Mech Engineer

About

"Mech Engineer" is a robot construction and battle simulation game. Players build their own mechs from a variety of parts, then pit them against enemies in tactical combat. The game features a range of weapons, armor, and movement options to customize mechs to different playstyles.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 547 reviews

gameplay28 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and immersive experience with deep customization options for mechs, allowing players to tinker and experiment with various builds.
The atmosphere and art style are captivating, creating a dark and engaging world that enhances the gameplay experience.
The game encourages learning through trial and error, rewarding players who invest time in understanding its complex systems.

The UI is confusing and lacks clear tooltips, making it difficult for new players to understand mechanics and navigate the game effectively.
There is a steep learning curve, and the game does not provide adequate tutorials or guidance, leading to frustration for many players.
Combat can feel unresponsive, with AI pilots often ignoring commands, resulting in frustrating and unpredictable outcomes during missions.

gameplay
143 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
74%
6%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a steep learning curve and a lack of clear tutorials, requiring players to engage in trial and error to understand its complex mechanics. While the game offers deep customization and unique tactical elements reminiscent of classic strategy games, many players find the user interface clunky and the mechanics poorly explained, leading to frustration. Despite these challenges, those who enjoy intricate systems and are willing to invest time in mastering the gameplay often find it rewarding and engaging.
- “Unique gameplay mechanics, not easy to master, great tactical game.”
- “The game is a gem, and if you can get into it, you'll find a deep game with a lot of emerging gameplay like the original X-COM had, moments of tragedy or heroism with your soldiers.”
- “More than anything else, the constant learning of new mechanics through trial and error and just fiddling with the interfaces feels very rewarding once you figure something out without looking up tutorials or guides.”
- “You have to figure out the mechanics yourself through frustration and trial and error.”
- “The tutorial popups fail to explain basic mechanics, and places where you would think a tooltip should be, there just... aren't.”
- “The game is really obscure, many game mechanics are not explained at all and you lack info to make good decisions.”
story
136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
87%
4%
The game's story revolves around managing a walking city and sending mechs on missions to gather resources and uncover secrets, set against a backdrop of a ruined planet. While the premise is intriguing and offers a rich lore, players often find the execution frustrating due to a lack of clear guidance, overwhelming complexity, and punishing difficulty in missions. Many reviews highlight the need for better tutorials and clearer mechanics to enhance the storytelling experience, as the current design can lead to repetitive failures and confusion.
- “A story of courage that transcends time.”
- “Beyond the viewport you watch through, there is an entire world/story evolving behind the scenes with fascinating lore and an excellent premise.”
- “If you want a game to present its fictional world, to struggle with not being entirely sure whether you're making good decisions, and to really be immersed in what rapidly feels like a mechs vs bugs anime from the perspective of the mission controller, then there's really very little else out there that even attempts to match that feeling.”
- “The story looks like it was farted out of a Russian-speaking ass.”
- “It's easy to get overconfident in a build, only to realize it's useless in a different mission.”
- “But the amount of unbalance, poor explanation about everything, and dreadful UI + pathfinding during the missions is too much to bear.”
graphics
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
68%
7%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a simplistic, retro aesthetic that some players find charming and immersive, evoking nostalgia for classic 1990s gaming. While the visuals are functional and serve the gameplay well, they lack the polish of modern AAA titles, leading to mixed feelings among players regarding their overall quality. The art style and diegetic interface are praised for enhancing the game's dark, gritty atmosphere, though the lack of detailed tutorials and guidance can make it challenging for new players to fully appreciate the experience.
- “Love the art style and the world building.”
- “The overall aesthetic of the art, music, setting, lore entries, etc. has a dark, grimy, sci-fi apocalypse feel and it really pulls you in.”
- “The graphics are wonderfully well done, and the UI is part of the gameplay (a little like Highfleet in that regard, although perhaps a little less so).”
- “Graphically, this is not some AAA style over substance game, quite the opposite.”
- “The graphics are... utilitarian.”
- “Lack of graphical fidelity in combat is also an issue in that you won't know what's going on unless you already know how to look for it.”
atmosphere
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
22%
13%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its haunting soundtrack, stylish interface, and immersive design, creating a compelling and gloomy sci-fi environment. While some users note that the interface can be confusing, many agree that it enhances the overall experience, contributing to a unique and engaging atmosphere that appeals to fans of mech tinkering and challenging gameplay. Overall, the combination of art style, sound, and thematic elements results in a deeply atmospheric experience that captivates players.
- “10/10 atmosphere with haunting soundtrack and immersive interface.”
- “Insane difficulty and amazing atmosphere is what makes this game.”
- “Not a high-fidelity game, but that really adds to the atmosphere.”
- “If you like tinkering with mechs and a gloomy atmosphere, this is the game for you.”
- “First of all, this game has a beautiful art style which reinforces the gloomy and hopeless atmosphere.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
