Steelrising preview: We played the Souls like

Just a few weeks ago, the developers of Spiders and publisher Nacon announced Greedfall 2, the successor to one of their most successful titles to date. Before that, however, the French studio is still working on completing Steelrising, which was announced two years ago. It is the first joint project after Spiders was taken over by the then Bigben Interactive publisher in July 2019. Before the release on September 8, 2022 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, we had the opportunity to try out the game ourselves for the first time and to have the developers explain the content and features to us at a virtual preview event.

After the previously used fantasy and science fiction scenarios in the Spiders games, this time the decision was made for a location that is much closer to the Paris developers. Steelrising is set in the early days of the French Revolution. To be precise, towards the end of June 1789, just after the famous Ballhaus Oath and before the storming of the Bastille. However, the game will not be a purely historical adventure, because we find ourselves in an alternate reality in which much is the same as we know it from history class, but there are also clearly visible differences. This starts with the fact that the French king has an army of robots, the so-called Automatons, under his command. With this powerful support, Louis XIV bloodily suppressed the revolution in Paris and plunged the city into a state of terror.

The player takes on the role of Aegis in this dark version of the French Revolution. She is also an automaton, albeit a unique model originally created as a dancer for court entertainment. However, the king has upgraded her with weapons and modified her movements for battle to make her a deadly fighting machine. She was then sent to the Château de Saint Cloud to serve as protector of Queen Marie Antoinette. As the situation in Paris becomes ever more murky, the queen sends Aegis to search for her children and to locate Automaton creator Eugène de Vaucanson. While Aegis starts out as a faithful machine, as the adventure progresses it gains more and more of its own. She is increasingly faced with decisions that will determine her future path.

Steelrising preview. (17)

Source: Nacon

The game begins at the gates of Paris, where Aegis must first travel from the Queen’s château to the Saine to get to the city by boat. The green park and forest landscape in this section of the game is not yet representative of a large part of the game world. The game still rocks the player a little in a deceptive idyll, even if we are of course already dealing with the first opponents. Arriving in Paris, however, it quickly becomes clear that the developers want to present a very gloomy version of the French capital here. The night setting, which lasts especially as the game progresses, and various Gothic stylistic elements ensure a dark and heavy atmosphere.

While the levels are mostly very linear, there will also be some potential for exploration. Not all hidden niches are accessible from the start. We ran into doors multiple times during the demo that we couldn’t open due to a missing tool. One of these tools will be a grappling hook, which Aegis can use to launch itself to higher areas at predetermined locations. Later, our mechanical heroine also learns a ram attack, which can also be used to break through certain fences, walls and barricades. Incidentally, exploration is entirely in the hands of the player. There is no map that tells you with symbols where there is something to discover. Neither is there a permanent marker that constantly shows us where we have to go for our current task. If we actually need a hint, we use an activatable item that shows us the current destination for a short time.