Severed Steel test: a cyberpunk and twirling FPS, cut off from a real story

Waiting The Matrix Resurrections and hairier, but classic AAA FPS, Digerati and Greylock Studios offer us Severed Steel. A pure shooter old-fashioned independent mixed with acrobatics and bullet time that Max Payne and Neo would not have denied. All in a neon cyberpunk atmosphere of the most beautiful effect. Who says shooter old-fashioned necessarily says a great emphasis on gameplay, at the cost of an amputated story. What is it really? Let us walk through your screen in slow motion to tell you more.

Severed Steel test: a cyberpunk and twirling FPS, cut off from a real story Lire la conclusionSevered Steel

Successful neon cyberpunk art direction
Superbly choreographed and fluid spinning gameplay
Impressive set destruction
A rocking soundtrack

... Much less for a very short and undeveloped main story
Exclusively solo
Inevitably a bit repetitive in the long run
A chaos sometimes lacking in readability

Test carried out on the PC version (via Steam) of the game using a key provided by the publisher. Severed Steel is available since September 17, 2021 on PC (via Steam, GOG and Epic Games Store), PS4 and Xbox One. PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch versions are planned by the end of the year.

amputated steel

Severed Steel puts us in the shoes of Steel, a young woman whose left arm has been mysteriously amputated, but who certainly does not lack dexterity for all that. Dropped in the middle of a huge complex belonging to any mega-corporation, it will have to show its agility and its weapons to get out of this mess. Even if it means eliminating all the mercenaries on his way and blowing everything up to achieve his goal.

This is one of Severed Steel's biggest weaknesses. Its story and its narration, whose only exposition goes through very beautiful, but miserly illustrations, are sadly classic for a pure and hard shooter. Those who are looking for a scenario here worthy of the greatest cyberpunk works are therefore likely to come up against a cruel disappointment. The single-player campaign ends in just two hours, except in extreme difficulty for the most seasoned.

However, it would be a shame to stop at this main campaign alone, the game from Greylock Studios hiding many assets up its amputated sleeve. Starting with a very typical shimmering neon cyberpunk artistic direction. On PC, it is possible to further magnify everything thanks to ray tracing reflections which complete levels with a design that is both colorful and refined. Beware, however, of those sensitive to epileptic episodes, the game literally drowning us under the flashy light effects. Severed Steel is also particularly well optimized, even with all the graphic elements fully, just to make the most of the experience in complete fluidity.

Another impressive element offered by the engine of Severed Steel: an almost entirely destructible voxel decoration. After a few levels to practice, Steel will acquire a cannon that will replace his missing arm. A little nod to Samus from Metroid, but which will above all make it possible to exploit this particularly successful destruction of the sets.

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The destruction of the decor is particularly well exploited.

Jump The Matrix

Speaking of digging into the scenery, it's time to jump to the heart of the game: its gameplay. We were saying Steel isn't lacking in dexterity, but that doesn't do him any justice. Like a real-world fighter in the Matrix, she displays an impressive array of acrobatic prowess. Forward and backward flips, double jumps, running on walls, sliding, kicking enemies or walls to launch yourself into the air, Severed Steel is a real aerial ballet of balls in simply stylish choreographies. By simply pressing a button, it will be possible to slow down the action in order to follow it better. This bullet-time mode, however, has a gauge that empties as it is used. It will therefore be necessary to use it sparingly, at the risk of running out of it at crucial moments.

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Severed Steel is a permanent aerial ballet of balls.

It will also be necessary to deal with an arsenal that is altogether classic, but complete. The Greylock Studios game also draws some inspiration from Mirror's Edge on this aspect. When a weapon is empty, the action of shooting will be replaced by an animation to throw it on the ground, or preferably in the face of our opponents. It will therefore be necessary to recover one on the ground or by approaching an opponent to steal it from him in order to resume the acrobatic carnage.

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The only "boss" of the game, which is not very difficult to defeat.

