Morbid Metal entered Early Access on Steam back in April with three playable characters, and developer Screen Juice has now added a fourth named Kaizu. He joins Flux, Ekku, and Vekta on the roster, and players can shapeshift into him mid-combat just like the rest of the cast. According to Screen Juice, Kaizu completes the playable roster that’s currently available in Early Access.
Kaizu is designed as an aggressive brawler who fights up close, and Screen Juice says he was built “out of rage instead of purpose.” His toolkit is focused on relentless offense, with an emphasis on pressuring enemies at close range, stacking buffs on himself, and using finishing attacks rather than relying on mobility or retreating. Several of his abilities apply Vulnerable, causing enemies to take increased damage, and the effect remains active even after players shift into another character. That gives players more room to chain combos across characters, since Flux, Ekku, and Vekta can all take advantage of the extra damage.
Along with a new playstyle, Kaizu expands on Morbid Metal’s lore surrounding its AI models and the Operator. He came closer than any previous model to defeating the Operator before escaping into the Void with Eden’s help, and he’s now preserved there as a benchmark for future creations. Kaizu also plays a key role in Eden’s effort to free the Simulation from the Operator.
In my first impressions of Morbid Metal, I said the combat was the star of the show and that swapping characters mid-combo is really fun once it clicks, though I didn’t play far enough to unlock Vekta in the second biome. The roguelite systems were where the game struggled most for me, particularly the Routines and meta-progression. When Screen Juice revealed its 2026 roadmap two weeks later, I noted that several of those concerns were being targeted with an enemy systems update and new temporary and permanent upgrades.
