It takes a lot of guts to throw SteelRising into the Souls-like ring. It’s a popular arena, ever-growing over the last few years as more and more people dive into a genre known for intense action, a healthy challenge, and gruesome, fantastical worlds. If a game can set itself apart, like The Surge 2 or the Nioh series, history has shown the move to be worthwhile. But for every success story there are twice as many bombs, who couldn’t stand up to obvious and unavoidable comparisons to some of the best games released over the past decade. SteelRising, in my mind after a full playthrough and some change, doesn’t quite make the mark.
Let’s start with what you likely already know. SteelRising is a third-person action game, where you adventure across several levels taking on an environment packed full of difficult enemies before encountering a gigantic boss posing a significant challenge. You have rechargeable healing items that are restored at set resting points, as well as a variety of consumables that aide in combat. Killing enemies provides currency which can, in turn, be used to upgrade your character and weaponry. It’s a Souls-like. Chances are if you’re reading this review, you know exactly what foundation Steel Rising is built upon.
For what it’s worth, this foundation is fairly solid! Your movement as a French murder doll in the midst of combat has you weaving in-between attacks and string together powerful combos with a mix of regular, heavy, and special attacks. Put on enough pressure and you can break an enemy's posture, allowing you to land a single devastating attack. Backstabs aren’t here, but are instead replaced with a universal sneak attack you can land on any and all unaware automata. If you’re fiending for some of that Dark Souls-esque action, feats like these do indeed cause your brain to shoot off those sweet signals.