Metal Eden | A Fantastic New Cyberpunk Thrill Ride

Metal Eden successfully carves out its own niche in the crowded arena shooter market by prioritizing mechanical speed and environmental verticality.

By marrying a gritty cyberpunk aesthetic with a relentless and rewarding combat loop, the developers have delivered an experience that feels like a modern evolution of the genre’s golden era.

Title	Metal Eden
Released	Sept 2, 2025
Developer	Reikon Games
Publisher	Deep Silver
Platform
Genre	FPS, Action, Movement Shooter
Rating	M
Pricing	$39.99
Proton	Experimental

Completed on PC on Normal

HowLongToBeat Time: Main + Sides (6 Hours) | My Clear Time: 5hrs (Main + Extras)

Full disclosure: Review key provided by Reikon Games.

Edit: New Game+ was added as of 10/15/2025

Metal Eden Background

Metal Eden, the new entry from Ruiner’s Reikon Games published by Deep Silver, is a cyberpunk-themed first-person shooter emphasizing movement within the Ruiner universe. Originally scheduled for release on May 6th, 2025, it was delayed following feedback from the April 17th demo to fine-tune the experience and address areas needing improvement, with the team confident that the extra time would pay off.

Drawing inspiration from Doom 2016, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Titanfall, and more, as noted in an interview with TechRadar, Metal Eden is helmed by former CD Projekt Red staff and released September 2, 2025, on Xbox Series, PC, and PS5.

The development team for Metal Eden includes:

Metal Eden Experience

My experience with first-person shooters spans decades, from Doom on SNES to Doom Eternal, Duke Nukem 3D, Titanfall, Syndicate, Quake, and Unreal Championship. Having played Ruiner at launch, I was already familiar with the universe, which made stepping into Metal Eden especially exciting.

Experiencing the world from a first-person perspective adds immersion, and knowing that Sonic Mayhem was behind the soundtrack, having worked on Deus Ex and other favorites, heightened my anticipation.

Metal Eden Impressions

Introduction

Metal Eden immediately feels like a high-octane evolution of arena shooters. The game rewards aggressive movement, precise aim, and quick thinking, with combat arenas designed to constantly challenge and excite. From the opening moments, the fluidity of ASKA’s movement, weapon responsiveness, and vertical arenas make it clear this isn’t a slow shooter, it’s a power fantasy celebrating speed, strategy, and spectacle.

Even in quieter moments, Metal Eden’s neon-lit vistas, weathered buildings, and mechanical adversaries create a rich, immersive backdrop. Responsive combat combined with atmospheric design makes each level feel intentional, rewarding, and full of energy.

Gameplay & Mechanics

Movement
Movement is the backbone of Metal Eden. ASKA’s high baseline speed echoes Quake. Wall running flows naturally into gunplay, making encounters cinematic while giving the agility to survive swarms.

Wall Running
Far from a gimmick, wall running is central to design. Vertical arenas and enemy types encourage staying off the ground.

Map Design
Levels are a mix of mostly linear areas that eventually turn into action platforming sections requiring precise movement utilizing the wall running and jump placement from hovering, until hitting a combat arena where the game is at its most Quake.

Arena Design
Combat arenas bring both horizontal and vertical play, feeling like mini-sections of Unreal Championship where you fight enemies and turn the environment into another weapon. They include arena shooter pickups such as health, armor, and ammo that respawn on timers, while enemy placement makes wall-running a tactical centerpiece in frantic firefights.

Combat
Combat is layered, expanding as you unlock new weapons, grenades, and skill tree abilities. The game pushes you to mix movement, melee, and ranged attacks to keep encounters varied. Weapons use a radial menu and can be swapped quickly between your current and previous choice.

Weapon Shop
Shops let you spend Dust to enhance your arsenal. Alternate fire modes unlocked through challenges can be swapped in at these locations, encouraging experimentation.

