FULL METAL SCHOOLGIRL

I went in expecting a brain-off spectacle, and Full Metal Schoolgirl mostly delivers that - but with enough structural friction to make you question whether the premise is worth fighting. You pick one of two machine girls, Akemi or Ryoko, each armed with a loadout of guns, a melee weapon (chainsaws, swords, or axes), and a support drone, then storm the 100-floor headquarters of Meternal Jobz - a satirical megacorporation running 2089 Japan on the backs of its zombie cyborg workforce. The whole rampage is framed as a livestream, and that conceit actually feeds into a light bonus objective system where clearing rooms under specific conditions earns extra cash toward upgrades. It is a genuinely clever wrinkle on the familiar run structure, and it gives the otherwise thin moment-to-moment stakes a little texture. The combat loop is where the game earns its keep. Each machine girl runs on two energy gauges - firearms and melee - and the two recharge each other, so you are constantly switching between blasting clustered Working Dead with grenades or shotguns and cutting them down with a blade when the ammo runs dry. Dash attacks add cohesion to the hectic pacing, and boss floors introduce stagger mechanics and unique patterns that break up the corridor grind. The shooting, specifically, has a satisfying punch to it that carries most runs. Melee is serviceable but basic - a short combo string and an aerial hit is largely the full repertoire, and the absence of a lock-on mechanic means close-range fights against fast enemies can get frustratingly slippery. The roguelite architecture is where opinions split hard - and Steam's mixed rating (around 66-67% positive at launch) reflects exactly that. The tower resets on death, and elevator keys earned from boss victories are single-use items. Beat the boss on floor 55, get kicked back to the lobby, spend your key to return, then die on floor 60 - and you start from floor one again, from scratch, with starter gear. A manual mid-run save exists only while outside a combat room, and it deletes on load. These are genuinely punishing design calls that reviewers flagged consistently, and they are not the kind of friction that feels intentional or instructive. The procedurally shuffled floors also lean on repeating hallway-and-room layouts that critics described as wearing thin across long sessions. Cel-shaded anime visuals and cyberpunk techno audio do solid work setting the tone, and the over-the-top animations match the absurdist writing well enough that the campiness lands more often than it should by rights. Full Metal Schoolgirl sits comfortably in D3PUBLISHER's tradition of budget-spirited, unapologetically weird Japanese action games - closer to OneeChanbara or Earth Defense Force than anything trying to redefine a genre. If you are fine with sessions capped by a healthy break and a tolerance for reset-heavy progression, the run-and-gun core is genuinely fun in bursts. If roguelite attrition drains you faster than it motivates you, the rough edges here will sour things well before the CEO fight.

Alex · Scout Team

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