A Quick Review Of A 4 Year Old Game

So, where have I been?

Home, mostly. Doing very little. Visiting family, catching up with friends. Which somehow precluded me from having any ideas or motivation about writing, especially since I don’t want to always be doing personal journals.

So, instead, I want to do something a little different. The Steam Winter Sale happened over the break, and for once, I actually started on some of the games I bought. I want to talk about them. And a book. Those will come later.

This happened to be one of those throw-ins that I usually agonize the most over during a sale. “It’s 90 per cent off! It’s basically free! But it adds a few dollars to the total, and is it really worth it to spend $3 on a game that I’ll still never touch??”

I’m so glad I did.

As stated in the subhead, Severed Steel felt like a combination of boomer-shooter adrenaline with influences from other games. Mirrors Edge-esque movement (an emphasis on speed and a kick mechanic that is more powerful the higher your momentum, encouraging you to keep moving) and a gun-throwing mechanic reminiscent of SUPERHOT, especially useful in this case because Severed Steel functions much the same way: weapons are not permanent (with two exceptions, arm cannons that you earn partway through the game but that I rarely used) and have limited ammo, meaning once you clear a room or corridor, you’ll likely be out of lead. One thing that helps keep the pace high is that there is a setting, on by default, to have weapons magnetize to you, reducing the need to break the flow of action by backtracking for a weapon.

Which is a smart choice, because this is a game that, in its best moments, flows.

One mechanic I didn’t mention yet is a bullet time mode that partially refills when you kill an enemy, which can be divisive, but fits really well here and I found myself using it constantly. Enemies and rooms are often spaced such that one well-used stretch of time dilation can clear it effectively, or only leave one straggler to clean up. Most importantly, diving and sliding makes you briefly invulnerable, and kills refill your health, meaning that while resources are scarce, they’re never out of reach. It’s exhilarating, especially as the game’s DnB soundtrack creates a thumping, trancing, background. I have a horrible habit of playing games with a podcast or my own music in the background. Not here. The immersion is too strong. Enemies pop like bubble wrap when you kill them. It’s great.

Except when it isn’t. The game’s two downsides are a few unintuitive levels, a final level which I have yet to play but have watched gameplay of (no spoilers, not that there’s really much to spoil, as there is barely a plot and the game is so short you could see for yourself in just one session), and backtracking. Some of this I will happily chalk up to myself, as I had a tendency to spray and pray, my erratic mouse movements sometimes going onto the other monitor and leading to a certain death. Nevertheless, it’s not so strong as to make the game frustrating. It’s not as massive as DOOM or as graphically retro as PRODEUS, the two other boomer shooters I’ve put the most time into, but it’s the one that exemplifies “all killer, no filler” the best, especially without the necessity of backtracking for keys or secrets. There’s also user-created levels which add to replay value, much like the prior two.

Yes! But probably on sale.

Have you heard of Dorley Hall? This is like Dorley’s evil cousin. Be warned.