Metal Eden Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, & PC)

Sad to say that the release of Metal Eden has been pushed from May to September 2025. Still, you can always check out the demo that gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the final launch. Right off the bat, it’s clear developer Reikon Games has something special cooking for us. A cross divide between the latter DOOM entries, Ghostrunner, and Titanfall. 

Your blood is always pumping at every moment spent chasing down the meaty cyborgs of Metal Eden’s sci-fi world. Being a first-person boomer shooter, the action feels closest to your fingertips as you clear stages and draw a little bit closer to the mysteries of this dystopian world. 

This little bite Reikon has given into their latest project has been exhilarating to take out for a spin. All we can say is buckle up for the adrenaline rush the final game will definitely be providing come Summer 2025. 

Mystery of Life

Metal Eden jumps straight into the action; no convoluted premise or story introduction needed. While this can mean you begin your journey exploring the world with more questions than answers, this structure might actually work in favor of Metal Eden. 

As a highly advanced cyborg with your consciousness uploaded into a mechanized exosuit every time you die, you’re tasked with saving the last remaining survivors of humanity. If this sounds familiar, it’s because your cyborg mimics the behavior of Ghost in the Shell: you never truly die as your consciousness can always be recovered and transmitted into a new hi-tech “shell.”

But who is this cyborg we control? Why them? Do they have a moral fibre in their being? Do they have a stake in the war against humans and machines? The only answers you’ll get about ASKA, the name your protagonist has been given, are, well, their name and their mission to save the world. And quite honestly, that’s just about all we need to begin blasting off the fleshy cyborgs we meet. 

That’s not to say that Metal Eden doesn’t offer more story beats onward into your mission. It still reveals more tidbits of compelling information, like the fact that the last remaining survivors of humanity have been trapped in a sort of powerful AI that controls everything in this dystopian world. The AI “hive” is our destination to free the survivors and bring an end to the cruelty technology has inflicted upon Metal Eden’s world. 

Hive of Wonder

Listen. Metal Eden’s story may not be the most profound. But it definitely is more compelling, even compared to its DOOM and Ghostrunner inspirations. Plus, there’s just something exciting about its sci-fi focus and the juxtaposition between humans and AI taking over the world. Will Metal Eden address the societal issues we’re facing today about the extensive use of AI and the morality code behind it? Who knows?

What’s currently vivid is that Reikon could potentially be building towards something clever. They have already built intrigue by invoking questions about the protagonist and how their behavior might affect their mission. They have seamlessly found a way to blend the action and story, such that as cutscenes unravel, your character remains in motion. It gives a sense of continuity and keeps your mind engaged all the way through.

A huge part of that engagement comes from worldbuilding and combat. Compared to Reikon’s previous entry, Ruiner, Metal Eden is a scale-up. It thrives on current-gen platforms, making the most of Unreal Engine 5’s higher fidelity and advanced lighting. Despite the often frenetic movement of Metal Eden, you can’t help but stare in awe at the neon marvel and cyberpunk cityscapes rooted before you. 

The best part is the variety here, thanks to dense horizontal areas and deep verticality. It makes traversal a joy, maneuvering through complex platforms and hovering above infinite gaps. You have industrial areas with desolate corridors and metallic walls. Cityscapes stretch far out into the horizon, with shadowy sun’s rays permeating through the gaps. It’s all been meticulously designed to make the “city above the sky” setting believable and in full service of the combat. 

No Man’s Land

At first, you get a submachine gun to blast off enemies. I know. It’s weird at first, but no fret; the gun is weighty, punchy, and feels hella satisfying to shoot. You have to constantly be on the move at lightning speed to dodge incoming attacks and take out as many cyborgs as possible. 

Cyborgs are currently of three enemy types: weaker enemies who close the distance and sort of launch at you to inflict damage, mid-powerful enemies who can fire guns, and the armored tanks that are the hardest to beat. It might not sound like enough enemy variety. But remember, this is only the demo, only roughly an hour long, with Reikon promising far more enemy variety and designs. 

To supplement enemy variety is your arsenal, which you’ll soon unlock a pistol and shotgun. Each behaves differently. The submachine gun has unlimited ammo but overheats rather too quickly. Hence, you have to manage its use with your pistol, whose individual bullets are so powerful that one shot is enough to take out the weaker enemies. Plus, the headshots feel so satisfying to pull off at the brisk pace your character is often under. The shotgun might be the least impressive of the bunch, though it still is punchy against either enemy type. 

Missions are linear. However, they’re broken down into arenas you’re locked into to clear respawning enemies before you can move into the next stage. As much as an arena can feel enclosed, though, the horizontal and vertical variety is enough to keep things moving. This is especially thanks to the myriad traversal moves at your disposal: wall-running, grappling hook, double jumping, hovering above gaps, to name a few. 

Right on Track

By exploring the nooks and crannies of the arenas, you’ll find dropped ammo and armor to power through more challenging missions. However, Metal Eden is careful to emphasize more on agility and constant fast-paced movement, if you’re to survive the onslaught of cyborgs against you. 

With the missions often demanding to be constantly on the move, your best reprieve to empower your character is clearing arenas to receive in-game currency that can upgrade your weapons and ASKA herself. Each weapon and ASKA has its own skill tree, and provides far more upgrades than just scaling up. The upgrades alter the very foundation of your weapon’s abilities and appearance, ensuring that progression feels much more rewarding and encourages you to keep returning for more. 

All of these may sound familiar from DOOM, Ghostrunner, and other FPS games. However, an aspect that Metal Eden stands out in is its Core ability. The “Core” is what powers the cyborgs and humans of this universe. And in combat, you can rip it off enemies for an instant kill and either launch it back at enemies as a short-range grenade weapon or consume it for health and power buffs. The latter will allow you to supercharge a melee punch that can break through heavy-armored enemies, breaking their stance so they can take damage from bullets. It introduces a management aspect to combat, where you have to make split decisions between managing ammo and consuming Cores.  

Of course, this is all incomplete. I presume Reikon will be adding far more advanced upgrades and features by the final launch, simply from the fact that at present, the progression is already deep and impressive. 

A Few Mishaps

It feels like nearly every aspect of Metal Eden is polished and satisfying to explore. From the environments to the combat, every piece of the Metal Eden puzzle is coming together perfectly, keeping in mind that this is only the demo. And so, finding any cons is being overly critical; certainly can’t hurt, though?

For starters, the main character feels literally like a “ghost in the shell.” She’s difficult to bond with and root for when we know next to nothing about her. Where did she come from? How human she is? All we’re made privy to is the voice in her head telling her what to do. Will she, at a point, break free of third-party control and begin making her own decisions? Does her mission tie to her background in any way? 

The beauty of the story so far is that Reikon has near-limitless ways to go about expounding on the protagonist and the NPCs of this universe. Just make the protagonist relatable, perhaps, human, or more interesting than a mere “ghost in the shell,” and we’d be good to go.

Other factors are nitty-gritty. Like the inability to turn off motion blur and the sparse frame rate drops, especially when wielding the minigun. Otherwise, Metal Eden is totally great. 

Verdict

As is, Metal Eden hits all the marks of a truly satisfying and intense FPS game. It’s super fast and keeps you on your toes at every turn. And this is only the demo, already at seemingly near-perfect status. It makes you wonder just how mind-blowing the final launch will be. If, of course, Reikon continues on the high-polish and feature-rich path it's on.