Our Score

7.5/10 - Good

The Good

Clever level design and staggered player abilities make exploration fun.

The Bad

Repetitive bosses and a forgettable story.

Release Date

8th September 2022

Developed By

Spiders

Available On

PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Reviewed On

PlayStation 5

When it comes to Soulslikes, there are two distinct types of gamer. Some can effortlessly pick up the controller, rush head-first into battle, and come out the other side relatively unscathed. Then there are those who struggle to beat the tutorial without breaking into a sweat, and a session without a rage-quit is a good day.

I am one of the latter.

Steelrising is, without a doubt, a Soulslike. It would be hard to review Steelrising without making comparisons to Souls games as so many of its gameplay mechanics are drawn directly from that genre. Hard-earned levelling up system? Check. Intricate level design? Check. Unforgiving combat that relies on timing and skill? Check and check.

You play as Aegis, an automaton (robot to you and me) hanging around Paris during the French Revolution. It quickly becomes your job to find out why the streets are full of hulking machines and an absurd amount of dead bodies, which serves as the premise of the plot. But for now, let’s overlook the conflict of interest thrown up by a robot investigating why machines are killing people and just jump in. Games, eh?

A screen shot from the PS5 version of Steelrising showing Aegis overlooking some wooden structures

As Steelrising is set during the French Revolution there are a few famous faces that you bump into along the way, but don’t expect much in the way of historical accuracy. The story itself didn’t do enough for me, and I wasn’t that far into my playthrough before I realised I wasn’t overly invested in what was going on, regardless of how many letters and documents I collected that were intended to flesh things out. On top of this, Aegis feels, well, a little robotic. As a character, she's little lifeless and stunted, and this didn’t do much to adhere me to her as a protagonist.

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Luckily, what Steelrising lacks in narrative it makes up for in gameplay. Exploration is fun, with large sections of Paris to explore and discover. This is one of Steelrising’s strengths, as its level design is pretty solid, from the streets and alleyways up into the buildings, each area felt surprisingly intricate and interwoven. Gates can be unlocked to open up shortcuts to previous areas (as is standard for the genre), but Steelrising throws in a Metroidvania-style system that grants a few new abilities acquired from defeating bosses later on.

Many of the main Boss battles follow a fairly repetitive structure. Having worked your way through each area, you soon encounter a hulking machine, or Titan, each with its own attacks and abilities. That being said, I felt I was able to best each by using a pretty similar tactic of attacking from afar with the Halberd and striking when I spied an opening. Learning attacks and animations is a given for any game in this genre, but once you have them down taking each Boss out is a relatively simple affair, whether that's the shielded Serenite of the Louvre or the Bishop of the Cite. Each have the usual phases which serve to mix up their attack patterns, but this isn’t anything unique or something that Steelrising does differently to countless other games in the genre. Out of all the bosses and sub-bosses I encountered, all of them felt way too similar to be memorable and there isn’t any stand-out battle or encounter that I want to revisit.

The bosses themselves are a bit repetitive and forgettable, but the abilities acquired by defeating them make all the difference when revisiting an area, as open gates only go so far. Kicking through a wall with the Ram ability, or grappling to a balcony that was earlier out-of-reach feels exhilarating, and makes exploring familiar areas worthwhile.

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It is easy to get turned around or completely lost as you explore the dilapidated streets and Parisian palaces, and more than once I was grateful that I’d bought the compass and equipped it to my quick-access belt. In doing so, I could quickly pull up a marker on my HUD which would indicate the general direction I needed to go. Without this I am sure I would still be lost somewhere around the Louvre.

Combat is Steelrising’s baguette-and-butter. Aegis is more than handy in a fight and can be customised in the usual ways to fit a variety of playstyles. Steelrising gives you a choice of four starting classes, but you can tinker with these as you wish providing you have enough Anima Essence stocked up.

There is a standard variety of light and heavy attacks, and a veritable range of weapons to choose from. Weapon choice is more than just picking what feels good to hit stuff with, as each weapon has a special move that can make a difference in how you play. Preferring something with a bit of oomph, I settled on the Gribeauval Halberd, the starting weapon of the Soldier class, as its Special move was a ranged attack that was great for softening up enemies before engaging them. This came after a bit of experimenting, as other weapons had different Specials with an impact on how your approach, so finding something that feels right is crucial.

A screenshot from the PS5 version of Steelrising showing Aegis battling the Unstable Forger battle

Having settled on my weapons of choice, I was surprised at how quickly I took to combat in Steelrising. With a few well-placed upgrades and a bit of trial and error, I felt like I was getting to grips with combat in Steelrising in a way I haven’t felt with other games within the genre.

That isn’t to say combat is perfect. As with the vast majority of Souls-likes, combat is always a trade-off, more of a carefully plotted dance as opposed to a hack, slash and hope for the best. No matter how much I practised or varied my strategy it still felt like something was off - I felt like I was getting hit when I shouldn’t be, or enemies were able to withstand a well-placed attack that should have taken them out.

Now I know that these are standard complaints when it comes to this sort of game, and smarter folk than I would start expatiating here on hitboxes and i-frames. The combat doesn't feel as tight as it should, and this is something that bled into other areas of the game too. Whether that be the odd platforming section that feels stiff or a few cutscenes with poorly lip-synched animations, there are a things that linger to ensure Steelrising is firmly a good game and not a great one.

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Alongside this, my time with Steelrising wasn’t entirely bug-free; clipping issues, a cutscene where Aegis appeared to float, or a few clunky animations, and a couple of times that the game crashed and kicked me back to the home screen made for a none too stabl experience - luckily the checkpoints in Steelrising are relatively forgiving, so I didn’t lose too much progress, but it’s noteworthy enough to report here.

Although a tough game by design, Steelrising does offer up an Assist mode that can be customised to your liking should you wish. Whether you want to minimise the amount of damage you receive to the point of becoming invincible or ensure that you retain all of your hard-earned Anima Essence when you die, the option is there should you wish to take it. In terms of accessibility, this is a massive step in the right direction, but be warned that turning this on for even a minute disables the vast majority of trophies (if not all of them) until you start another game at Standard difficulty. One step forward, one step back I suppose.

Steelrising is a good if challenging time. If you’re thirsting for your next Souls-like after milking Elden Ring dry, then the combat here will feel oddly familiar and you’re sure to find something to enjoy, but it isn’t without its faults. Overall Steelrising hits way more than it misses, but a forgettable story and a few repetitive boss battles hold it back from achieving true greatness.

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Steelrising
7.5 / 10
Platform(s)
PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
Released
September 8, 2022
Developer(s)
Spiders
Publisher(s)
Nacon
Genre(s)
Action RPG
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Violence

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