Megaton Musashi W: Wired

Megaton Musashi W: Wired was provided by LEVEL 5 Inc. for review. Thank you!

When I started playing Megaton Musashi W: Wired, I had little knowledge of the source material, but after playing the game, I became extremely interested in the franchise. The original game was released in 2021 in Japan only, while an anime adaptation was created later that same year. Earlier this year, we got an English release after a ton of content had been released, and it was all packaged together in this version of the game. And when I say a ton of content...I really mean a TON of content, and I love it all.

The story of Megaton Musashi W: Wired, and really the entire series itself, hooked me almost instantly once I learned what was going on. Earth was attacked by aliens, and most of humanity has been wiped out. To save whoever they could, the remaining humans were put into a dome-like city with new memories so they could continue living without the burden of remembering what the horrific attack took from them, while a small group would fight back using giant robotic mech suits that they created. Throughout the duration of the game, we will follow high schoolers who are recruited to pilot these mechs and hopefully save the world.

The story itself started off on a high note and went right into the bulk of the story relatively fast. There were a solid amount of tutorials to go through, which did wear me down a little since I wanted to get to the gameplay, but it makes a little bit of sense since our heroes are new to this. I found each of the characters to be quite unique and distinct from each other, all while trying to tackle an enemy they don't completely understand. I loved the main conflict of the story, and while it falls into some anime tropes as it continues, I was hooked until the end.

There are two distinct art styles used throughout the game. For when you are outside of missions, we have a more 2D anime style to run around from place to place, while in missions, you are playing on a 3D plane with a bit more detail to it. Both of the styles look great and work extremely well for the game, though the 3D environments did look less detailed by comparison.

Then, we have the gameplay loop, which is easily my favorite part of the game. There are two parts to the gameplay loop, and I will start with the actual missions. In the missions you accept, you will go around an open field in your mech and participate in hack-and-slash combat, destroying other giant robots made by aliens. You go in with three melee weapons and three guns, which you can either shoot from the hip or aim down in third-person sights. You will also have different special attacks that can do massive amounts of damage.

It's a bit mindless, but as a fan of the Dynasty Warriors, this was up my alley. It's also quite cool to be able to switch between each of the weapons you bring with you, with pros and cons for each. Enemies have different weaknesses to specific weapons or guns, so bringing a varied arsenal is imperative to make the most out of your attacks. The special attacks are also very unique and exciting, all of them having cool visual effects and some having some form of interaction with aiming. You can even "pause" the game to repair different sections of yourself in battle. It doesn't actually stop the game from running but puts you into a menu to repair.

Megaton Musashi W: Wired also has a ton of missions and different modes. There is offline missions that include the story, side missions, treasure missions, and challenge missions, but we also have online modes that allow you to partake in missions with friends, as well as a Colosseum mode to go head to head in 3v3 versus combat.

Then, we have the mech customization outside of missions, which is both massive and deep. When you complete missions, you will get materials and new parts for your mech, which can drastically change your stats. You can get new melee weapons and guns, but can also get new heads, arms, and leg types to equip. These range in design, rarity (which indicates how many mods you can put on it), and rank. Higher-rank equipment tends to have better stats overall, so you will want to upgrade frequently as you get new stuff. You will get this new gear, materials, and equipment very often, so the grind doesn't feel too difficult.

We can also customize our motherboard, allowing us to put in even more modifications and change out our special moves. We can unlock more mods and special moves using crafting materials you get while playing to research them. These materials can also be used to craft new parts and weapons and target specific rarity ranks. You can also switch out different pilots that each have their own skills that you can unlock and upgrade.

On top of all of this, we have shops, premium passes, collaboration content, different classes of mechs, different sub-types of weapons, weapons, mech proficiency bonuses, and more that have increased what items we can use to customize. There are even ways to not only change your mechs appearance with different coatings of paint, you can even put in little accessories in the cockpit. The amount of options you have is insane and can sometimes feel a little bit overwhelming. Luckily, there are ways to let the game optimize for you, which makes it easier to choose gear for those who get confused.

Due to the game releasing with all of the content that it had accumulated over a couple of years, the amount you can get and do is insane. And with so much content and replayability, it is a perfect game for the Steam Deck.

Megaton Musashi W: Wired - Steam Deck Performance

Megaton Musashi W: Wired's structure is perfect for the Steam Deck, and luckily, performance follows suit! The 2D areas where you are running around talking to people run flawlessly on the Deck, getting under 8.5W battery drain at 60 FPS, but the 3D areas can be a bit more taxing on the system. Depending on the mission, there can be some high battery drain and some framerate drops, but we do have some changes we can make to create as much of an enjoyable experience as possible.

A lot of the framerate drops came from being too close to effects, some special moves (like the Megaton Punch), or a large number of enemies on the screen along with a big boss or mini-boss.

Recommended Settings

My preferred way to enjoy the game was at some reduced settings, along with a 45 FPS framerate limit and a TDP limit of 9. This felt like the most stable combination that also reduced battery drain to stick below 13W at all times with an average of 10.5W drain in missions. Everything still feels pretty smooth, and there are not nearly as many drops as when trying to play at 60 FPS.

95% of the drops that would occur at 60 FPS are fixed with these settings, but there may still be drops in some missions. In the missions I experienced them in, I did go back to replay them, but I couldn't replicate the issue. I would consider that a good sign, but use these recommended settings knowing there could be some possible drops here and there.

60 FPS Settings

I also played around with the settings to find a 60 FPS build, and while there are a few more drops, this works well. We can increase the quality settings to be close to the maximum, too, since we already need an unlocked TDP limit to stick to 60 FPS as much as possible. There are still some moments, like I mentioned above, that will have some drops in-game, and there are a bit more than the recommended settings, but it still works really well.

Most of the time, battery drain will remain around 13W - 14W, but can increase to 21W depending on the situation. I also noticed that the game would sometimes stick at 59 FPS instead of 60, but it still feels extremely smooth.

Accessibility

in terms of the settings you can change, we are able to change camera speed and vibrations, message display speed, randomize mission completion dialogue, turn off cutscenes for super rare items, toggle cross-play, and different displays, change different effects on the HUD, change keybindings and sound bars, and choose different text languages (though voice lines will always be in Japanese).

Megaton Musashi W: Wired doesn't support 16:10 resolutions unfortunately, but it does have cloud saves and controller support. You can enable HDR, but unfortunately, it only makes things very saturated.

Conclusion

Megaton Musashi W: Wired blew me away on multiple fronts and has become one of my two favorite mech games to play on the Steam Deck. The hack-and-slash gameplay loop with the extensive, deep customization options to make the mech I wanted to have. I love the consistent grinding and getting new equipment, which happens very often and makes the grinding feel much more enjoyable. And the loop is perfect on the Steam Deck, which we can thankfully experience without much issue!

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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