.

Shall we take a detour?

Silksong offers the same approach to problem-solving as seen in Elden Ring and its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, in that you’re supposed to go and find something else to do when a perceived skill wall presents itself. Silksong’s map is vast, and much of it is completely optional.

Many times, I’d find myself throwing Hornet into the same repeated encounter, as I grew increasingly tired of losing the same fight over and over. At a certain point, however, it clicked that I simply needed to open up the map, look for new paths, and follow them forward. Every single time I did this, I happened upon something that made my build stronger – be that secret bundles of Rosaries, new move sets and upgrades, or non-player characters (NPCs) that could be brought into particular fights alongside Hornet. I developed a mantra to live by: if a section took me more than five tries, I needed to go somewhere else.

Once I opened myself up to Silksong’s non-linear progression paths, I started to meet less friction. Side quests are smart new additions that gently nudge players towards points of interest: An old town built into caves of gold, silver, and bronze bells; a decrepit medical wing filled with Lovecraftian horrors and a few allies to meet; a new encounter at the starting village that changes its topography and makes use of music to deliver sorrowful worldbuilding.

Kicking over a log in the woods

Playing Silksong makes me feel itchy; I’m not sure how else to describe it. Anyone else who spent their childhood wandering around rain-soaked woodland and muddy river banks will know the feeling. You find a rotten piece of wood, roll it over, and jump back at the writhing cities of grubs, bugs, and spiders you’ve unearthed.

Stepping into every new area always feels like a log turned over. You’ll hear the scritch-scratch of tiny legs from somewhere in the shadows. Tiny gnats will whine nasally as you approach. There’s a griminess to Silksong’s initial zones that’s made all the more potent by the golden gleam and religious opulence of late-game areas.

All of this is achieved in a 2D game, mind you. Somehow, Team Cherry has managed to make even the simplest passages feel thick with dirt, fog, and dust. Light is expertly used to add extra volume and scale to the standard side-scrolling formula used in other modern Metroidvanias.

In comparison, the map is one area where there’s been the least innovation. You still need to purchase them before you’ll see certain areas; there’s still a Compass that takes up a Crest slot, and pins can be used to mark key information.

Given the added variety and scale of Silksong, it’s unfortunate that the map isn’t really up to the task of leading you through the game. There frankly needs to be more information on NPCs, added options for pin types, and a reworking of the way the compass works to measure up to the changes made in this sequel.

Sting like a Hornet

Playing as Hornet is a wildly different experience when compared to the silent Knight of the first game. Hornet has dialogue. She’s confident, empathetic, and sternly protective of her personal space. There’s also a concerted effort to contextualize Hornet within the world of Pharloom. You get the impression that she has a personal connection to the bugs you meet, and a genuine desire to help them.

I’m impressed by how well-rounded Hornet is as a protagonist, which makes the combat and boss fights all the more impactful. Silksong is once again filled with an expansive lore and world history. Having Hornet be a part of that lore is a master stroke that elevates the sequel above the first game.

Let’s dance

Silksong is at its best when you’re fighting a boss. Every single one is memorable: equal parts deadly and stunning, with clear design motifs bolstered by bespoke musical accompaniment. Many of the boss battles are intricately choreographed affairs. One early game fight with a needle-wielding foe plays out like a synchronized dance routine, all death-defying dives and sparking slashes of sharpened steel.

I’m struggling to remember another game that’s so filled with best-in-class bosses as Silksong. With enough patience and a bit of time spent exploring for upgrades, none of them feel unfair. The loop of slowly learning patterns and then executing daring counters is what all great boss fights are about. Silskong delivers again and again and again in this respect. I can’t wait to jump back in and face the gauntlet of bosses with new tactics, builds, and strategies, and there isn’t a single boss I’ll be skipping in a second playthrough.

Silksong is every bit the sequel that Hollow Knight deserves. It’s the spoils of a team going the extra mile. It’s challenging, yes, but take your time and explore the vast world of Pharloom, and you’ll be rewarded with yet another masterpiece. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Team Cherry, as it’ll never be a team that settles on delivering ‘just more Hollow Knight’.

Should you play Silksong?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

Silksong offers the option to turn off camera shake and customize HUD size. There are audio sliders for individual tracks, and you can remap controls. This is a very limited offering, with no color blind, difficulty, or repeated button input options available.