Steel's acrobatics are therefore not only there to provide stylish gameplay but are an inherent mechanic in the game that will ensure our survival. As in any good self-respecting shooter, you have to avoid enemy fire at all costs. Killing enemies will also allow us to recover our missing life, as well as to recharge our bullet-time mode. It will also be possible to recover ammunition for our cannon by shooting down “elite” enemies. But just running and shooting won't get us far, especially on the higher difficulty levels. As long as Steel is in motion and provides the acrobatic show, the game will indicate to us by red streaks that she will dodge all enemy fire.

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As long as these red streaks fill our screen, enemy fire will do us no harm.

Unfortunately, this apparent challenge is somewhat tainted by little varied enemies and a fairly basic artificial intelligence. Indeed, it will often happen that our opponents simply shoot at us without moving, or even not see or hear us at all. Still, Severed Steel constantly asks us to be on the move and to chain tricks to advance in the levels. Special mention also to a very typical cyberpunk soundtrack which admirably punctuates our twirls of destruction.

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The artificial intelligence is clearly not the most successful element of the game.

Like DOOM Eternal, the levels are divided between platform / exploration phases and arenas in which it will be necessary to kill a myriad of enemies to progress. Obviously giving pride of place to verticality, the different levels of the game are quite varied in their design, their construction and their gameplay mechanics. For example, we were surprised to discover an arena dotted with portals allowing you to move quickly from one point to another, even from floor to ceiling.

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The famous arena dotted with portals... after the carnage.

As for the objectives in each level, Severed Steel is again quite classic. It will generally be necessary to go from point A to point B, either by eliminating all opposition on the way, or by destroying elements of the decor to unlock the next level. Towards the end of the campaign, we have the opportunity to improve the cannon of our left hand. This will then fire a powerful laser that can destroy everything in its path, thus adding to a chaos that is sometimes difficult to read as there are so many elements on the screen.

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Our overloaded cannon can wreak havoc on scenery and enemies.

Scoring Steel

Once the campaign is over, we can tackle what makes the salt of the gameplay offered by Severed Steel. The “Shooting” menu allows us to redo the different arenas of the main story in order to run for the best score. This part of the game is therefore mainly aimed at fans of Scoring and speed-runs.

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The "Shooting" mode, which is aimed at fans of Scoring.

It will thus be necessary to use all the acrobatic and ballistic arsenal of Steel to garner points. Performing three eliminations in the head while running on a wall will, for example, grant us a certain amount of points, and so on. Each arena will also present several challenges to complete in order to raise our final score even more. Of course, style isn't everything, because you'll also have to finish the arena as quickly as possible in order to establish yourself at the top of the rankings.

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The final score takes into account both our style points and our time to finish the level.

Mutators will also drastically alter the latter. It is thus possible to dress up our opponents with bigger heads, to ignore slow motion, to grant yourself a single life, and more. The positive mutators therefore reduce our final score, while the negative ones will bring us significant multipliers. To unlock new levels, weapons or mutators, however, you will have to finish each arena and complete certain objectives.

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A whole series of options allows us to redo each level according to our preferences and our desire to score.

If the main campaign already offers its share of arenas, Greylock Studios has spoiled us with a particularly complete level editor, although still in beta. A great way to retain the community, since it will be possible to browse the levels created by other players and try to establish the best score. Severed Steel thus offers Scoring enthusiasts a virtually unlimited lifespan. Provided of course that its community invests in constantly offering new content.

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This is what our character and level editor looks like.

Severed Steel : l'avis de JVFR

Severed Steel therefore presents itself as an excellent stress-relieving shooter with action as frenetic as it is acrobatic in a particularly successful cyberpunk atmosphere. However, the game's bias from Greylock Studios, both in its art direction and gameplay, may not appeal to everyone. If it will please fans of Scoring or budding architects, those looking for a complex narrative may be disappointed. Despite everything, the game is offered, at least on Steam, at the very generous price of €20,99. It would therefore be a shame to shun a title as atypical as it is successful in what it offers, unless a good story is an absolutely essential criterion for you.

Severed Steel

A typical example of a "gameplay game", Severed Steel shines with its successful neon cyberpunk atmosphere and action worthy of a Matrix movie, and is aimed above all at fans of Scoring. Fans of a well-developed story will however remain unsatisfied with a campaign folded in less than two hours. Greylock Studios delivers here despite everything a stress relief as exhilarating as it is stylish.