Game News Steelrising: battles inspired by Souls and Elden Ring? A game manager’s response
Next week, fans of Souls-like action games will finally find out what Steelrising has in store. But how much does the combat system of the Spiders title draw inspiration from Souls, Elden Ring, Bloodborne and other From Software references?
Steelrising: a revolution?
The French Revolution revisited in a totally whimsical way in a violent action game borrowing from Souls mechanics… Admit that the proposal is not lacking in appeal! In a long post published on the PlayStation Blog, Sébastien Di Ruzza, Head of Steelrising Gameplay at Spiders, went into detail about the relevance of this comparison. In other words, the question is whether how much Steelrising’s combat system borrows from the mechanics of the great From Software studio references such as Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Demons Souls…
With Steelrising, our goal was to deliver a more action-oriented, deliberate, detailed, and fun combat experience. – Sébastien Di Ruzza, Head of Gameplay at Steelrising
A real Souls-like?
Regarding the way in which the gameplay of Steelrising was envisaged, Sébastien Di Ruzza would first like to point out that the extraordinary enthusiasm generated around the release of the remake of Demon’s Souls then Elden Ring had not yet completely exploded in when the Spiders studio started looking into Steelrising. But the team being itself very fan of these titles, its members wanted to contribute to pay homage to the genre.
We wanted to emphasize combat, making sure players were forced to think about the best course of action and what skills they had, but in a universe of our own. We also wanted to share our passion with as many players as possible, which is why we decided to create a support mode. Steelrising builds on the Souls formula, but with the unique heart of a Spiders game. – Sébastien Di Ruzza, Head of Gameplay at Steelrising
Sébastien Di Ruzza himself describes his playing as “a twisted version of the French Revolution”. An apocalyptic vision of this pivotal period in the history of France where everything would have changed in one night with the crushing of the revolutionaries by raging automatons. But there is no question of giving the player an impression of power.
We decided to focus on a detailed combat system. Timing, studying your opponent’s slightest movements, taking care not to attract too much attention so as not to find yourself outnumbered and finding their weaknesses will be the keys to your success. – Sébastien Di Ruzza, Head of Gameplay at Steelrising
From endurance to cooling system
An approach that already largely refers to that of Souls-like, but that’s not all. Steelrising also involves a “cooling” system which is largely inspired by the notion of endurance. in Hidetaka Miyazaki’s titles.
You will not only have to master your skills, you will also have to manage your cooling system. The more aggressive you are in combat, the more you will heat up, which could lead to Aegis overheating and being briefly immobilized. This mechanic might remind you of the classic stamina system found in many games in the genre, but using instant cooling you can quickly lower your temperature to land a few more hits or escape to safety. But beware ! If you use it excessively or at the wrong time, you might get completely frozen mid-fight and get attacked. – Sébastien Di Ruzza, Head of Gameplay at Steelrising
These aren’t the only gameplay elements that bring Steelrising’s fights closer to those of its role models, of course, but Spiders’ title should also stand out through its protagonist’s distinctive arsenal. Due to his nature as an ultra-sophisticated automaton, Aegis can juggle between a multitude of different fighting styles: bodyguard, deadly dancer, alchemist specializing in ranged weapons, etc. The objective is indeed to give the software its own identity reflecting the mechanical nature of Aegis who uses his weapons as real extensions of his body. In total, Steelrising contains less than 9 different types of weapons for more than 40 possible variants, which makes it a fundamental element of the game system. Especially since traditional weapons are added many other more eccentric such as the fan/shield, the alchemical rifle or even the oversized wheel.
The threat of the Titans
But it will take that to face “the Titans”, described as the most dangerous opponents of Steelrising and which we hope will live up to the memorable bosses crossed in Souls-like. By their power, these Titans should indeed be able to knock us out in one hit, unless we master Aegis skills perfectly and the tools at our disposal. Because the designers of Steelrising wanted to emphasize the epic character of the boss fights and that they provide a real sense of accomplishment once defeated. Exactly like in the Souls…
The Steelrising game will be released on September 8 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
