Suddenly, game developers from Friv2Online Studio have taken - and rolled out one of the best shooters of 2021. We tell in the review why the game deserves your attention.
The main character of Severed Steel is a mercenary named Steel, who lost her arm and is now taking revenge on a sinister corporation. The scenario of the friv game can be described in one line, but this is perhaps for the best - nothing distracts from the action, and even the plot is served by short comic inserts between chapters.
The project focuses on the gameplay, and it's a wonder how good it is here. It can be described as “SuperHOT meets Max Payne”: from the first, Severed Steel got short puzzle levels and the need to constantly juggle weapons, and from the second, time dilation, bullet time, without which one cannot survive.
While time flows normally, the enemies are unusually marks, and Steel dies after a couple of hits. But it is worth activating some kind of trick, as the colors become brighter, the opponents slow down, and their accuracy immediately disappears somewhere. And there are a lot of tricks here, from the usual aiming to running along the walls, double jumps and tackles.
Therefore, each shootout turns into a dance of death, where the heroine slides across the floor and walls, somersaults in the air, knocking weapons out of the hands of enemies and handing out headshots. Stop acting aggressively and inventively - immediately go to the beginning of the level: there are no checkpoints in Severed Steel, and after death the location restarts.
Given that Steel only has one hand, there is no reload mechanic in the game: once you run out of ammo, the weapon is only useful for throwing it at your opponent. You can get a new barrel right in battle by taking it away from the enemy. In combination with very short levels, this has repeatedly caused me to associate with SuperHOT.
In addition, in Severed Steel, you can actively use the destructibility of the environment: kick the door out, pinning the mercenary behind it, fly into the room right through the window, shooting enemies in slow-mo, and after Steel acquires a special gun that is attached to the place lost hand, you can make holes in the walls, like in some Red Faction or Teardown. With its help, you can, for example, quickly get to the target, bypassing obstacles, or you can destroy the floor under the feet of the enemy on the floor above, instead of reaching him by stairs. An indispensable tool.
The game also looks awesome, with its neon cyberpunk style reminiscent of Syndicate and Tron. Sterile clean locations do not distract from the gameplay, and the contours of enemies are carefully highlighted in case there are difficulties with their readability. With an RTX video card, the picture will become even more beautiful, since Severed Steel supports ray tracing, however, a riot of reflections can be disorienting, and it will negatively affect fps.
The shooter has one problem - it is rather short, and it takes a couple of evenings to complete. You can extend the fun in the challenge mode (with modifiers), and rummaging through the Steam Workshop for interesting user levels, but still the frivgame does not boast of an impressive duration.
On Steam, Severed Steel has more than 90% positive reviews, and a considerable list of awards flaunts on the project page. And deservedly so: the combination of gunfights with acrobatics and non-stop action gives us a shooter from which it is impossible not to be delighted.
