Morbid Metal: The Character Action Roguelite

Fans of Devil May Cry-style action games and roguelikes? Screen Juice and Ubisoft have just the thing for you with their game, Morbid Metal. Relentless pace and potentially infinite replayability, amidst piles of robots to slice and electronic music: a perfect combination. The early access version, coming out in a few days on Steam, allows us to sample a small portion of the planned content, but the premises are already excellent. Below are our first impressions.

Morbid Metal doesn't seem to have a story to tell, and certainly doesn't try to. We find ourselves in a simulation within a post-apocalyptic reality, spurred on by a voice in our head, a certain "Operator," who intends to prepare us for who-knows-what through an endless series of battles. In the shadows, a second entity, Eden, will provide us with solace and support during the trials. Logs found scattered around delve deeper into characters and enemies, but pieces are clearly missing. No big deal, even with a well-defined context, the main objective wouldn't change: pulverize everything that moves (with style), die horribly at the first lapse in attention, and immediately return even stronger.

Morbid Metal's level design is linear and consists of a series of large arenas where you fight it out, connected by short corridors, often purely accessory. Occasionally we find forks in the road or hidden passages that lead to additional challenges or resources, as well as extra credits and health scattered along the way, but the path to follow is always one, and the emphasis is entirely on the encounters.

Each room will force us to battle a series of robots before we can proceed. The archetypes aren't many at the moment and are easily recognizable: the little ones with a habit of moving in groups, the big ones with heavy weapons and huge shields, the drones that buzz around us before shooting treacherously... Their patterns are equally basic, but they compensate with numbers, they don't take turns attacking, and if they hit us, the damage is substantial.

Once defeated, we'll receive a reward, either an upgrade to an ability we possess or a new one to replace it, and so on until the end-of-level boss, who will grant us access to the next biome. Sporadic checkpoints will allow us to invest accumulated credits to heal or purchase further improvements, while in case of death, we'll return to the central hub, where we can spend the rest of the loot on permanent bonuses, including damage dealt, percentage increases, and more frequent service stations. Nothing could be simpler or something we haven't seen elsewhere.

Morbid Metal's strong point lies in its combat system. Fast, dynamic, and highly spectacular, it's a real joy to experience. It may not have the same depth as the genre's sacred cows, but its fundamentals are rock-solid and it knows how to entertain. Our alter ego doesn't have a particularly elaborate move set, but is limited to one combo and three abilities: two primary, with a short cooldown, and one special, stronger but with a longer recharge and tied to our performance in the field. Its peculiarity lies in the ability to "equip" four characters (for now only three) and switch between them on command, without animations or downtime. This allows you to always have at least one skill online and adapt your setup to the circumstances. On paper, it should be possible to transform in the middle of a sequence, but it seemed feasible only in "neutral" positions, both on the ground and in mid-air. Increasing the tolerance slightly, in my opinion, would make engagements even more engaging.

Even so, the controls are extremely responsive and every interaction is a lot of fun. Hits have good impact and you can reposition yourself in an instant. Currently, there are no parries or guards of any kind; to stay safe, you resort to classic dodges. The execution window is quite generous, however, by waiting until the last moment and diving into the attack, you can respond with a powerful counter. Frequently nailing the timing and regularly changing avatars and techniques, perhaps without getting hit, increases the "style meter," which ranges from a mediocre D to the iconic SSS. Reaching the latter provides great satisfaction, but apart from a faster recovery of the special ability, I don't think it grants other bonuses, and that's a shame. We hope they add more in the future.

In this regard, the "rogue" component falters a bit compared to the action. Parametric boosts between runs are welcome (very Rogue Legacy-like), but the in-game ones are few and don't greatly influence our way of playing. No matter what we pick up, the style of the three characters is set in stone: Flux zips from one target to another, hitting them in blind spots with quick combos; Ekku is slower, but boasts a greater range, plus the ability to stun enemies and resist their assaults; Vekta, on the other hand, throws shurikens from a distance and can manipulate the battlefield with his telekinetic powers. Each has six skills, so it won't be long before you see them all in action, and the perks are limited to adding peripheral properties like critical hits on full-health targets, passive damage, and single-use barriers.

Their effectiveness is undeniable, but the differences between one session and another are minimal, and the repertoire is so limited that before the end of the second level, we've already unlocked everything, to the point of only getting credits as a reward for encounters. As it stands, to see more or less the entire package, you'll need five hours, about ten to complete the skill tree, and probably less if you're familiar with the genre. Let's just say that if I keep going, it's because I love the combat system and the atmosphere, not because I'm curious to discover what build might emerge.

Some doubts also about the bosses, given that they spend a lot of time not directly confronting the player. Saru, in fact, seems more focused on spamming AOEs on the ground and (literally) punching us from above, while Prophet usually flies around, bombing us with lightning. They are challenging enough, but I sincerely hope that future adversaries don't devolve the formula into a 3D bullet hell. After all, NieR: Automata and Returnal are among the title's inspirations, but I trust the developers' judgment.

As for the presentation, Morbid Metal offers two rather interesting locations. As already anticipated, their basic structure is elementary, a series of arenas and antechambers mixed at the beginning of each run, but the decadent sci-fi design, combined with oriental accents, makes them very evocative. Both the Sublime Garden and the Steel Sanctuary are little more than decorations for the sake of gameplay that first cuts, then asks (or rather, doesn't ask at all), but I don't deny that I would gladly explore their mysterious nooks and crannies in other contexts. The electronic soundtrack with a rock edge is also excellent, ideal for pumping adrenaline during the action, which blends well with the metallic sound effects of its protagonists.

The graphics engine perfectly conveys the speed of the action, with flashes and sparks enhancing every laser or slash, the camera always manages to keep up, and performance is solid. The requirements might discourage you, but once a range is established, it doesn't seem to budge, regardless of the chaos on screen (to be verified, of course, in future expansions). In my case (a 7800X3D equipped with a 4070), I regularly ran between 120 and 140 fps at 1440p with everything maxed out. Some bugs, however, are known and being resolved, and an annoying freeze lasting several seconds before the software revived. Finally, the in-game cinematics need to be reviewed, as they are a bit clunky.

That said, is Morbid Metal worth considering? If you're looking for a varied and mutable roguelite, perhaps not; from this point of view, Screen Juice's work is still lacking, but if you like character action games, dive in without a second thought. The foundations couldn't be more convincing; now all that's missing is a framework capable of enhancing its nature and captivating players' attention for dozens of hours. We eagerly await future updates.