Metal Max Xeno Reborn

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There’s just something about surviving a gritty apocalypse and making do with what little you can scavenge that really suits the medium of video games. Maybe it’s the lawlessness, allowing you to do whatever you please with few repercussions. Maybe it’s the grim nature of such a setting, leading to a world in need of a hero – or perhaps a world ripe for the harvest by a villain.

For my money, though, it’s the fact that it’s pretty easy to render giant piles of sand. Give me MSPaint and the yellow spraycan tool and I’ll give you some concept art. Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a little more varied than that, of course, so I might be getting somewhat ahead of myself.

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The world’s in bad shape! There’s roaming packs of automated tanks, giant insects, sandworms and more just waiting to take a bite out of the few remnants of humanity left on the planet. As a wandering mercenary, you’ll search for survivors, battle monsters for cash and generally do your best to extract as much value as you can from the ruins of Earth. Along the way, you just might be able to do something for the survival of humanity…if you find the time. You’re busy, after all.

See, you’re going to be spending a lot of time souping up your ride instead. Metal Max Xeno Reborn has a ton of character, vehicle and skill customization, allowing you to tackle the Wasteland in whatever fashion you see fit. You’ll start with just your merc and his rickety old tank, but with some work you can find superior vehicles, trustworthy partners and even a machine-gun-wielding Shiba Inu.

All of these can be tuned to your liking, so long as you’ve got enough currency and materials to make it happen. There’s a fantastic, addicting gameplay loop revolving around taking your newly-improved retinue out to search for parts and bounties that you’ll need for more improvements.

Metal Max Xeno Reborn is more of a remixed take on the original Metal Max Xeno, with the lion’s share of the changes amounting to mixed-up gameplay, so if you’ve recently run through that game you might not be missing much with this one. Newcomers, though, or those who’ve played through Xeno closer to its 2018 release, might find this one worth the time. It’s a more fast-paced take on classic Metal Max exploration and combat, mixing both real-time and turn-based combat elements to create a system that feels a little bit snappier than the original.

About the Author: Cory Galliher