Steelrising review. Looking forward to Bloodborne on PC? Get it!

The developers did not come up with anything original, but this is not a problem.

Spiders games are often referred to as solid mid-range games. The French release something good, which always lacks something. For example, Greedfall was praised for its story, quests and dialogues, but the fights and senseless running around pissed off many.

Steelrising was supposed to be a breakthrough, the first game without critical flaws - but did it work out? Let's tell now!

History is intriguing

Steelrising takes place in Paris in 1789. Louis XVI ruled so badly that every Frenchman dreamed of getting rid of him. To suppress the revolution, the sovereign decided on an expensive experiment - he invested in automatons and made an army out of them. As a result, mechanical warriors killed the guards, slaughtered half the population and left Paris to burn.

However, not all is lost. Queen Marie Antoinette has a unique Aegis automaton that thinks intelligently, speaks and expresses devotion. It is for the Aegis that we will play. The task is to figure out what is happening in Paris, find allies and stop the lawlessness.

Unlike the creations of FromSoftware, the plot here is served directly. The player will talk to survivors, read notes and watch cutscenes - while there is not a drop of mystery in the text and dialogues.

THE JOURNAL IS FULL OF NOTES AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD

Calling the story amazing will not work, but it is interesting to delve into it. Where did Louis get the automatons from? Why are some mechanisms different beyond the power? Why is Aegis so unique? You can find out the answers to all questions only in side quests.

Gamers who know the story well will get the maximum pleasure from the plot. The fact is that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are the real rulers of France, who brought the country to its knees, and Vaucanson really came up with automatons, albeit not so fancy ones. La Fayette, Robespierre and other prominent personalities of that era are also in place.

THERE IS NO OPEN WORLD IN STEELRISING - ONLY A SET OF LOCATIONS IN WHICH Aegis MOVES ON A CARRIAGE

If you're tired of Miyazaki talking in riddles all the time, and Paris during the French Revolution seems like an interesting setting, Steelrising's plot will not disappoint.

Casual Bloodborne in Paris

Steelrising is a typical Dark Souls imitator. Aegis runs through confusing locations, fights with dangerous enemies, dies from a couple of pokes, and after death has only one chance to return the lost good. Unless, instead of fires, there are vestals here, and you have to be treated with oil cans.

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Combat is closest to Bloodborne. There is no time to spin around opponents for a long time, and shields are practically useless. It is better to bet on a swift attack, and rely on evasions in defense. When a crowd of automatons flies to the Aegis from different sides, otherwise you won’t survive - you need to quickly kill at least a couple of aggressors.

However, this is difficult only in theory. In fact, Steelrising is one of the easiest games in the genre.

STEELRISING

I love soulslike and have played not only Miyazaki's games, but also analogues like Lords of the Fallen, The Surge and Remnant: From the Ashes. In the process, I always had to rely not on my own skills, but on patience - where some players quickly won due to the reaction, my hero suffered dozens of defeats and memorized timings for a long time.

But Steelrising managed to pass with virtually no deaths. Ordinary enemies puzzled only at the first meetings, and the bosses only died twice on the second attempt.

AT THE BEGINNING THESE MACHINES ARE SHOCKING, BUT OVER TIME AEGIS BEGINS TO TOLERATE THEM WITHOUT STRESS

The fact is that the automatons strike slowly, the set of attacks is quickly remembered, and the Aegis is full of powerful weapons. Enemies can be slashed with a rapier, shot with a freezing musket, thrown with grenades, and even pounded with a fire ram. There are many options.

Plus, the heroine is quickly pumped. Soul can be invested in stats like agility and durability. Thanks to titanium and bronze ingots, weapons become more powerful. Catalysts increase the effectiveness of healing. By the end of the game, Aegis turns into a killing machine, before which even the final boss passes.

The complexity of Steelrising will be the cause of heated discussions. Someone will call casualness a disadvantage, and someone will be happy to complete the game and thank the Spiders for their indulgence. Alas, there are enough other problems in the game, and it will no longer be possible to justify them with a creative plan.

