4/5 ★ – RoseFNV's review of Steelrising.

"The beauty of this world longs for you, just as you long for its light." Very deeply flawed, as is often the case with games made by Spider, but also like them it is very clear how much heart and care went into every aspect of this thing, and I really think that adds a lot to this game and shows in every aspect. The designs of the various enemies and locations and weapons are super interesting and creative, the various robots each having a ton of personality in their moves and visuals, while also being very fun to fight. Combat as a whole feels really good here, dodge i-frames are a lot smaller than normal for this genre and it can take some getting used to but once you realized the emphasis more on spacing and positioning it becomes a lot of fun, or of course you can go the blocking or parry route, which is equally fun especially with all the weapons that apply status on parry. Most of the combat encounters feel pretty balanced and it rarely overwhelms you with an excessive amount of enemies to it, which is appreciated especially since that can often a misstep for soulslikes. It can definitely be too easy if you're looking for a major challenge as enemy damage output probably isn't as strong as it could be alongside ease of cheese strats but I'm fine with just playing for the general feel of combat so it never bothered me, especially since I always enjoyed the speed and animations of the weapon, which fit very well thematically with the character and are just an overall joy to watch and play with. I do wish there were more weapon types and if you find reused enemies to be a problem this game might bore you but if you know how many times i've played LOTF 2023 you know it isn't really for me. The setting here is really awesome, a nice reminder of how much I love period piece settings in games especially and it uses it well, especially with the addition of the steampunk elements. Also really enjoyed the story here surprisingly? I understand the kneejerk reaction of annoyance about it, as it both a lot more dependent on real life events and knowledge than most other games and also is VERY much still a spider game in the style of storytelling. Sure there is extra lore and such delivered through item descriptions but it's overall very talky, especially in comparison to other games of the list, but the dialogue really shines and I actually quite like listening to the various political figures of that era argue and bicker over how to beat save the kingdom and how to react to various events, especially since a lot of the quests and story beats are so strong. Side quests are also especially good, they often unlock new areas in previously explored locations and add a lot of depth to the story and it's characters, especially Aegis herself, who I really grew to love as a protagonist this time around. The main issue is the unfortunately somewhat lackluster direction during cutscenes and conversations which doesn't add as much energy as it probably should, also could have been used to hide the kinda bad lip syncing and facial animations, but alas lol. Still though it doesn't detract toooo much, especially since like I said the dialogue is very strong and the VAs all sell everything well (shout-out the Greirat from DS3 VA, loved recognizing him) although there are a couple conversations where it probably would've been more engaging if they had directed them better. As a whole I'm really happy I decided to replay this, it's always popped in my head occasionally as something I wanted to go back to and it definitely held up a lot better than I remember, and I Really grew to appreciate a lot of stuff I didn't this time around. Not my favorite soulslike but it's a really great one and a nice reminder of how much I love this genre and also spider is a game creator, really hope I love Greedfall 2 as much as the first and this.