How I reviewed Silksong

My first playthrough of Silksong lasted 36 hours, and I spent a while doing every side quest available before the final boss fight, not counting courier missions. I still haven’t explored the two final sections of the map, and there are plenty of secrets and locked doors I didn’t get to before the end of the credits. I played Hollow Knight back in 2018, completing the main story and some of the first DLC. I intend to go back and play Silksong a second time, focusing on a different Crest, and making use of a completely different set of tools.

I played Silksong on Nintendo Switch 2, making use of the 120Hz mode when docked. The Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller was perfect for this game, though d-pad users may want to go for an alternative controller (the d-pad on the Pro 2 is very subpar when compared to other options like the 8BitDo Ultimate).

I ran Silksong on my LG UltraGear 4K gaming monitor (27GR93U), making use of the extra refresh rate options. Generally, I played Silksong docked, though I did play about five hours handheld.

First reviewed September 2025

Looter shooter Borderlands 4 is the first mainline game in developer Gearbox’s series that I’ve genuinely loved playing since 2012’s Borderlands 2.

While The Pre-Sequel, Borderlands 3, and spin-off Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands all had their own strong elements, something always felt like it was there to hamper overall enjoyment - be that poor pacing, agonizingly bad writing, or a lack of compelling endgame elements.

In many ways, Borderlands 4 feels like a fresh start for the series, and it’s packed with the kind of confidence that made the first two entries so endearing to me.

Chiefly, Borderlands 4 greatly tones it down on dated meme humor. It still doesn’t take itself too seriously, but characters know to read the room during the story’s more dramatic turns, while much of its comedy actually does land, and I had far more hearty laughs than I was expecting during my playthrough.

But of course, Borderlands’ story and style of humor are just the foundations, and I couldn’t recommend Borderlands 4 if its lootin’ tootin’ and shootin’ gameplay loop wasn’t up to code. And if you come to the series for the near-constant changeup of your guns, augments, grenades, and such, you’ll still find that superbly enjoyable loot chase here.

The biggest divergence in Borderlands 4 is its move to an open world. Outside of dedicated instances like vaults and end-of-chapter fortresses, the map is almost entirely seamless - the planet Kairos’s three major biomes connected in circular fashion. It’s impressive, even if the reduction in load screens leads to its own performance hitches, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

With a well-paced main story and plenty of side missions and activities on offer, there’s loads to do on your first Borderlands 4 playthrough. And while I did find the juice wasn’t always worth the squeeze with its optional diversions, I had a Torgue-sized blast with the game, and I feel the series has regained much of its edge and personality with this latest entry.

Killing time

Borderlands 4 takes place on the planet Kairos. Following the events of the third game, the planet has been thrown into disarray after the Siren Lilith forcibly transported the moon of Elpis into Kairos’s orbit. This completely shattered the flow of time and has allowed a dictatorial figure known as the Timekeeper and his underlings to seize control and keep the populace firmly under his control.

As one of four Vault Hunters, we’re captured by the Timekeeper but promptly escape from one of his facilities. From here, we travel to each of Kairos’s three biomes to free the people from his clutches and fold them into our Crimson Resistance.

It’s a simple plot, but one that serves the looter shooter action perfectly well. The Timekeeper himself isn’t exactly a villain to write home about, but I can understand that developer Gearbox Software probably wanted something a little safer after the disastrously ineffective and endlessly annoying villains of Borderlands 3.

On that note, as mentioned above, Borderlands 4’s writing is much stronger than its direct predecessor. Each playable Vault Hunter has bags of personality, while many of its side characters are surprisingly likable. Returning characters from previous entries are all winners, too, feeling better-written here than ever before. Yes, even Claptrap.

A rip-roaring good time

Not much has changed in terms of the overall gameplay loop in Borderlands 4. Despite the shift to an open world, you’ll still encounter plenty of camps of baddies (the main two factions being Psycho-like Rippers and the Timekeeper’s robotic Order), and plenty of hives of fauna like flying Kratches and skittering Creeps.

There are plenty of variants therein, too, including tougher ‘Badass’ enemies, enemies with behavioral modifiers (including status changes and on-death effects), and powerful world bosses.

