Welcome to the Revolution

Steelrising (yes, this is the correct way it’s spelled) couldn’t have picked a better time to release. We are at the start of the busy fall release season; and with so many of the FromSoftware fans wrapping up their 13th run through the magnum opus that is Elden Ring; Steelrising emerges as the latest in the ‘Soulsborne’ type games. With Elden Ring garnering so many new fans to the genre who are no doubt looking for their next challenge; Steelrising is more than up to the task, not only with its intriguing take on an alternate history French Revolution but also for its assist mode, which is revolutionary all on its own.

In Steelrising players will take on the role of Aegis, who is a female bodyguard for her majesty “let them eat cake..” herself, Queen Marie Antoinette. The Queen sends Aegis out to find her creator in hopes to find a way to stop the machinations of the tyrannical King Louis XVI, who has unleashed a whole army of automatons on the people of Paris and locked the Queen away. For those that are into history the story in Steelrising was fantastic, and while I only knew bits and pieces it was as interesting to see where the various historical figures popped up as it is when the Assassin’s Creed features them in their games. I want to go in to detail about the story, but it really is best to go in unspoiled, there are twists, and I will just say that not everything is as it appears. For those fans who love to scour levels for hidden lore, Steelrising wont disappoint as the various letters Aegis will find on her journey offer a window into how things got out of hand.

MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

For me though as wonderful as the story is, it’s the automatons that steel (pun intended) the show; for if Elden Ring set the bar for large and weird monsters then Steelrising gets the top for the marvelous and most creative monsters. Truly, I’d be surprised if the team didn’t have an engineer on staff or consulted with one with how each foe was built and moved. Some of the robots were so cool to watch in motion that I will admit that I died more than once because I was enamored with all the gears and things inside of this marvel. Many of the bosses and even some of the mini-bosses are unique in their design and even with their attacks. Seeing some of the larger ones turn on a dime is a little disconcerting but it’s a boss fight so, ya know, whatever. As for the grunts, some are neat the first time but just get annoying after they drop down on you for the 12345th time; yes, I am speaking of you fire breathing, snake-like robot.

While the environments are grand, and players will even see real landmarks such as the Grand Châtelet; outside of those I just felt that everything looked the same. One muddy street that leads to a broken-down building looked just like the one I was on an hour ago, and so on. And this may have just been an issue with the PC version, but I experienced a lot of issues with textures just not loading in leaving environments devoid of detail. I know it’s become a tradition at this point for every game to launch with the much lauded ‘day one patch’ but it’s still sad to see games even require them in the first place. That’s not a negative at all but on the PC version I did experience issues with textures in the environment being devoid of detail. And this is with me using an 3070Ti with updated drivers, probably an issue that will be resolved in a patch if I had to guess but again why do we have to require these nowadays?

Another area where I had issue was in the emotions or lack thereof shown in all of the humans. Every single cutscene where Aegis is speaking to a human, their voice was more engaged than their faces. Aside from some subtle eye movement, or lip curling in order to really gauge their true emotional intent, players will have to listen to the voice actor. More than anything it just makes some scenes less emotional when the characters who aren’t robotic are moving and acting as if they are, I still very much enjoyed the story and some of the characters though.

For as much as I enjoyed the characters designs and the story, the combat in these games just falls flat for me. It just feels very stiff even at 60fps, and I know that’s by design but if you have heard me on the N4G Podcast then you know I much prefer the fast combat in games like Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, or Ninja Gaiden. That being the case in the early game every single time I got into a fight in Steelrising I immediately start to attempt to pull off combos, and chain things together. Well, it didn’t take long before I adapted and played a more chess-like game with the combat and found success; but I wasn’t happy about it.

The biggest thing Steelrising does in my eyes is the incredible list of accessibility options that can be found when using the ‘Assist mode’. I am super cereal, the team at Spiders have listened and added everything that people have been asking for from these ‘Souls-like’ games, including the ability to…. PAUSE the game. What’s more is this is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL and does not have to be activated and wont ruin anyone’s experience who does not want to use this feature. It’s true, with the ‘Assist Mode’ if players just want to experience the story and not have to worry about combat well turn the damage resistance to 100% and experience true God-hood. Maybe it’s someone like me who has a stack of games to review so you don’t have a lot of time to invest in leveling up, well with the assist mode I was able to keep my anima when I died (Souls fans will know Anima as the souls currency used to level up), tweaked my endurance so I didn’t lose as much stamina and while I didn’t want to be a God, I just set the damage resistance to 50%. The penance for using this mode, some of the difficulty achievements won’t be achievable. So, for those hunters this mode is not going to work, but for so many people who have always wondered about these much talked about ‘Soulsborne’ games and been turned off due to the difficulty, I can confidently recommend Steelrising to you.

Not just for those that are curious though, even fans of Elden Ring and other Souls games will find a lot to love here in Steelrising. From a genuinely good alternative history story that takes some emotional turns, to the various mechanical enemies that litter the Parisian landscape there is a lot to like about Spider’s latest game. And while Steelrising has some of the trademark ‘jank’ that is in all Spider games, it is that very thing that makes this developer so special. All their games have something that just feels off (but in a good way), but all of their games I loved more than the next and true to form Steelrising is their best game to date.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.