31%
23%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players praise its haunting soundtrack and immersive atmosphere that complements the game's aesthetic, others criticize the limited selection of tracks, noting that only two songs can become repetitive during extended play. Overall, the sound design is highlighted as unique and effective, enhancing the game's dark, sci-fi ambiance.
- “10/10 atmosphere with haunting soundtrack and immersive interface.”
- “The overall aesthetic of the art, music, setting, lore entries, etc. has a dark, grimy, sci-fi apocalypse feel and it really pulls you in.”
- “Fantastic style, art, sound, music, and overall ambiance.”
- “An actual soundtrack would be nice; two songs and silence are not fun to listen to while you spend hours tweaking things.”
- “The overall aesthetic of the art, music, setting, and lore entries has a dark, grimy, sci-fi apocalypse feel, and it really pulls you in.”
- “Sound: extremely unique both in background sounds, UI sounds, and music.”
optimization
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The optimization of the game has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues even on capable hardware, such as running under 20fps on an i5 with a 1050ti. Many users feel that the developers have prioritized minor updates over essential performance improvements, leaving the game feeling poorly optimized for its size. While there are interesting mechanics for customizing and managing mechs, the lack of a robust performance assessment system detracts from the overall experience.
- “Look, getting down into the nitty-gritty of tuning a reactor and applying different parts to affect the performance of the mechs is super interesting.”
- “Storm enemy bases, nuke the hellholes they crawl out of, adapt your armament for a variety of enemies, tease extra performance out of various modules by balancing power draws, train up your pilots and outfit them with perks to suit the needs of your team.”
- “Each component of each mech can be customized and tweaked for specific performance, your mobile base is huge and requires a lot of care to keep running, your pilots need to be looked after and can be leveled up in complementing ways.”
- “Inexcusable performance for an 80 MB game.”
- “The optimization is just not there; it runs under 20 FPS on an 8000 series i5 with a 1050 Ti and 16 GB RAM.”
- “- The real problem is in the last update: 'fixed wrong bookmarks' and then 'optimized minimap rendering.' Totally focused on the wrong things.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
Overall, the game boasts exceptional replayability, with players highlighting its depth and the variety of challenges available after completion. Many reviews note that the learning curve and evolving gameplay mechanics encourage experimentation with different strategies and playstyles, making each playthrough feel fresh and engaging. Recent updates have further enhanced accessibility, allowing both new and returning players to enjoy the game repeatedly.
- “Will punish you over and over again, but the replayability is second to none.”
- “A fantastic game made by a single (very active!) developer with loads of depth, replayability, and quite a steep learning curve.”
- “I imagine there is loads of replayability after completion if you choose different challenges.”
- “It would add even more replayability, and encourage people to adapt their squads and experiment with new playstyles to make use of the gear.”
- “A fantastic game made by a single (very active!) developer with loads of depth, replayability and quite a steep learning curve.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, often leading to a linear and save-scummy experience. While some appreciate the unique mechanics and immersive elements, the overall sentiment suggests that the time investment required for min-maxing and trial-and-error gameplay can detract from enjoyment.
- “This makes the game very tedious and not worth my, or your dear readers, time!”
- “Having figured that out for myself after sinking dozens of hours into it, I can confidently say that even with enough 'know-how' this game will still be a linear, tedious, and save-scummy campaign.”
- “The early game can be frustrating and tedious.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is characterized by notable bugs and glitches, particularly in windowed mode, though full-screen performance remains stable. Despite these issues, players appreciate the developer's commitment to fixing problems and express a sense of passion for the game that is often lacking in AAA titles. Overall, while stability is a concern, the enthusiasm for ongoing improvements is evident.
- “They do not care that this planet of oceans and foliage is now a rock drifting through space, with violent cells of torrential weather of every kind, from volcanic plains with temperatures inhospitable to human and animal life as we know it, oceans that are either acidic or completely frozen, no flora to be found either on land or in sea, tornadoes that rival Jupiter's storms or tundra that freezes nuclear reactor cores and engine cores powerful enough to generate electricity for countries.”
- “Buggy as hell, but it's got that 'thing' that most AAA games lack: love for the game. I bought it in early access to support the developer, as I rarely ever purchase an early access game anymore since most turn into vapor.”
- “It is buggy, but the developer is fixing them enthusiastically.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users generally find the humor in the game to be effective and enjoyable, with comments highlighting its ability to deliver funny jokes and moments.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the emotional impact of the game to be profound, particularly in the new game plus mode, which reveals deep, hidden lore that resonates on a personal level, reminiscent of the subtle emotional depth found in works like Evangelion.
- “The new game plus hits hard emotionally; the game is rich in hidden lore - think a less in-your-face Evangelion.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters left me in tears; their struggles felt so real and relatable.”
- “The story's twists and turns tugged at my heartstrings, making me feel a profound connection to the characters.”