The soulslike genre is quite a competitive genre to go for. Don’t you think? There are many hardcore players who want a challenge, but you also like to cater to the more casual demographic too. There is a balancing act to that, which most developers do not know to do.

Still, it appears Spider is up for the challenge with their newest IP, Steelrising.

What is Steelrising?

In case you didn’t know yet, Steelrising is an open-world, medieval action RPG game set in eighteenth-century Paris, where the monarchy went a bit cuckoo. It is built by Spiders, along with Nacon as the publisher.

Setting and Story

Steelrising is set in an alternate version of the late eighteenth century. Revolutionary France did not end well for the rebels because of the sudden cast of robot automata epidemic ruled by King Louis XVI.

Through that army, he ruined the different revolutionaries trying to wrest control from the monarchy and charged France into a state of dystopic existence.

The player pedals Aegis, which is the automata bodyguard of Queen Marie Antoinette. The Queen is not the biggest supporter of the King at the moment, given that their nation is in a state of dystopic civil war.

Automata wander the streets, horrifying the citizens into obedience along with the monarchy. Paris and France are not safe places to be in at the moment.

Hence, Queen Marie Antoinette orders Aegis with searching for her creator. With the help of the creator, the Queen hopes to finish the tyranny of King Louis, prevent the people’s massacre, and ruin the robot armies in Paris.

Gameplay

We believe that Steelrising takes its gameplay loop from a specific branch of the gaming world. If you do not know the Souls series now, you’re probably living under a rock.

The player gains currency and fights enemies, and when they do, they lose the currency but can get it back. If they die again, their currency will be completely lost. What’s more, the exploration of the game is quite vertical, with Aegis having the power to air dash and grapple hook to get to high places.

Also, Aegis can be upgraded with different materials and items to make her more powerful. That can range from how much damage she can handle, raising how many times she could regenerate, her quickness, and overall toughness.

Still, the major draw of the game is the distinct take on the Souls plan where the player is in an automaton battling other automatons to save alternative France from the tyrant King.

Character Customization and Creation

Currently, there’s no sign that the play can shift from a female Aegis to a male Aegis. There’s also no sign of other character customization. What we have are different snazzy outfits that the character can wear to boost her defensive stats.

Besides that, nothing about ways for players to personalize Aegis cosmetically has been exposed by the developers.

On top of that, there seem to be numerous qualities that players could put points into. Those qualities are Engineering, Elemental Alchemy, Vigour, Agility, Durability, and Power. Durability, Agility, and Power are quite obvious, but Engineering, Elemental Alchemy, and Vigour are somewhat mysterious.

It seems that Engineering and Alchemy would work similarly to Arcane and Bloodtinge from Bloodborne or Intelligence and Faith on Dark Souls. Nonetheless, there has been no confirmation about that as of yet.

Is Steelrising Worth Waiting For?

To sum up, we think Steelrising has an interesting premise, and the world inside the game is interesting too. After all, Louis XVI with an automata armed forces are not something you hear about each day. Nonetheless, the game does look like it requires extra polish before it can shine.