Metal Bringer

About

Metal Bringer is a single player hack and slash game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by ALPHAWING Inc. and was released on March 11, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

In this roguelike action-adventure, control humanoid "Labor" and giant "Arms" to uncover the mysteries of the world. A young girl named Suria wakes up in a laboratory and finds out that she has been put in cryosleep for 1000 years without her knowledge. In order to search for the rest of humanity, she builds Labor with her trusty Buds, and sends them off to investigate...Highl…

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89%

Audience ScoreBased on 601 reviews

gameplay73 positive mentions

grinding27 negative mentions

Extensive and satisfying mech customization with a variety of weapons, parts, and builds allowing players to create unique playstyles.
Fast-paced, chaotic, and addictive combat that combines hack and slash with shoot-em-up elements, delivering a strong power fantasy experience.
Visually striking pixel art style with ray tracing effects, supported by an adaptive soundtrack that enhances immersion and atmosphere.

Steep and inconsistent difficulty curve, including a significant spike around the third stage that may require frustrating grinding.
Awkward and unintuitive default controls and camera system, especially for keyboard and mouse users, causing gameplay discomfort.
Visual pixelation filter and busy effects cause clutter and eye strain, with no official option to disable or adjust the filter intensity.

gameplay
154 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
48%
5%
The gameplay is a fast-paced, addictive roguelite hack-and-slash with deep mech customization, combining looter-shooter elements and strategic progression through acquiring parts and "apps" to tailor builds. While the core combat loop is satisfying and enjoyable, especially for mecha fans, it can feel repetitive and grind-heavy, with some clunky controls, under-explained mechanics, and occasional balance issues that create a steep learning curve. Overall, the solid gameplay and extensive customization offer a compelling experience, although it may not fully captivate those seeking more complexity or polished explanations.
- “The game's got a lot of mechanical depth piloting a robot body piloting a mech and both are built independently from the wrecked limbs of your enemies, so you get to see the parts catalogue organically as you slice foes into bits.”
- “This game is insane, the artstyle is crazy good and the shaders are outstanding, managing to make a 3d unreal engine game look this 2d is some crazy talent, the gameplay is very solid and has a fun loop, it feels polished and has good performance and I haven't encountered any bugs yet either, an incredibly refreshing experience for a game released in 2025.”
- “The mechs are extremely customizable, the progression elements have a good balance of risk and reward, and the gameplay is just very fun.”
- “But beneath its shiny exterior, the game is bogged down by an avalanche of design missteps: an unforgiving learning curve, clumsy controls, under-explained mechanics, and a gameplay loop that implodes from grind to godmode too quickly.”
- “Combat has no weight and the game does a really poor job of explaining the multitude of systems and mechanics it throws at you.”
- “The gameplay just consists of pressing the same button for combat, there's no real combos or moves, just different weapons that all basically do the same thing.”
graphics
115 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
55%
3%
The game’s graphics feature a distinctive pixelated 3D art style that blends retro charm with modern effects like ray tracing, offering a visually striking mecha aesthetic that many find captivating and nostalgic. While the unique pixel shader and dense on-screen effects can cause visual clutter and eye strain for some, the overall presentation is praised for its creativity, strong customization visuals, and engaging animations. Performance issues on certain platforms and the inability to fully disable some visual filters slightly detract from the experience, but the graphics remain a major highlight and key appeal of the game.
- “This game is insane, the art style is crazy good and the shaders are outstanding, managing to make a 3D Unreal Engine game look this 2D is some crazy talent. The gameplay is very solid and has a fun loop, it feels polished and has good performance with no bugs encountered. An incredibly refreshing experience for a game released in 2025.”
- “The graphics are a real treat with this clean pixel art shader that works very well, and when you get a build that works well it's a sensory overload with tons of things exploding on screen and loot being dropped.”
- “Last but not least, the retro art style is fantastic, but don't be fooled: there's ray tracing and illumination effects that we could have only dreamed of in the 90s.”
- “As much as I adore pixel art aesthetics, the pixelized post-processing started to hurt my eyes as you get into more intensive combat.”
- “I don't recommend if you want to play on a Steam Deck, it has terrible performance for a game with such low graphical fidelity.”
- “The graphics and style can be a bit of an eyesore at times, so it's not for everyone.”
story
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
64%
4%
The story is generally described as simple but engaging, centered on a dystopian future with robots replacing humans, and enriched by collectible lore and in-game text. While some find it thought-provoking and well-integrated with gameplay, others view it as basic or slightly overwhelming due to excessive jargon and pacing issues. Overall, it complements the gameplay well, offering additional context and depth without overshadowing the core mech combat experience.
- “The story itself is absurdly good, with journal entries and documentation that fill in the gaps in a fleshed out and surprisingly well thought out sci-fi way.”
- “The story is interesting and takes the "robots replacing humans in the future" trope but gives us a chance of reverting such a fate.”
- “Story and worldbuilding are simple, well thought out, and engaging.”
- “The story's gibberish, throwing out unnecessary proper nouns and taking up more time than the strength of its writing really merits; there's a robot companion who doesn't really need to be there but serves to confuse you since it looks very much like an enemy wasting your weapon durability.”
- “The story feels like an afterthought, weighed down by excessive jargon and flat delivery.”
- “The story seems like an afterthought, typical hero saving the world deal being the last person on earth.”
music
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
60%
11%
The music in this game is adaptive and retro-inspired but often criticized for repetitiveness, limited variety, and sometimes grating loops, leading many players to mute it and play their own tracks. While some appreciate the nostalgic, arcade-like soundtrack and its dynamic pacing, others find it annoying or mismatched with the game's aesthetic. Overall, the music receives a mixed reception, with calls for more variety and customization options.
