This game is currently in the Humble Choice for May 2024, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before June 4th, 2024, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.

Dark Souls with Marie Antionette

Steelrising has some interesting thoughts. Marie Antoinette is decrying the French Revolution. Though in this universe King Louie has created automats, basically clockwork robots. Marie has her own loyal version, Aeris, controlled by the player. Steelrising starts with this interesting concept, however, once you choose your archetype and start the game there are French influences, but so far it’s another Dark Souls Game. There are great choices for the Art Design and the combat feels fluid.

Well mostly, the dodge is more of a side step that never feels as good as a full tumble. Overall this is a game trying to not be like other Souls-Likes so you have stuff like a massive jump but lack the weight and feeling of a Souls-like Combat, it’s being different but different isn’t exactly better in this case.

Pick this up if you’re a fan of Souls-like and want a B-Tier entry. You can also look at the other games Spiders, the studio behind this, has made. That includes games like Greedfall and Of Orcs and Men. They’re interesting concepts but overall I don’t think they are the top-tier games people will be raving about. Still, it’s a Souls-like.

If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/jybN_eME28o

I was pretty down on this game after the first 10 of my 27 hours but the second half of the game and the dlc redeemed it for me in a lot of ways. The game has issues but there is also a lot to like.

Things I like:
The weapon selection is eclectic. It uses archetypes like many other soulslikes, but instead of longswords, shortswords etc it's fans, wheels, weighted chains, claws etc.
Every character build archetype (meaning what direction you develop your character in, there are no classes) has an option to disable or disrupt enemy behavior. Alchemy gets status effects, agility gets immobilization, and strength gets impact. Unfortunately, this does make the game pretty easy.
The setting is very unique.
The enemies are very detailed. Unfortunately you can't actually see this most of the time, but the artists paid an awful lot of attention to each individual enemy variant.
The sidequests usually have 2 resolutions, and can affect which ending you get.
The level design has plenty of shortcuts and intersections, which I appreciate. Light metroidvania elements make the traversal more interesting than average for a soulslike.
The combat is well implemented. It's not buggy, the attacks have weight, etc. Boss fights are well done, but they probably don't have enough health and the fights are over too quickly to really test the player.
The DLC level was very enjoyable, with the new enemies being a welcome escalation in challenge with fun gimmicks and a good boss.

Things I don't like:
For the first half of the game you have very little to go on plot wise, and the sidequests don't really start up until the end of the Luxembourg level, so the first few levels are less fun in my opinion. This is exacerbated by most of the early levels being city streets for large portions of the levels. If you don't use the compass it can be difficult to navigate these areas.
The plot is too simplistic for the way they dripfeed information to the player. You figure out the basic strokes by the time you defeat the first boss, and then don't really get more information or plot development until the end of the fourth level.
The combat is too easy. The combination of readily available and powerful consumable items along with the disruptive combat mechanics I mentioned earlier make most of the game very easy. I did find sections of the final level and dlc more challenging, but I very rarely died and I never died to a boss.
The game is woefully unoptimized. There is little difference in performance on my machine between 1440p and 4k on ultra; they both run acceptably but I would expect to see a higher performance impact. On steam deck this game is an absolute nightmare; running it on low settings really doesn't save your hardware as much as it should, and I recommend avoiding playing this on the deck.

I recommend this game if you are interested in the setting, if you are looking for a soulslike with some unique mechanics, or are looking for an easier soulslike and would appreciate the variation in story outcomes. For novelty seekers I would stress that the mechanical variations are appreciable but not transformative.

Steelrising is the most accessible Souls-Like I've ever played.

Yes, it gets a bit easy late-game. Like, "Me, eternally bad at games like these, first-trying bosses without farming levels" easy. But not stressing (too much) on early-game enemies feels nice for a change, you can actually feel your character going stronger. Also, not having to face shielding or self-healing enemies or bosses with convoluted patterns is a big plus for my mental health.

The world-building is really good for that budget, it's just too bad that your character has little to no interaction with the world. NPC are either standing there or hidden behind doors/windows.

There's some technical issues but the charm is certain. IUnderrated is the correct world. You should definitely go for it if you're apprehensive of the genre.