Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is adding a card game as the mecha sequel targets an increasingly specific type of guy

Daemon X Machina wasn't a perfect game, as our 2020 review will tell you. But with former Armored Core producer Kenichiro Tsukuda, designs from Macross creator Shoji Kawamori, and the voice actors of Gundam's original anime rivals, it had a compelling pedigree for meeting the particular tastes and expectations of the modern mecha enthusiast.

Now, its follow-up, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, is appealing to an even more specific brand of sicko. Titanic Scion isn't just for mecha freaks. Titanic Scion is for mecha freaks who are also into card games.

In gameplay demos at IGN Live earlier this month (via RPG Site), developer Marvelous showed off a bit more of what we can expect from the sequel this September. While it trades the first game's Gundam-sized mech suits for smaller Arsenals in the style of Iron Man armor, Titanic Scion is expanding the scale of its environments by adopting large, freely explorable biomes.

That exploration is just as important between excursions, however, because it's back at base where you might find cards for Overbullet, Titanic Scion's very own Gwent competitor. Demo players weren't able to play Overbullet with the cards they found, but those cards seemed to be based on Arsenal weaponry and individual components.

The cards have attack and defense stats, but it's unclear whether they'll be played directly or used to assemble an Arsenal of component cards for battling your opponents. Whatever the case is, I just hope it's feasible to fund your actual Arsenal customization purely from Overbullet winnings.

After all, it's probably better for everyone involved if I'm minimizing my time in the actual robot. If mecha anime has taught me anything, it's that mechanized humanoid killing machines don't really tend to solve problems very well. Mostly the cool robots just make people build more cool robots to fight with. Weird!

Even if you're not into videogames with card games inside them, Titanic Scion is bringing other welcome additions. Arsenal aesthetics will be fully customizable down to individual components, and the sequel's rectifying the dearth of basic PC features and settings that the first Daemon X Machina suffered. From the sounds of it, there are dozens of settings to adjust in the gameplay section alone.

It'll even have a mouse cursor this time. The future grows ever brighter.

Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion launches on Steam on September 5.