Metal Unit takes chances on the roguelike genre by making the player feel like an absolute powerhouse. The variety of different items, loadouts, upgrades, and exploration-based stages makes the experience enjoyable for hours. Although it has a nonsensical narrative with a control scheme that does become uncomfortable over time, it offers enough unique features to be a worthy roguelike.

It’s by no means a classic. It’s not something you would run to your friends to recommend. It’s a game you can enjoy quietly by yourself, as you hack-and-slash your way through run after run, laughing off terrible plot moments and feeling satisfied.

Metal Unit is a treasure hunting experience that creates excitement and tension by implementing the risk of losing your items, and it also comes with a light-novel-esque story. While it’s not for everyone, Metal Unit does appeal to a certain kind of gamer. It’s too bad that there’s lots of room for improvement in the Japanese localization.

Metal Unit doesn’t have the mechanical novelty and character of something like Skul: The Hero Slayer or the precise feel of Enter the Gungeon, but it does have a long list of colorful weapons to try out and some interesting secret challenges to return to after completion. At its price point, there’s more than enough to satiate a roguelike fan with nothing else on their plate, but Metal Unit lacks the fundamentals to elevate it closer to the top of the roguelike heap.

While I find it laudable that all of these options are available to players, I just wish they were attached to a better package. The story is too chaotic and comes with a payoff I didn’t find satisfying, and the combat is not spectacular enough to be noteworthy. Completionists can try to find every hidden nook and cranny, but the game isn’t compelling enough to warrant it. This is good work, but it’s lacking that certain something that would push it into ‘great’ territory.

With its anime-trope-filled story, and starkly unbalanced combat and upgrades, Metal Unit is a passable roguelite in a genre where there are far better options.