Spoilers off. Briefing Over.
The alien landscapes of Daemon X Machina are not for show. Especially not when you have to consider that it isn't just the rogue AI and Immortals that you have to deal with...
- The Immortals are a living computer virus cranked up to eleven. They can infect any artificial intelligence around them, turning machines and weapons meant to fight against them and turn them against the humans. Worse, they're fighting to wipe out all of humanity, when they were previously developed to help save what was left of them after the Moonfall. And they're everywhere!
- The Moonfall. Jesus fucking Christ. Ever wonder what would happen if a chunk of the moon fell off and hit earth? Well, that's exactly what caused the Earth to go to hell, except almost half of the moon fell and collided. Worse, it changed the surrounding area and emitted a bizarre radiation energy called Femto, killing off millions of people. Not only that, but the Moonfall is also what caused the original Immortal A.I.s to go haywire, as the Femto emitted by the catastrophe warped it and made it so that it would try and wipe out humankind. Oh, and did we forget to mention that the stuff that killed off millions of people is also a valuable resource that's now being used to help humanity?
- Oh, it gets worse. Turns out the moon is still falling in the present day and is only kept up by an anti-gravity generator complex at the center of the Oval Link. Said facility begins to fail over the course of a mission and has to be rebooted, causing debris to start falling from the moon and threaten to destroy the facility completely. The rest of the mission is basically a game of Missile Command against the debris, and if you can't stop it then getting Mission Failure is the least of your worries.
- The modifications done to the Rookie, and possibly other Reclaimers. Technology has advanced to the point where people, or at least the Outers, can modify their bodies and infuse them with substances and implant cybernetics into their bodies to help them better combat the rogue AI and Immortals. And they can also just as easily remove the modifications, then reinstall them however they please. It could just be Story and Gameplay Segregation, sure, but the frightening amount of cybernetics that a person does to their body, just to have a fighting chance is just disturbing.
- It gets much worse for you. By the time you've finished an upgrade tree on all three categories, you've turned into a full blown robot, which also grants you the title "Humanity Renounced". Luckily as said before, you can restore your organic body but still.
- Anytime you go up against another Reclaimer Faction can lead to some tense moments, but two that stand out the most are Terrors and Western VII.
- Terrors is an elite group of Outers led by Grief, the highest-ranking mercenary in all of Oval Link. Your first encounter with them, where Painkiller and Bone Box react with dread, also makes it clear that their boss is not the only person who's dangerous. Each and every one of them is merciless in combat, and they won't show you any mercy, either.
- Western VII is entirely made up of criminals. To put it simply, everyone who has a sentence is recruited if they have the capability to become an Outer and therefore pilot an Arsenal, and some of these guys have racked up some serious years. Not just a couple decades, but several hundred years. Depending on how well they do out in the field, they can shave off some of their sentence time, but if they can't, they'd much rather prefer dying out in the battlefield. And from the way Rouge Cinderella talks in the Rookie's first C-Rank mission, it's implied that, even when they join the ranks of the Reclaimers, no one from Western VII has had their sentence wiped and is still shackled or has found only freedom by virtue of death out in the battlefield.
- The revelation behind the continued success and survival of the Reclaimer Faction Immortal Innocence. It's been stated multiple times that their leader, Jack, has survived missions that are at best extremely difficult and at worst suicidal. It wasn't by luck or skill that he survived death. The name of their faction is not without reason, as every time they die, the Ouroboros Tower brings them back to life. And each time they do, their minds take a small, but subtle step towards the slippery slope. It isn't stated how long the Reclaimers have been active, but who knows how long these kids have been fighting and dying over and over for the sake of protecting humanity, and risk going nutty?
- Grief's overall plan for humanity. He wants them to evolve further and expand out into the stars, but his way of doing it is by lowering Oval's shields and flooding what little sanctuaries of humanity are left with Femto. Anyone who dies in the process is just collateral damage, or necessary sacrifices for the sake of humanity to continue to exist.
- Solomon. Arguably, he's a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere at best and possibly an Mechanical Abomination at worst. It's a sentient black Arsenal that has been cannibalizing on other Arsenals and even Immortals — yes, it's eating them — and as a result, it looks like a seriously messed up black mech that has seen some better days. It also talks in a strange alien language that barely anyone can understand (the game subtitles Solomon's speech, but vocally it sounds like a ghost moaning and unintelligable electronic gurgling.) No one knows where the hell it came from, except that it can't be killed. Sure, the Reclaimers and beat it all to hell, but it somehow manages to find a way to get back up. Later on, if you managed to recruit every Reclaimer as a partner for Free Missions, you can partner with Solomon and find out that there is a pilot behind this demonic machine. And while the pilot looks human, there's a subtle implication they are anything but.
