Steelrising could be a really nice Soulslike

But nobody expected that, right? So that Steelrising, as an unabashed Souls clone, comes close to the master of the craft. Especially since both games were created practically at the same time, so developer Spiders could hardly have used Miyazaki. First of all, it is not an open world that you fight your way through here, in an alternative Paris of the year 1789, shortly before the storming of the Bastille.

Contrary to what our history books tell us, Louis IX. crushed the revolution there by unleashing an army of machines (called automatons in English) on the heads of the insurgents. Fires are burning in the city of love and its inhabitants are hiding in fear of their angry ruler.

Why are you still going there? Because Queen Marie Antoinette is looking for her children lost in the riots, so she activates an automaton: Aegis. your alter ego. A highly articulated robot created for entertainment that was later outfitted with weapons to upgrade it into a killing machine. As such, you not only obey the queen, but bit by bit you also transform yourself from a recipient of orders into a self-thinking creature that is faced with tricky decisions on its journey. Spiders also promises secrets and at least one interesting twist in advance.

Doesn’t that anticipate too much? As interesting as the scenario is, the role of the machine, which is clearly drawn by women and speaks like a normal young woman, seems predictable to me so far. In any case, I think the character drawing would have benefited from a little more daring towards honest science fiction. But good: I didn’t see too much in the preview version, which lasted a few hours, and I’m always excited to see how things continue on September 8th.

It is more important anyway what the upcoming Souls blend has on the playful box, and of course a lot of it is familiar. It starts with the fixed storage points, which serve as an all-in-one workshop for improving character values ​​and using passive skills as well as buying equipment and consumables. It continues with opening initially locked doors, which open a shortcut to later areas after half the level has passed. And it doesn’t stop with the controls or the acoustic signals, which also quote the model.

However, the world is much simpler in the first few hours. It invites you to explore with hidden boxes, but as a mostly right-angled level tube it is never surprising or narratively interesting. I like the scenario and it should also be worthwhile to return to areas I’ve already visited with new skills in order to break new ground. After all, Aegis travels between a total of eight environments, which include Versailles in addition to the initially rural environment and a run-down waterfront, and which will mostly be more open than the first areas. After all, you should also fulfill side missions there. All in all, the core seems to be a manageable struggle in terms of content – and a much easier one than the sources of inspiration. In any case, I was never tempted to switch on the help mode, which is supposed to prevent moments of soul frustration. More on that later.

As I said: Fighting is familiar, because here too you have to pay attention to stamina and the health bar that quickly decreases when hit, while dealing damage with light and heavy attacks and repelling incoming attacks or even countering them with good timing. A nice touch here is that enemies will damage each other if you can get a fire-breathing robot standing roughly right behind your mate, which will then be set on fire instead of Aegis.

In general, elemental damage plays a major role, since you not only return the hot favor with incendiary grenades, but also cause cold damage with a rifle, for example, which even freezes hit automatons after a few hits. Aegis carries two weapons that you can switch between at any time, making her a pleasantly flexible fighter.

Luckily, so that firearms are not too powerful, their ammunition is limited. Still, stopping strong opponents occasionally is extremely powerful. I just wish it hadn’t turned one of the boss fights into a surprisingly mundane shootout once I started saving a few dozen shots at a time. Perhaps Spiders should severely limit the size of the magazine to prevent such situations.

By the way, you have to be careful that Aegis doesn’t “freeze to death” itself, because in order to shorten the wait for her stamina to replenish, you can press a certain button at the right moment. Because you’re dealing cold damage to her this way (you’re using it to cool down her mechanic’s ventilation system), don’t do it too often, or she’ll eventually become still for a few seconds herself.

Different weapons also determine how you play the robotic revolutionist, i.e. as a slow bulldozer who swings a heavy hammer, as a halberd bearer who keeps his opponents at a distance, or as a nimble attacker who handles a double blade and a martial fan. This character is free to develop. You should only consider that each weapon harmonizes particularly effectively with certain character traits, and therefore specialize as sensibly as possible – if only because you cannot reset character points once they have been distributed.

Last but not least, it is interesting that Aegis can incapacitate her enemies for a short time if she inflicts multiple damage on them within a short period of time. Various pieces of equipment also support this “immobilization”. In any case, if the machines are out of action, the next hit causes particularly high damage, which is a successful reward for effective attacking.

And finally, a word about the mentioned help mode, because there will be only one difficulty level in Steelrising. As I said, it is not particularly high, but if you still want to make it easier for yourself, you can use it to activate damage limitation that can be adjusted in five levels, a simplified endurance system, and perhaps the option to redeem currency lost when you die (here “Anima- Essence”) does not have to be picked up first. Because Aegis doesn’t deal more damage in any case, you still have to understand how she has to fight her enemies; the developers only want to reduce the number of frustrations with the help.

So Steelrising has a few interesting ideas that make me curious about the steampunk-like Paris. The subdued Souls challenge, the halfway fresh art design and the tactically pleasingly diverse combat are fun, which is why I’m excited to see what Aegis finally experiences when she discovers her own will in the fall and is then allowed to move more freely in a larger Paris. As I said: Don’t expect an Elden Ring! Like water next to a good whiskey, it could be a useful addition to the enjoyment of this kind of adventure.