The Ubisoft-published roguelike Morbid Metal continues to make its way towards a 1.0 release, and now, six months after its initial Early Access debut, the game has finally added a new playable character, making it the perfect time for us to check out what the developers have been cooking up during this time.
For those not in the know, Morbid Metal is a roguelike character action game where we switch between three different characters on the fly, and with Kaizu being the fourth addition, it means we finally get to create unique team compositions. Kaizu is the first combatant in the game who doesn’t use a weapon, instead filling the role of a mobile melee fighter who makes use of wrestling-inspired moves to deal high amounts of damage, adding a lot of flair to an already very stylish cast of characters.
Three in One
Morbid Metal’s enemies are very cleverly designed around each of the playable character’s kits, making the combat system really engaging while also gently nudging the player towards the shapeshifting mechanic. Flux excels at aerial combat but struggles with shielded enemies and multiple targets, while Ekku can break through those shields and sends enemies flying with wide multi-hitting swings. Figuring out this system is extremely rewarding, and the combat constantly evolves as we encounter mid-run upgrades that enhance each character’s skills.
Learning how to optimally switch between characters during combat is one of the biggest challenges most players will encounter during their playthroughs, since juggling your skill cooldowns is basically mandatory to deal with some of the heavier robots you’ll encounter later on. This is a game in which even the most basic enemies hit quite hard, so you want to thin their numbers as soon as possible to minimize the amount of threats surrounding you.
Mindless Violence
Morbid Metal is a combination of two genres that are usually very light in story content, being both a roguelike and character action title, and it doesn’t deviate from that tradition by placing a lot of emphasis on combat and boss encounters while not necessarily being too worried about its plot. If you’re curious about the story, it looks like we’re stuck in the middle of a battle between two AIs, one being the benevolent Eden, who is trying to help us escape, and the Operator, who seemingly wants to stress test us in battle forever.
The current build ends when we fight the second boss, the Prophet, so for now there’s really no way of knowing where the story is going, although the next update does promise more lore, so those that are interested have that to look forward to.
Making Downtime Interesting
It’s surprising just how many roguelikes don’t have anything interesting happening unless there are enemies on screen, but Morbid Metal manages to avoid this expertly by featuring a good bit of free running and light platforming between its combat sections. The game doesn’t exactly feature a very complex movement system, but dashing and grappling around give you a great sense of speed, and the movement mechanics definitely add a lot of spectacle to the game even when fights aren’t happening.
Both the combat and this movement system also intersect inside of the game’s challenge rooms, which usually have you working against a timer to either defend an area or kill a certain number of enemies, and being able to platform well becomes a deciding factor in a lot of these trials. It’s a very safe bet to make the heavier platforming sections optional by locking them behind trial gates, but I do hope that some of the upcoming levels employ the parkour and grappling system into the game’s combat more, since for now it feels like there’s a divide between the two for most of the time.
Final Thoughts
While Morbid Metal shows a lot of promise thanks to its great combat and movement systems, I can’t help but notice that there isn’t a lot of content to go around. The new playable character is definitely a great addition to the roster, but two areas and two bosses in total feel like way too little even for an Early Access title, and the fact that there isn’t much in terms of replayability does make me worry about its long-term status as a roguelike as well.
Right now the game really struggles with variety, especially when it comes to its mid-run upgrades and enemy types. According to the Steam achievements, over 96% of players finished the tutorial, but less than 1% beat the game’s second boss, meaning a lot of the people who purchased it gave up before even clearing two areas on the standard difficulty, and I have a feeling that it’s because the repetitiveness sets in after a couple of runs.
It’s a little too early to pass judgment on Morbid Metal’s future, especially since there’s still one more update scheduled for 2026 that will add new enemies, lore, cinematics, and bosses to the game, but I can’t help but be a little disappointed that the past six months haven’t produced much to be excited about, although I hope that the upcoming content makes up for it.
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