Morbid Metal Early Access Review – VR Troopers

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Morbid Metal is a fast-paced game featuring cybernetic warriors battling through a simulated world, guided by a character who feels like they’re about to address you as a legendary hero. It combines stylish combat with a unique system where how well you fight impacts your abilities, and exploration reminiscent of the game Returnal. Like many rogue-lite games, it’s all about building up power while facing constant danger – your success depends on skillfully combining your abilities and avoiding total defeat. You’re constantly on the edge, and that’s part of the fun.

The core of rogue-lite/like games is about exploring different possibilities, refining your strategy, learning from mistakes, and ultimately succeeding against difficult challenges. While SCREEN JUICE’s first game doesn’t have everything yet, it’s a promising beginning.

I wasn’t expecting a deep story from Morbid Metal, and unfortunately, that’s what it delivers. The narrative feels minimal – it mostly just sets up the action and seems to ask players not to expect much more. You play as an AI within a simulation, constantly fighting battle after battle.

During battles, you can switch between these characters and use their powers together in simple combinations. A good example is using Ekku to lift enemies up, then bringing them crashing down with Vekta.

The game features a backstory you can uncover, and it’s set in a harsh, gritty sci-fi universe. If that sounds a bit unclear, or the idea of playing as the ‘last AI’ doesn’t give you much to go on, the actual gameplay experience matches that feeling of mystery.

Even though it’s not the primary reason you’re playing this early version, the possibility of progress is enough to keep you going and allows for future development. It’s just enough, and nothing more, to motivate you at this stage.

The fighting is raw and impactful. You begin with Flux, a skilled warrior who uses a katana to quickly teleport and strike, or launch slicing attacks from a distance. Soon after, Ekku enters the fray, bringing a powerful style of play that sends enemies flying. Finally, Vekta joins the battle, providing more control over groups of enemies – she can pull them together, push them back, and even link them so they all take damage at once.

During battles, you can switch between characters and use their powers together in simple ways. For instance, you could launch opponents upwards with Ekku and then bring them crashing down with Vekta. Each character also has different options for their initial abilities—you might trade Vekta’s spinning ultimate attack for the ability to lift enemies into the air for a short time. Experimenting with and improving these abilities is enjoyable—imagine blade attacks that bounce between foes or deploying Echoes that explode and create a chain reaction.

The “Leak” status effect changes things significantly. It works like a bleeding effect and can build up to nine times, increasing damage over time and making enemies more vulnerable. You apply it simply by hitting an enemy with any ability, which allows you to rapidly switch between characters without needing a plan. While powerful combos aren’t essential to win, Leak makes battles much easier – you can even bypass bosses entirely.

The game’s levels will feel quite similar to those in Returnal. You’ll move between areas using grapple points, though you won’t always be able to use them during fights. Thankfully, the ability to double-jump helps make up for this limitation.

The game’s other abilities work well with the action-focused combat, which includes dodging and timing attacks – though you can’t constantly use the timed attacks. It would be great to have more strategic options, like calling in another character for help, either to attack or give you a temporary boost. There are some cool upgrades and decisions to make, but the game still needs more development to support a wider variety of playstyles.

The combat generally feels good. Flux’s quick dodge into a fast attack is satisfying, and discovering Ekku’s ability to hit aerial enemies with a double slash is a nice touch. Targeting can be a little unreliable if you’re not locking onto enemies, sometimes causing you to accidentally hit the wrong target with powerful attacks. It takes a little getting used to, and some quick adjustments during fights, but it’s manageable.

The game’s levels share a lot with Returnal. You’ll find points to swing from, though not always conveniently during fights – thankfully, the double jump helps with movement. There are spinning lasers to avoid, which only slightly damage you, and you can find health pickups and special items that boost your stats, like air damage, hidden in simple platforming sections. Once you’re in an arena, you have to defeat all the enemies to leave, but most of the time you can run through the levels, taking a moment here and there to explore.

The game features varied challenges, including timed survival sections and trials that force you to rapidly switch between forms for rewards. While exploring off the main path can offer upgrades, it’s often less risky than expected and sometimes a bit too simple. The second area improves on the gameplay with more complex platforming and obstacles, and it’s good that you can choose between completing two optional sets of rooms or going straight to the boss. The two bosses currently in the game are well-designed and unique, with multiple stages and interesting mechanics, like dodging fast-moving projectiles or defeating groups of linked enemies.

As a huge fan, I’m excited that it doesn’t seem like it’ll take too long to beat all three areas in Morbid Metal. But the real fun is in The Void, which is basically your home base. You’re constantly earning stuff there! You collect currency to tweak how each character starts, which is awesome. If you grind enough Void Matter, you can seriously boost your stats – things like damage, attack speed, and critical hits – in the Void Nexus. There are also Enhancers you can unlock to make your abilities and passives even better, or even give yourself temporary power-ups between levels. And if you like a bit of risk, you can even find deals that come with a catch – it’s a fun trade-off!

If you’re intrigued by the combat and movement, or see promise in the game, Morbid Metal is definitely worth checking out.

There’s a good level of character customization, although it doesn’t feel particularly groundbreaking. It would be really helpful to be able to make adjustments before starting a run, similar to how the ‘Pact of Punishment’ works. I suspect the developers at SCREEN JUICE have thought about adding this, even if their main focus right now is completing the game.

The game ran smoothly on my system—a Core i5-11400, 32 GB of RAM, and an RTX 4060—with the graphics settings maxed out and DLSS Quality enabled. I consistently got a stable frame rate, although I did notice some minor issues with distant objects and occasional pop-in. However, using native upscaling significantly lowered performance, so I wouldn’t recommend it with this hardware and these settings.

If you’re drawn to the stylish combat and movement, or see promise in Morbid Metal, it’s worth checking out. However, the game still needs refinement – things like deeper combat, more character build options, varied levels and challenges, better upgrade balancing, and additional areas and bosses. The current price ($13.50 until April 21st) is a definite plus, but if you’re looking for a more complete experience, it might be best to wait until the developers share their plans for future updates.

This game was reviewed on PC.

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2026-04-12 14:15