Metal Garden by Tinerasoft

Life inside a giant megastructure, surrounded by a huge iron dome, doesn’t seem ideal. Theoretically, it should protect its citizens from foreign and natural disasters, but it’s a world of war and hardship – isolationism at its most extreme, lacking in natural resources and a sustainable, livable future.

Rumors of a tunnel that leads to a way out motivate citizens to seek an escape, willing to risk their lives just to find out what’s on the other side. Welcome to the bleak and dystopian world of Metal Garden.

Savage Garden

It’s a gripping narrative setup, sparsely elaborated upon via documents lying around the world. The game takes a hands-off approach to narrative, requiring players to decipher and piece together what has potentially happened.

This approach made my time with the game feel very isolating, a mood perfectly nailed by the developers, but I did wish for even more lore to uncover, as there is still room to elaborate and create a more engaging journey.

Levels in Metal Garden are disheveled, abandoned, industrial locations: ruined spaces with busted cars and ancient machinery and abandoned concrete warehouse structures. It’s all somber and evocative, driving home the game’s bleak atmospheric setting.

When the game’s environments shine, they shine brightly. My favorite spaces to explore involved imposingly massive manmade structures that made me feel appropriately small. I also liked the outdoor spaces: waterfalls feel grim and cold, surrounded by sickly foliage with muted colors. By the end of this bite-sized experience, which took me about two hours to complete, I wished for even more evocative places to see because I adore its thick atmosphere.

The overall map design is great, too. I had fun exploring little nooks and crannies and finding extra ammo and lore-building documents. The levels, although linear, have a good amount of scope, allowing for completely optional sections that make exploration rewarding and my personal favorite aspect of Metal Garden.

A Garden of Guns

Most of what you’ll do in Metal Garden is shoot. Thankfully the shooting mechanics feel good and responsive. Weapons have a satisfying kick to them, making the moment-to-moment gameplay feel solid.

It’s not particularly stellar, but it’s fun enough. The limited arsenal makes things less satisfying and consists of only a pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle, and grenades. Each weapon feels good to use, but I wish there was more variety.

The game opts for a more old-school style focused on ammo preservation, finite-use healing stations, limited medpacks, and a lack of manual saving. If you’re hurt badly during combat, limb injuries will occur, giving you a negative stat effect like an impeded sprint or reduced max health. These injuries can’t be remedied with medpacks, as they require finite-use healing stations.

These design elements don’t make the gameplay overly difficult but do require you to be smarter when it comes to combat. It’s a nice throwback and works for this game.

Much like the limited arsenal, a limited number of enemy types – consisting mostly of a couple of different enemy types with guns or sniper rifles and others that charge with swords – make combat feel somewhat repetitive.

First-person platforming sections serve to space out the combat encounters; these sections are fun and offer some light puzzle-solving as well. A double jump ability makes platforming less of a nuisance by making landing and in-air positioning easier. I really liked these sections for offering a much-appreciated break from the more monotonous combat.

Grim and Grey

The game’s overall look is reminiscent of a PS-2 era first-person shooter. Certain moments reminded me of the first Killzone game in particular. Like Killzone, Metal Garden’s thick atmosphere does wonders to create a grim, foreboding space.

That being said, the enemy design – consisting mostly of grey-textured pirate men and lion/humanoids with little detail – feel uninspired. The lack of more stylized enemies to fight does a disservice to the game’s lore and atmosphere.

I did really enjoy the approach to sound design. Ambient noises and subtle music do wonders to make the entire game shine. A low drone of synths makes up most of the game’s sparsely effective score. Combined with the blowing wind sound effects, it makes for a desolate experience. The sound effects themselves feel weighty, with plenty of booming echoes.

The Verdict:

Metal Garden is a gem that I’d recommend. Its commitment to atmosphere and its unique setting outweighs its lackluster combat. It may feel bleak and isolating, but exploring this dystopian world is a treat.

Metal Garden is available via Steam.

Check out the official trailer for Metal Garden below: