The roguelike genre continues to amass intriguing games in 2025, and Full Metal Schoolgirl from D3 Publisher and Yuke’s is no exception to the ever-growing lineup. The developers behind the Earth Defense Force series took their third-person shooter expertise and created a brand-new title that is extremely fun and chaotic, all while offering the tropes and qualities that fans may come to expect from some of D3 Publisher’s past titles, including Onechanbara. That’s not to say that Full Metal Schoolgirl isn’t without its flaws. Although there are plenty of sore spots, Full Metal Schoolgirl nails its gameplay quite well.
Full Metal Schoolgirl’s setting takes players to the year 2089, where the United Federation of Japan has become an industrial powerhouse capable of creating cyborgs and androids that function and operate like humans. Seeking revenge for their father, the machine schoolgirls Akemi and Ryoko seek to destroy Meternal Jobz, an evil corporation that employs cyborgs on 24/7 exploitative shifts. These literal corporate drones have a foothold on Japan’s economic and societal prospects, and if left unchecked, they’ll continue to have full control over the country. With this premise alone, it quickly becomes apparent that Full Metal Schoolgirl is making fun of black companies or businesses operating with abusive and unethical employment practices. Of course, this is turned up to 150% in this game, but the point still stands, and it’s incorporated into a very fun gameplay loop.
Full Metal Schoolgirl Brings Satisfying Hack-and-Slash and Shooter Combat
At the start of Full Metal Schoolgirl, players are given the option to play as either Akemi or Ryoko. This choice determines which character is the protagonist, while the other gets injured in an early skirmish. From there, the general premise of the game is to climb up all 100 floors of Meternal Jobz HQ and kill CEO Kyohei Fukoku. However, it’s much easier said than done, as hordes of abused worker drones, known as the “Working Dead,” are ready to lash out at any outsider in their way. Although the player is presented with a lengthy challenge of ascending the skyscraper, the machine girls feel powerful enough to get it done, and there are plenty of rewards and power-ups to be earned along the way.
At its core, Full Metal Schoolgirl is a third-person shooter like Earth Defense Force, but with potent and stylish hack-and-slash combat. Since the game is a roguelike, you will always start each run with the same gear, including chainsaw swords, a Gatling gun, shielding, and a drone, all of which work in tandem with the machine girls. Combat in Full Metal Schoolgirl is extremely smooth and natural, and weapons feel very unique and satisfying to use, for the most part. I think Full Metal Schoolgirl has a good balance of weapons—not as varied as a game like Borderlands, but there’s just enough to keep you cycling through melee and ranged weapons. You also have access to a Punishment meter, which accrues Punishment Points over time and with enemy kills. Accrue enough Punishment Points, and the machine girls can pull off devastating attacks.
You feel powerful in close-quarters combat and at range, thanks to the satisfying gunplay and feedback you receive from slicing and shooting through enemy machinery. There’s also strong aim assist, but you need to have enough skill and coordination to pull off critical hits and headshots with snipers, shotguns, and some of the game’s unconventional weaponry. This is all to say that combat is Full Metal Schoolgirl’s strongest attribute, which is ideal for a fast-paced roguelike game. Although the game becomes quite tedious and repetitive due to the sheer number of floors in between boss battles and breaks, the combat kept me hooked, and it was very hard to put down.
Scaling an Ever-Changing Building
Since there are 100 floors of Meternal Jobz HQ to get through, you will absolutely feel the scale of this place. Each floor consists of corridors full of traps and enemies, with rooms full of enemies and potential weapons and gear. The floors are themed in sections, with the first 10 floors or so being office-themed. As you head up, the themes become more outlandish or sinister as you get closer to your goal. It’s quite a long trek, and at times, it feels like you’re just playing on autopilot once you get a strong loadout and become good enough to deal with the challenges in front of you.
The layout does change over time and with each run, so you will get a different experience every time you ascend the skyscraper. It just gets monotonous at times, since there’s no “challenge room” floors or anything of that nature to spice up the gameplay loop. At the very least, the story does advance as you ascend, and you’ll get dialogue and scenes that continue to break up that monotony in the upper third of the building. Voiced in English and Japanese, the story is full of anime tropes and parodies of Japanese work culture, and that’s not a bad thing since it adds to the experience rather than negatively impacting it. It’s hokey, but it’s exactly what you expect when you think about “Japanese machine girls out for revenge.” That being said, the lack of mission variety is one of the aspects that holds Full Metal Schoolgirl back from being a surprise hit.
To aid in the mecha girl’s success, each run is being livestreamed with the help of Professor Hakase, a cyborg technician who gets really handsy with the girls. As you ascend the floors, kill enemies, destroy surrounding props and objects, and complete “Cash Chat” challenges from the in-game chat, you’ll earn more money, materials, and Meternal Jobz Points (MJP), which can be used to upgrade your machine girl and open item boxes found on each floor. The rarity of each item box can be denoted by the color, such as green for uncommon and blue for rare. Each floor also has a room where you can spend MJP to buy Batteries or health items, for the girls, so there’s at least some reprieve from the chaos and risks you might take while navigating and defeating enemies.
Graded and Primed for Destruction
There’s not much to do in Full Metal Schoolgirl besides preparing for your next run up the tower, along with a few bonuses after completing the main story. Although you lose out on weapons and gear earned from your run upon defeat or returning to the game’s main menu, you can use your hard-earned money and materials at Professor Hakase’s lab. There, you can install Augments, which include upgrades for more health, energy, and battery capacity, along with unlocks for revives, additional abilities, and new features. Players can also reset and re-spec their upgrades, so there’s room for experimentation if a build isn’t going in someone’s favor or needs further tweaks.
The further you head up the building, the more money and materials you can earn. Your rank will go up based on subscriber and viewership gains, which increase the further you ascend. However, you can lose a lot of the money, materials, and subscribers you gained mid-run in defeat. Each run counts, as you could potentially lose out on upgrades—and your own time—if you’re careless in a two-hour run. You can upgrade your material drops and mitigate how much you lose on defeat in the Augments menu, but I didn’t need these particular upgrades since I was careful on my playthrough.
Full Metal Schoolgirl Brings Delightful Chaos
With a roughly 20-hour runtime at most, Full Metal Schoolgirl doesn’t wear out its welcome too much. Although the game lacks in content and mission/level variety, it makes up for some of its flaws with addictive gameplay that will make you want to keep going up the skyscraper. The roguelike elements aren’t too punishing and feel balanced, and the gunplay should be rightfully praised. On top of this, Full Metal Schoolgirl is well optimized for hardware on PC, and there were very few typos or errors in the localization that I could remember.
Full Metal Schoolgirl is a chaotic and fun game that puts its gameplay, anime tropes, and aesthetic above other qualities, for better or worse. The story isn’t spectacular or particularly memorable, but it does make fun of black companies and detrimental work culture, so that’s a plus. If you’re a fan of Lollipop Chainsaw, Earth Defense Force, and other action games of a similar vein, then Full Metal Schoolgirl can be a great time.
Full Metal Schoolgirl is available now for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.
Disclaimer: D3 Publisher provided a PC (Steam) copy of Full Metal Schoolgirl for review purposes.