Skill Trees
From cooldown reductions to boosted dashes, slow-motion, and charged melee strikes, skill trees add tactical depth to dynamic encounters.

Art & Audio

Visually, the game leans into neon-soaked cyberpunk aesthetics with sharply designed characters and mechanical enemies. Neon lights pierce the architecture, lava illuminates corridors, and weathered buildings tell the story of a world that once was. Some of the most enjoyable moments come from simply riding a zipline and taking in the vistas, letting the world breathe.

Audio complements the design. Every gunshot, punch, breath, and wall run lands with impact. Ambient tracks provide calm between intense firefights, balancing pulse-pounding moments with cathartic ambience. Key composers Sonic Mayhem and Wioleta Wnorowska bring the world to life with their music. Sonic Mayhem even shared a behind-the-scenes video showing the industrial tones and layered ambience that shape the soundscape.

Unique Features & Mechanics

Metal Eden innovates with mechanics that amplify its cyberpunk FPS core.

Ball Mode
In select areas, ASKA transforms into Ball Mode, reducing her hitbox and unlocking a combat toolkit. Boost dashes, homing missiles, and a lightning arc attack add traversal and offensive options, drawing comparisons to Metroid Prime with a more aggressive spin.

Fuel System
Fuel powers dodges, double jumps, and other evasive maneuvers. Managing it adds tactical depth; burn too much, and you’ll lose mobility when it’s needed most.

Alternate Fire
Weapons have alternate fire modes unlocked through combat challenges. These change loadout dynamics, from chaining lightning balls to seismic attacks.

Cores
Rip cores from enemies for explosive throws or charged melee strikes, keeping combat frantic without Doom’s glory kill pauses.

Cooldown
Cooldowns follow melee or core extraction, forcing players to plan usage rather than spam abilities.

Voice Acting

The cast delivers strong performances that match the game’s fast pace and cyberpunk world:

The first three chapters ran like butter on my PC, with stable framerates and no stuttering. Halfway through Chapter 4, I noticed dips here and there, though clearing my shader cache and restarting helped smooth things out. These hiccups weren’t constant but worth noting, since the game demands tight timing for movement and combat.

The fact that it only cropped up later and improved after tweaking makes me confident that Reikon’s delay was genuinely about optimization, not dodging sales competition. Performance feels solid overall, with just a few moments where the engine strains under the game’s intensity.

Metal Eden Verdict

Metal Eden delivers a shooter that feels both fun and exhilarating. From the thrill of movement and wall-running to frantic firefights testing your mastery of weapons and mechanics, it’s a pure power fantasy. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve yet blends them smoothly, avoiding the pacing issues that drag down many modern shooters.

Sonic Mayhem and Wioleta Wnorowska heighten combat with gritty, pulse-pounding tracks and cinematic, cathartic ambience. Reikon Games’ commitment to quality is evident in their decision to delay the release and integrate fan feedback. While combat dominates, the post-human world on Moebius hints at a dark, intricate story lurking behind the chaos, adding subtle depth to the fast-paced action.

Minor drawbacks include the lack of additional modes to extend arena replayability. At $40, the game still offers a satisfying amount of content for its price. Still, Metal Eden is an easy recommendation, with a combat system nearly as frantically fun as January’s Beyond Citadel and plenty of potential for future expansions.

Metal Eden TLDR

Tested On
CPU: Ryzen 7 5900X | GPU: RTX 3080 Ti | RAM: 64GB DDR4 | Storage: Crucial P5 Plus NVMe SSD
OS: Windows 11 x64 | Resolution: 1440p | Settings: High/Ultra | Framerate: Uncapped

References

1. Metal Eden – Aska Gameplay Trailer (YouTube)
2. Behind the Mayhem – The Music of Metal Eden (YouTube)
3. Metal Eden is an exhilarating mix of Doom and Ghostrunner, and my hands-on preview left me craving more – TechRadar