Traversal does have some new quirks, though, and movement in Borderlands 4 feels better than it ever has in the series. Your grapple is a huge new addition, letting you quickly assail to higher points via grapple nodes, or for grabbing and tossing various explosives at your foes. A new glider, quick-dodge, and air dash are also really welcome, and add plenty of dynamism to both combat and traversal.

You also have quick access to a speedy hover vehicle, which can be spawned at any time (provided you’re not in a zone that doesn’t allow you to drive). I much prefer this over having to trudge to garage locations as you had to in the older games, and it makes getting around the massive Kairos map a breeze. Though fast travel locations are also available at large quest-giving outposts and after clearing certain zones of goons.

There is plenty to do throughout the open world, including side missions, and optional challenges like finding hidden vault symbols, clearing outposts, and finding vault key fragments. Though I never felt particularly incentivized to go full completion mode here, especially as the bulk of challenge rewards simply provide you with storage deck upgrades for expanding ammo capacity and backpack space. A useful upgrade for sure, but a pretty unglamorous one.

It's not his vault

The stars of Borderlands 4 are of course its playable Vault Hunters, and we’ve got a memorable cast this time around. I completed my first playthrough (as I typically do with the series’ games) with the Siren class, Vex. She’s easily my favorite Siren in the series to date, packing a delightfully smug and edgy personality with some truly devastating action skills, such as summoning copies of herself to distract enemies and deal elemental damage to them.

Harlowe is another superb addition to the roster. While her action skills can lean towards support and crowd control, my favorite has to be her Chroma Accelerator - the Vault Hunter equivalent of a massive nuke. Action skills like this and those found on other characters can of course be further modified through skills (you still get one skill point per level), and respeccing is inexpensive, allowing you to experiment to find a build that feels right for your playstyle.

Naturally, you’ll be swimming in guns, grenades, and other glorious forms of destruction. The rarity system is still in place, with rare, exotic and legendary guns offering increasingly more stats and modifiers. What’s great about equipment in Borderlands 4 is that guns can be made up of parts from multiple manufacturers.

For example, a Jakobs gun can pack a mighty punch, but a Maliwan underbarrel may give it access to an elemental alt-fire, like a corrosive gas cloud or electrical taser. A Tediore attachment might also let you lob the gun at enemies instead of reloading it, causing more damage the more ammo it has in the chamber.

Grenades have seen a massive upgrade, too, and now come in several forms. Jakobs ‘grenades’ for example are now devastating throwing knives. You can also equip an Ordnance in your grenade slot, effectively replacing the rocket launcher weapon type from prior games. Oh, and better yet, grenades are now replenishable on cooldown as opposed to being their own ammo type.

Glitch in the system

I have greatly enjoyed my time with Borderlands 4, but there are definitely a few bugbears to make note of, particularly when it comes to performance. Having a big open world is nice, offering plenty of variety from verdant forests and snowy peaks to arid Pandora-like deserts and dilapidated factories and high-tech bases.

There is a cost to the world’s more seamless nature, though. Performance, at least on PC, could be much better. Frame drops and hitches were a constant annoyance over the course of my playthrough, even with one of Nvidia’s current-generation graphics cards. DLSS and frame generation are supported and do help to smooth things out to a degree, but the overbearing issues certainly remained.

Another issue I ran into was that my graphics settings would slightly alter sometimes when I booted the game. Usually, this was DLSS disabling itself or changing preset, but sometimes the entire graphics preset would increase or decrease, leading to some fiddling around when I noticed performance was worse than usual. Hopefully this is something that gets addressed soon in post-launch patches.

Gameplay-wise, I think some of the enemy modifiers could do with a bit of tweaking, at least for a first-time normal mode playthrough. Enemies with regenerating health or additional health, armor, or shield bars weren’t particularly interesting to fight, mainly acting as irritating bullet sponges.

But to end on a high note, I really enjoyed Borderlands 4’s music. It’s never been something that particularly stood out to me in the other games, but here, it sets the stage for combat very well. Engaging Rippers, for example, will be accompanied by a fast-paced punk rock sound. While the robotic Order troops prefer a more techno-driven soundscape. It’s genuinely great stuff.

Should you play Borderlands 4?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

Borderlands 4 is teeming with accessibility options. Robust subtitle options are featured, including size, color, and background opacity. There are several audio presets for those who are hard of hearing, as well as protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia colorblind settings for user interface elements. Oh, and if you really can't stand Claptrap, there is a dedicated volume slider for him, too.

