UnMetal Preview

Back in the days of the original PlayStation, I was a big fan of Hideo Kojima’s stealth-action game. Of course, there was one for the Game Boy Color shortly after, but I didn’t really get on with it at the time. I was all for the top-down viewpoint, but something didn’t click.

That’s where UnMetal comes in. When the trailer showed at E3 during the Guerrilla Collective 2 stream, it hooked me. The top-down view, the pixel graphics, basically only having two buttons - the humour! I was in from the opening making fun of The A-Team, right through to the end. So, when the demo came out during the Steam Next Fest, I had to try it.

I'd probably been killed a dozen times, so you're not wrong?

The demo allowed you to play through the opening level which took me over an hour to complete. If that’s not a good sign of things to come, I don’t know what is. Of course, I got hopelessly lost at one point, but that’s neither here nor there.

You play Jesse Fox, arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. As the game begins, Jesse has just been shot down while flying a Russian military helicopter. He starts being interrogated, and tells his tale of how he escaped from a stockade by writing a note using rusty wire, toilet paper and his own blood…

Boss fight!

One of my favourite tropes in flashback storytelling is when the person hearing the story says things like “You didn’t die, you’re right here!” if you’re killed. UnMetal takes that and runs with it, referencing things that you choose to do in the game. You stood punching a box nine or 10 times? You’ll be asked why you did that. Ironically, you’re never questioned about when you die, though.

At certain points you’ll get to pick what happened to Jesse. For instance, when he entered that room, you can choose if the guard was awake or asleep. I’m not sure why you’d make things harder for yourself, but I choose easy mode so what do I know? Oh, after my first death, it asked if I wanted to pick easy mode, so it’s like the game knew!

Lots of metal, few gears

Jesse can punch, roll and use weapons when you get them. He can also use items that you pick up, or combine them in his inventory like in a point-and-click adventure game. For instance, the aforementioned note that he writes is made by punching a bed until it gives you a wire, punching a toilet until it gives you toilet paper, and combining them together. He can also sneak, which he will need to do quite a bit!

Guards will remain in their own areas, and incidentally each screen acts as its own area. I alerted a guard and ran into the next screen, and they didn’t chase me - but they might not have seen me leave the screen. Also, I didn’t try entering a screen with conscious guards after alerting others.

A Hind-D?! Maybe, I'm not sure

UnMetal has a leveling up mechanic, where you get experience points for knocking out guards who didn’t spot you. As you level up, you get to choose a new perk from a choice of two. You also get experience for defeating bosses, such as the first level’s Grenade Guy.

There was a lot to like about UnMetal, and that’s based off of one level. I’m really looking forward to playing it when it comes out on PC, Switch, Xbox One/X|S and PlayStation 4/5 later this year.