- “The music in this game is adaptive and becomes faster paced as your health lowers, adding an intense and immersive layer to the gameplay.”
- “I love the retro feel, the pixelated theme, and especially the Atari/Master System level music that really took me back to the old days.”
- “The art is gorgeous and the music is catchy and upbeat, like a true arcade experience.”
- “The music gets very annoying since there is only one battle and boss music but that may get changed later.”
- “My only gripe with the game is that some of the music, which is supposedly real-time and changes to whatever is happening in the game, can sometimes get stuck playing the same short 15-second loop over and over and over again, which can be quite grating to the ears, especially because they are such sharp notes, forcing me to turn the music way down.”
- “After about 5 hours I muted the soundtrack altogether and put on Brigador's.”
grinding
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
96%
Grinding is a significant and divisive aspect of the game; while early progression feels quick and rewarding, later stages—especially around the third area and true ending—demand substantial repetitive farming for upgrades, parts, and buffs. This can lead to a tedious experience where difficulty spikes are overcome by power farming, resulting in a diluted challenge and "victory lap" feel in later content and NG+. Fans of build customization may appreciate the grind, but others find it excessive and monotonous.
- “Brutal waves of superior enemy mechs force repetitive grinding for passive buffs, only for difficulty to collapse soon after.”
- “It's at this point that Metal Bringer trips and falls on its face by forcing you to spend several runs simply grinding out defensive passives, which make stage 3 possible, but also mitigate any further difficulty the game might have had, making subsequent floors, bosses, and even the entirety of NG+ a button mashing breeze that feels like a victory lap instead of a climax. Even the very concept of a cohesive build flies out the window at this point, as your stats will be so bloated and you'll have so many app disks and parts dropping that you'll accumulate virtually every skill in the game before you even reach the final boss (even the ones with tradeoffs), and still likely demolish everything in your path by simply holding dash and spamming attack.”
- “Enemies don't feel like they drop more currency on lower floors, so you just keep grinding the top floor to get as much currency as you can to get down to the next floor and hopefully get new mech parts, new chips and repeat the process.”
optimization
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
61%
26%
The game demonstrates generally solid performance on high-end AMD GPUs with few crashes, but experiences notable frame drops and stuttering during intense combat, especially with many enemies or on the Steam Deck. Optimization issues, such as inability to disable certain visual filters and demanding features like ray tracing, further impact performance and player comfort. Overall, while playable and polished on powerful PCs, the game struggles with consistent optimization, particularly on less powerful or portable hardware.
- “Amd GPU user here (RX 6800 XT, latest driver), played the game for an hour so far and detected no crashes or performance issues despite concerns about AMD GPU support.”
- “I'm really happy there's a game like this out there that's at once joyfully hack-and-slash while having a deep level of optimization to dig deep into.”
- “At least early game works okay on Steam Deck with default settings; curious if performance holds up later when combat is more crowded or intense.”
- “Performance is pretty bad on the Steam Deck, which might surprise you given the pixel aesthetic.”
- “-chugs on the main menu of all things and performance degrades further from there.”
- “It's so weird that the game starts microfreezing and stuttering at floor 3 even on my 4080 super.”
replayability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game offers solid replayability typical of roguelike and roguelite genres, with ample customization, variety, and unlockable content that keeps gameplay engaging for both short sessions and extended play. However, some players feel that managing certain mechanics before runs can reduce the desire to replay, indicating that while highly replayable, it may not fully match traditional roguelike depth. Overall, it is praised for its fun, versatile experience and strong potential for further enhancements.
- “Plenty of replay value and many things to unlock and discover.”
- “High versatility and replayability mean whether you're just looking to play for a few hours after work, or you want to go on a complete multi-day binge, you'll have fun either way.”
- “It's still a hell of a lot of fun, and the game has a really great aesthetic style and tons of variety, but it just lacks the kind of replay value you get out of a traditional rogue-like/lite.”
- “Without this feature I'm afraid the replayability is non-existent, as the amount of time it takes managing apps before starting a run exceeds the amount of time I spend actually playing.”
- “The game is short, but replayable as usual roguelikes.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is light-hearted and reminiscent of Japanese titles like Pokémon, featuring playful enemy quotes and a generally fun tone. It balances charm with subtle, quirky moments that add to the overall enjoyment.
- “Because even if you do have your optimized well-oiled machine, it will break into pieces if something just looks at it funny.”
- “Enemies will say things like "Darn, you got me!" when destroyed, which gives you an idea of the lighthearted aspects. Generally, the humor is what you'd expect from a Japanese title, similar to Pokémon.”
- “Also, someone could start the trend calling this game "not so Custom Robo..." and it would still have more customization than the actual Custom Robo. Okay, enough of my dry humor...”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game runs smoothly overall, especially on the Steam Deck, but has some bugs and occasional difficulty spikes that may require additional grinding. Default PC controls feel unintuitive but can be improved through remapping.
- “A little buggy with some random difficulty spikes that may require you to grind a bit before proceeding, and the default controls for the mouse and keyboard don't make sense personally, but you can bypass it by remapping your own control scheme.”
- “Fun, but buggy”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is relaxed and laid-back, yet subtly infused with darker underlying themes, creating a nuanced and immersive mood.
- “The whole atmosphere has fairly laid-back vibes with implied darker themes.”