How I reviewed Borderlands 4

My first playthrough of Borderlands 4 lasted 40 hours for this review. That included a complete playthrough of the main campaign, while also ticking off several side missions, objectives, and vault challenges. Having poured hundreds of hours into previous games in the series, I went out of my way to compare the quality and quantity on offer here in relation to other Borderlands titles, and came away satisfied with this latest entry.

I played on my new gaming PC, powered by an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 GPU and Intel Core i5 14400F CPU, via Steam, primarily using the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Controller, with some time also spent playing the game with mouse and keyboard. While my main playthrough was with Vex, I also tested the other Vault Hunters including Harlowe, Rafa, and Amon.

First reviewed September 2025

I think mecha action role-playing game (RPG) Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is worth checking out. While clearly taking inspiration from the Xenoblade Chronicles series - particularly Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition - it nonetheless boasts excellent customization options and some very neat ideas all its own.

If you like fine-tuning mech builds and applying your own stamp of visual flair, a la Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, then Titanic Scion will definitely scratch that itch. Parts, weapons, and auxiliary equipment are all individual pieces of gear, allowing you to build a loadout to suit your specific play style and preferences. You can then also apply distinct color schemes and decals for a more personal touch.

The game’s fusion system is similarly brilliant, altering your character’s appearance in alarmingly eldritch fashion and unlocking new abilities for your mech suit and its various weapon types. For me, this was Titanic Scion’s coolest feature, and it was always fun to see what kinds of crazy combinations would come as a result of the fusion system.

It’s a shame that everything else surrounding these great elements feels half-baked. Its story, characters, and voice acting range from nonsensical at best to downright annoying at worst. Those big explorable open areas are also shockingly lifeless, with little to do outside of setting up supply outposts, finding the odd bit of loot, or mining for resources. Interior locations are even worse, with bland corridor-like design and endlessly respawning enemies to deal with.

It’s all capped off with combat that feels rather listless. There’s little impact on your attacks, and some of the slower, heavier weapon types are rendered useless thanks to the game’s relatively fast pace.

Ultimately, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is a game I want to love, and it’s got plenty going for it. There are just far too many frustrations present to wholeheartedly recommend it to a wider audience. But if you love mech suits and strong customization elements, it’s definitely worth a look, especially as it has a playable demo.

Against the world

Take out your notebook, because Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion’s plot involves a lot of quirky terminology that can be quite difficult to parse in its initial hours. Essentially, the plot revolves around a planetary conflict between humans and a race known as ‘Outers’. Outers are capable of turning themselves and humans into Immortals, monstrous creatures that vary in size and power. Both sides also make use of a substance called Femto - crystallized Immortal remains - to power both themselves and their ‘Arsenal’ mech suits.

It’s a lot at first, but the story really boils down to ‘humanity rises up to fight a genetically enhanced, technologically superior evil empire’. The main cast of villains, then, is a group known as the Neun; nine high-ranking Outer generals, each with their own specialties.

I’m not really a fan of the story for various reasons. It’s fairly cookie-cutter, and its cast of characters range from bland to insufferable, with few that are actually outright likable or well-written. But one aspect I do like is that our player character - whom you customize via a character creator at the start of the game - is an Outer that reluctantly sides with the humans to get revenge against their masters.

It’s certainly the most interesting part of the plot. Many members of the Reclaimers (that’s the resistance outfit we ally ourselves with) are understandably wary and slow to trust our character. And we also don’t do ourselves any favors by being brash and rude towards human characters. However, we are the Reclaimers’ wild card, so it’s usually down to us to sort things out and pull its other members out of the various fires they find themselves in.

Built to last

So the story’s not much to write home about, but it thankfully does not get in the way of what Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion does really, really well. And that’s customization. Being a game where you’re spending 99% of your time in a mech suit, you want to make sure it’s a place you can call home. Titanic Scion delivers that feeling in spades.

Firstly, your Arsenal suit is broken down into various parts: head, torso, legs, and left and right vambraces. These usually come in light, medium, and heavyweight flavors, though some parts offer additional perks like better laser weapon defence or increased stamina or Femto reserves.

