Today developer Spiders had both good and bad news for those following the development of their upcoming soulslike, Steelrising. Unfortunately, the game has been pushed back from its projected June launch to September. Alongside the delay announcement came a little consolation prize, in the form of a new gameplay overview showcasing Steelrising’s world and mechanics.
Narrated by Spiders founder and lead writer Jehanne Rousseau, and localization lead Ciaran Creswell, the gameplay footage shows off Steelrising’s grim clockpunk world. Players will take on the role of Aegis, a graceful and deadly mechanical bodyguard tasked with protecting the royal family in an alternate history take on the events of the French Revolution. The gameplay borrows many overt cues from Bloodborne and other soulslike games, with players scavenging for items and weapons around the streets of a Paris in ruins, fighting powerful enemies and bosses, and using traditional RPG systems to upgrade Aegis’ abilities and stats. While most of the storytelling is delivered through item descriptions and environmental discoveries around the game’s semi-open world, Steelrising has a linear story that players can stick to if they don’t want to wander. Spiders describes the game as being more accessible than most traditional soulslikes, in that it offers a lot of freedom for players to tackle the game’s combat encounters on their own terms.
Steelrising recently concluded a closed playtest which has clearly shown Spiders that the game could benefit from staying in the oven a little longer. Steelrising’s new release date is September 8. The game will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and on PC via Steam.
