Severed Steel Review

Severed Steel tells the story of protagonist Steel as she wakes up in a garbage compactor with a missing arm. She’ll need to find her way out of EdenSys using her acrobatic and sharpshooting skills and quick reflexes to conquer enemy forces and get out alive.

Severed Steel is a *very* fast-paced stylized first-person action game/shooter where players bounce around every area completing objectives and taking out enemies in stylish ways. Steel can run (by default), jump, double jump, wall run, dive mid-air, slide and slow down time. The slow-down mechanic is vital here, on *all* difficulty setting. You’ll need to combine all of these moves in order to navigate the game’s various intrinsic areas and complete specific objectives.

Thankfully, the game does highlight in red current objectives and subsequent exit in order to make things a bit simpler for players. Given the game’s fast-paced nature players could easily miss a target or the exit. Steel can also defend herself. While she has her default melee attack, a kick, she can pick up weapons dropped by enemies. Once you’ve emptied its clip, she’ll automatically throw it.

Additionally, in place of her missing arm, Steel has an arm cannon, akin to Samus Aran or Mega Man’s arm cannon. Although along with killing enemies, it can also create holes in most floors, walls, and ceilings to help you find a quicker path to your objective or the exit. However, it only has three bullets, so use it wisely.

The first nuisance with this game is that you can’t “drop” down from surfaces. So basically, if by jumping around, you land on a table, you can’t just drop down, you’ll need to jump off of it which makes movement in smaller rooms clunky. Also, the difficulty gap between Easy and Normal is inexplicably huge. Almost feels like jumping from Easy to Hard; however, this is a great game to start on Easy because it’ll get you acclimated to the game’s feel, control, and jet-like speed. The tutorial doesn’t do much of a good job of it aside from basic movement. While the game has you moving fast, sometimes it feels too fast; it can feel dizzying at times. There’s also an epileptic warning when booting the game.

Severed Steel is definitely one of the better-looking gaming experiences of the last year or so. The game reeks of style thanks to its unique area/environment design. Each chapter has its own unique styling and flair keeping players on their toes. The game’s darker-colored tone has a definite sythwave/80s vibe; something that comes along rarely nowadays. The game has an electrifying, blood-pumping EDM soundtrack that complements the game’s neck-breaking speed. Feel free to sample the soundtrack over on bandcamp.

Severed Steel is the closest we’ll get to a John Wick-inspired game. Fast-paced, brutal action, picking up weapons on the fly and performing stylish kills in slow motion never gets hold. Sure, the game does have a few nuisances and its fast-paced rhythm can be dizzying at times, but there’s often a chance to stop and get back your bearings. Severed Steel is definitely a must-play FPS and a nice change of pace to typical shooters.