In the not-too-distant future, humanity is ruled by megacorporations that have dehumanized their employees to the point of requiring mandatory cybernetics and minimal rights. Cyborg humans are considered disposable and, if that weren't bad enough, there is a swarm of nanomachines mutating things into, well, metal mutations. In Metal Mutation, you play the role of an amnesic cyborg that wakes up with a floating blue AI companion and promptly sets out to punch, stab, and explode basically everything in his path for thinly explained reasons.

It's difficult to judge the story because it isn't particularly well told. Similar to the gameplay experience in Hades, players encounter various characters, but none of them felt memorable, and they mostly boiled down to various flavors of scantily clad ladies with indistinct personalities. A big part of this is likely due to the game's translation, which is very awkward and frequently difficult to understand. It took me a while to grasp even some of the basic mechanics because the translation did a poor job of conveying what certain things did. It's possible the story would be stronger with a better translation, but as it stands, the narrative didn't catch my interest.

The core gameplay loop of Metal Mutation might feel familiar. It's a roguelike where players go through a series of randomly generated rooms and kill enemies before being rewarded with an item or power-up at the end. You can see exactly what benefit the next rooms can offer, and eventually, you build up to a powerful boss. If you die, you go back to base to spend permanent resources on gradual upgrades to your skills, stats, or even to unlock new weapons. (Alas, I didn't see a ton of new weapons to unlock.) In other words, it's the Hades formula. This isn't necessarily a criticism because the Hades loop is immensely addictive, and the game knows to not to mess with it too much.

Your character in Metal Mutation plays a bit differently. You have a few basic actions: attack, dodge, parry, weapon skill, and a few other options, such as a boss transformation (summon skill) and two Valkyrie skills, which enlist the help of your computer companion. Your basic attacks build up energy, which you can use to perform special attacks, but the more powerful attacks have both an energy requirement and a cooldown. Certain attacks are better at breaking enemy shields, while others are good at doing damage. It's straightforward thus far.

Perhaps the most distinctive part of the combat system is air combos. Rather than having a dash-attack à la Hades attacking immediately after a dash, a dodge starts an air combo. This puts your character into a different state, where they can rapidly attack an enemy. If the enemy is weakened or stunned, they can even be knocked into the air, leaving them vulnerable to extra damage. While in the air, you can't easily cancel out of your attack, so you need to use a Valkyrie move so you can dodge-cancel at the cost of energy. In theory, it's a balancing act between increased damage versus safety, but in practice, you'll dodge so much that you'll be in the air more often than on the ground.

Much like Hades, the most enjoyable part of the game is building your character via specialized skills that attach to an ability. You can make your weapon skill into a powerful single-target lightning slash or a deadly AoE icicle swarm. You can infuse your Valkyrie companion with different skills that allow her to shoot a penetrating laser or a swarm of meteors. You can gain passive skills that increase the damage you do to shields or recover health in specialized situations. With enough upgrades, you can gain fusion skills that are even more ridiculous.

These upgrades are all straightforward and more focused on basic concepts (better AoE, better single target, better range, etc.) than more distinct attributes. You don't need to have something distinct when every time you dodge, you create a small nuclear explosion that rends your enemies asunder. The game shines once you get a few upgrades under your belt, although I think the game takes a touch too long to get going.

Where Metal Mutation falters is that the combat isn't as smooth as in Hades. Animations feel very stiff, parrying feels inconsistent, and the air combo mechanic doesn't work too well, in terms of visual presentation and gameplay. I understood what it was going for (making dodging more of a commitment for greater rewards), but it feels weird and awkward rather than smooth and straightforward. It's absolutely playable, but when the game apes Hades so much, these deficiencies stand out more.

The balance also feels off. Early on, players are absurdly powerful. At one point, I went to answer the door, forgetting that I hadn't paused the game, and I came back to my protagonist still at half health. The scaling progresses enough that by the end game, you're extremely vulnerable and the screen is filled with danger, and that is where the clunkiness of the combat feels weakest. It lacks the effortless, fast-paced "zooming around the screen" sort of gameplay that made Hades work.

That isn't to say it is bad, precisely. The combat loop is fun enough to do its job but not enough to carry the addictive "just one more run" feel that would give the game long-lasting value. I get the impression that there will be many updates over time, so hopefully with more weapons and polish, they'll be able to smooth it out. It's currently a fun enough experience, but it's not one that I'd rush back to play soon.

The graphics showcase basic 3D models in cyberpunk environments. Some of the monsters have neat biomechanical designs, but others are forgettable or low effort. The game flows smoothly enough, and I had no issue playing the game, even on the Steam Deck. My only complaint is that the later stages can become difficult to read with the massive number of effects going on. I needed to use a monitor instead to keep track of my relatively small main character. The soundtrack is forgettable, and I'd be hard-pressed to remember a single tune.

Metal Mutation is the textbook definition of average. It's acceptable enough to be fun, but it doesn't have the highs or lows to make it anything more — or anything less. "Cyberpunk Hades" is a super cool concept, but the game in its current iteration feels more like an Early Access title than a full game. It's probably worth a look if you pick it up on sale or during a bundle. I'd wait to see if Metal Mutation gets more fleshed out before taking the leap.

Score: 7.0/10