Then there are the weapons, of which there are loads of different types. One and two-handed swords, maces, mauls, laser blades, bows, Gatling guns, and even fist-type weapons that quite literally pack a punch. You can equip up to four weapons on your suit, and you also have space for a shoulder-mounted weapon and auxiliary unit like homing missiles, shields, or an ammunition pack.

Your character and their Arsenal suit can also be customized aesthetically, using a wide range of color palettes, text, decals, clothing, and facial features. At your home base, you can change your look at any time entirely for free, so Titanic Scion does a great job of encouraging you to mix things up from time to time.

Build variety feels truly limitless, and while the breakneck pace of combat renders some options borderline useless, I still can’t help but appreciate the sheer variety of equipment on offer. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to try out different styles, too, as enemies out in the field routinely drop Arsenal parts and the like on death.

That leads me into the loot system, which I wasn’t sure of at first, but did grow to like quite a bit. Basically, fallen enemies and bosses often house multiple pieces of loot, but you can only choose one before the wreckage dissolves. Often, this means you’ll have to think carefully about which items you want to pick up. A stat-boosting vambrace might be the way to go, but if you’ve run low on healing items, grabbing a healing spray from the corpse might not be a bad idea, either.

Fusion frenzy

Customizing your character and Arsenal doesn’t stop there. Partway through the game, you’ll be introduced to fusion, which your character, as an Outer, can make liberal use of. While you’re out exploring, you can occasionally pick up DNA from fallen enemies as loot, and certain combinations of DNA can unlock various weapon skills and ancillary abilities, such as providing you with an auto-dodge or cloaking.

Take this DNA to the fusion chamber at home base, and it’ll be integrated into your character, permanently unlocking these abilities. The trade-off is that fusion can drastically alter your character’s physical appearance, too, turning them into a bit of a monstrosity - and that’s awesome.

Seeing your character grow increasingly more eldritch as you pile up fusions is a clever method of visual progression and storytelling. And while you can reset to your default appearance for a hefty credits fee, you likely won’t have such funds until near the end of the game.

Fusion is where your build really comes alive. The abilities you unlock can be set to each weapon type so long as they’re compatible with that weapon. Examples include an overhead strike with blades or a Matrix-style spin-and-shoot technique with various firearms. Some are certainly more powerful than others, but the ceiling for player expression here is impressively high.

Don't stop to smell the roses

With such a strong showing on the customization and build variety fronts, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion would be well on its way to a glowing review. Unfortunately, many of its other aspects fall well short of providing a decently enjoyable experience.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the game’s large, open maps, one area where it takes clear inspiration from developer Monolith Soft’s much-praised RPG series. In Titanic Scion, however, these areas are visually bland and really don’t offer much in the way of rewarding exploration.

At best, you’ll come across a cave network or underground bunker to check out for additional loot, but I couldn’t stomach doing more than a handful of these. They have largely identical layouts and rely on a very boxy, corridor-like design that’s just a slog to get through.

Despite the size of the world, it immediately feels rather small, as your Arsenal suit has the ability to fly at great speeds. While this in itself is cool and can feel quite liberating, being given such a function right at the start of the game disincentivizes exploring these areas properly. But even then, you’re largely running into simple things like setting up supply outposts, small pockets of enemies, and the odd emergent quest.

Speaking of quests, side missions are especially dull. Often boiling down to simple fetch quests or taking out a pack of baddies, they rarely offer anything rewarding or narratively compelling. And that’s a shame, as you’ll need to spend much of the early game ticking off these missions to build up funds and materials for Arsenal parts and home base improvements.

Should you play Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion?

Play it if...

Don't buy it if...

Accessibility

There’s a good amount of accessibility options in Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion.

Protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia colorblind settings are available, and you can adjust the filter intensity of them. Controls are fully customizable, and you can even adjust the size and position of all HUD elements.

Further tweaks, like individual vibration values for various actions, are also welcome.

How I reviewed Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion

I put in around 25 hours into Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion for this review. I played the game on PlayStation 5, primarily using the DualSense Wireless Controller, on an LG CX OLED TV.

Those 25 hours were enough to see the game to its conclusion, as well as tick off a handful of side missions, some exploration of the world, and the optional one-on-one colosseum battles at the home base.

First reviewed September 2025