There are numerous inspired or direct copycats of the Dark Souls formulae, now known more transparently as the ‘Soulsborne’ genre. Examples include the likes of, The Surge, Mortal Shell, Remnant: From the Ashes, Nioh and most prominently the latest single player Star Wars adventure, Jedi Fallen Order. However, we have yet another to come with Steelrising arriving in September, which will be a fresh addition to this new sub-genre of challenging games. As a result, you would be right with reading my tone as almost weariness of developers jumping on this bandwagon, as I have been somewhat jaded after Elden Ring, and how on earth it could be matched.
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My favourite in the pedigree is none other than Bloodborne. It offered everything I craved aesthetically, mechanically, and narratively. Something which Elden Ring strayed from heavily, as it was more in line with Dark Souls. Which is a great series but more classic fantasy than steampunk and supernatural. So, when I caught a glimpse of a clockwork figure in a royal yet gothic France setting. I was intrigued with what the developers Spiders had been working on with this mysterious new title, Steelrising.
You may even know Spiders as they developed Greedfall which has some similarities with Steelrising, although mainly in facial animation and 1800’s design of outfits. Nevertheless, this is a heavily inspired Soulsborne game, and they are more than aware that is where their inspirations originate from. Allowing them to relish in the established mechanics of a popular series but add their own creativity and tales to tell.
So, what is the narrative backbone of Steelrising and what pushes you on a hero’s journey? Well, it’s an alternative history story set during the 18th century French revolution periods, when the then reigning king of France Louis the XVI, caused the population to take a stand. Although this time he has a merciless mechanical guard for an army. A world of steampunk automatons service rich aristocrats, military commanders, and the industrial sector of the country in a twist to established history. You play as Aegis, the only talking automaton in the land and a masterpiece of engineering. Set upon the world as a former dancer turned bodyguard by a well-respected lady, your aim is to stop the impending robotic war being perpetuated by the king. We need to save history and its going to be a challenge.
Gameplay is core to this title and Steelrising provides in its beta. An ever-intriguing plot and world of wonders is the backdrop of hours of fun to be had in its core loop. Using that formulae set by From Software with the soul’s series you make your way from automaton to automaton, defeating the variations upon them and gaining anime essence to level up for the next boss encounter. Vestals are your safe havens much like campfires in Dark Souls, but also checkpoints to upgrade, buy equipment with essence and mod yourself to better serve your ongoing journey. Other mechanics return but with nuanced aspects such as overheating your automaton when running low on stamina but with a chance to instantly refill if you time a button prompt adequality. The challenge is there in every enemy encounter but if you learn some tricks, watch movement patterns, and pay attention, you are rewarded modestly.
My favourite weapons were the Halberd blunderbuss and fire ball whip. Both provided a safe range from enemies and some much-needed area of effect damage. But there is a lot to chose from and probably the most well designed was the kunai French fan that doubled as a shield. Design in general for Steelrising is quite fantastic. There is no parry as far as I could discern and no backstab of sorts, but sneak attacks can be made if you are not too heavy footed. The game also features a four-way class system during its opening but as I discovered, once you explore the world, its just a starting point as everything becomes available via Vestal shops or world chests you can open for treasure, outfits, weapons or more. Aegis, our main character has a surprising level of choice in appearance and play style besides their gender. Of which personally, I made four distinct saves to trial out each weapon and class type with contrasting looking Aegis’s. Which I would recommend as each weapon and starting stats can influence your personal playstyle quite heavily which I was pleasantly surprised by. You also get dialogue options, full cutscenes and voice lines which almost works against its source material in a sense, and yet, it adds to it and even makes Soulsborne games dated by comparison.
The world of Steelrising to me, screams Nier Automata meets Bloodborne and that is why I am so excited to really delve into a full playthrough. By the end of my 4–5-hour hands on with its beta, I wanted to play more and had to know what happens next. This itch is incredibly important to potential consumers so well done to Spiders for giving us such a chunk to test in demo form.
Nonetheless, this is a beta and purely impressions and it would not be complete without quite a few negatives I did experience that are noteworthy. The game is worth a try I can tell you that but beware of a few issues, design choices and well, limitations.
First, much like Greedfall, facial animations and fidelity of characters are severely lacking for what is essentially a current gen title for PlayStation 5 and Xbox X/S Series. I don’t know if this is a lack of skill by the developers, artistic decision due to engine limitations or just pure laziness but it can really take you out of the world and its immersion when characters resemble late PS3 era likeness. Next up, I was stunned by how large the map seemed to be, it appears to be most of Paris and its surrounding areas. However, lighting and use of darkness within the game is hit and miss. Random FPS drops in poorly lit areas caused me to get a little peeved at times, which must stem from an old beta build caused by optimisation issues. Frankly, there is a graphics and performance mode so me being on a high FPS setting, should not allow this to happen when the full version is out, I hope. I also ran into some bugs and glitches. Enemies getting stuck on objects or environmental dressing such as bushes was the most common and distracting but easily fixed by full release. Most egregious sadly, is a lock on bug that keeps turning the lock on mechanic, off. Which becomes extremely frustrating during multiple enemy encounters or boss fights as you progress. This will need addressing with a day one patch or it will cause major issues for players and potential review score losses.
Lastly, not an issue per says but for my personal taste, in at least the areas I experienced within the beta portion of Steelrising. The game lacks diverse indoor level design by and large. Most houses are mere set dressing, with no doors to open or inaccessible buildings. The ones I could enter seemed to be small wooden factory facilities. Most were purely one room majority of the time which I know is nit-picky but it’s something I noticed. So, I do hope this is just the beginning portions and later we get some cathedral level interiors, grand cityscapes, and houses to explore. It all helps break up the monotony from area to area for the player.
With everything considered, I am quite excited for Spiders clockwork souls project, Steelrising has major potential to become a fan favourite and I aim to pick it up come release whether purchasing or via a review code if I am lucky. Its basically, a double A project as its not indie but also not a huge team like From Software. From what I hear, spiders are a team of 35 plus people which if true, is an incredible achievement to put out a product this unique and fun. £40 on release for a new challenging experience is just what I would recommend for new and old souls’ fans but also just to any game as from my few hours it was not as hard as expected. Either that or I have become a god after beating Melanie in Elden Ring.
I am going with the latter because I am totally humble.
By John.P
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