STEELRISING

The main problem is self-repetitions. For example, at the first location, Aegis will meet the simplest automata, who fight lazily and move slowly. This is a suitable enemy to teach, but the same mobs roam even in the final levels. They may have one additional attack and an elemental boost, but the essence remains the same.

The same goes for other enemies like spearmen, automatons with weights or mechanical dogs. They block the way in the first locations and fight Aegis until the very end.

Moreover, developers can suddenly turn an ordinary enemy into a boss (and vice versa) - while his behavior does not change, only the health bar becomes larger. Usually the heroine destroys such opponents without taking a single point of damage.

STEELRISING

Another problem is related to the repeated passage of locations. There are only eight levels in Steelrising, each of which can be run in an hour and a half. To delay the gamer, the developers offer to return to the completed levels and complete new tasks there. At the same time, if new territories are opened in such locations as part of the main quest, then the sides are forced to run along the same streets.

Plus Spiders added classic Metroidvania elements to a familiar formula. After defeating bosses, Aegis unlocks new abilities like dash and grappling hook. If you decide to collect all the outfits, blades and consumables, you will have to look again at the starting level and climb into previously inaccessible places.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET LOST IN STEELRISING. COMPASS WILL ALWAYS SPEAK THE WAY TO THE GOAL

However, a modest number of types of enemies and backtracking do not tire. The fact is that everything is fine with the basic gameplay: there are a lot of unique weapons, animations are smooth, and hitboxes are honest. For example, in my case, the automatons never hit Aegis while she was standing behind the wall - FromSoftware never dreamed of such a thing.

Spiders didn't come up with anything new, but fighting in Steelrising is still fun. So, if you love the genre, the gameplay is unlikely to upset.

Solid beauty

With visual performance, the situation is twofold. If we evaluate the quality of the textures, the game looks rustic. Considering that the RTX 2060 was somehow obscured in the minimum requirements, you expect unprecedented beauties from the engine, but they are not visible. At the same time, you really need good hardware - if you decide to launch a new product on a conditional GTX 1650 Ti, get ready for a slide show.

IN THE PRESS VERSION THERE WAS NO CRITICAL BUGS, HOWEVER, THERE WERE ENOUGH ANNOUNTING THINGS AND VISUAL SHOTS

However, the high demands and quality of the textures are easy to forgive. All thanks to Paris, which is drawn charmingly beautiful. Aegis will walk around Versailles, the Bastille, the Louvre, the Luxembourg Palace and other recognizable places - they are all worked out to the smallest detail.

There is nothing more beautiful than to go to the Parisian square and admire the big fire. The flame is beautifully reflected in the puddles, insidious automatons roam around, and in the distance you can see a dilapidated church. At such moments, artists want to shake hands.

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Location design is important for soulslike. The genre implies that the hero will often die, roll back to the "bonfire" and run again through the familiar corridors. If the environment is tiring, even excellent gameplay will not save the game - this was the case with the first The Surge, where warehouses and laboratories quickly began to annoy.

Here Steelrising is doing well - the game can be called one of the most beautiful in the genre. While Miyazaki continues to parasitize on his inexplicable love of swamps, Spiders has made every location interesting.

EVEN THE MINING AREA LOOKS GOOD

Steelrising has enough challenges, but thanks to the beautiful locations and addictive gameplay, it is fun to play through. In a selection of the best games in the spirit of Dark Souls, the creation of Spiders would definitely take one of the first places.

• Addictive gameplay
• Diverse Arsenal
• Amazing Paris
• Good plot.

Did not like

• Small variety of enemies
• Too simple bosses
• Side missions without unique locations
• High system requirements on the PC.

PS We managed to try the game on PC and PS5. A little about the console version - three modes of operation are available (graphics, resolution and performance). The first two run at 30 FPS and, to be honest, seem completely unplayable. The last one is with a stable 60 FPS. At the same time, it is difficult to notice the difference between them visually even on a 4K TV.

Steelrising releases September 8th for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.