Alright, alright, so I bought this game Steelrising on sale, didn't I? Rock-bottom price, so I thought "why not give it a punt?" Honestly, I had zero expectations going in. Assumed it would be another forgettable little Soulslike cash-grab. But oh...my...days! Was I ever bloody well mistaken about this little rascal! It's an absolute revelation, Steelrising is! Easily one of the best entry-level, baby's-first Soulslike games out there on the market, bar none.

It's absolutely tossing itself off over the historical setting, isn't it? They got all the famous frogs in there - Louis XVI, Robespierre, that twatty Lafayette. Even know obscure details that only the most intense history dorks would give a toss about, like that journalist Marat starting as an Orleanist before going full loony radical. Put that Assassin's Creed pish to shame on the historical accuracy front.

The setting, now that's the good stuff, int it? Post-apocalyptic Paris where the melted King Louis has sent his robot army against the peasants who had the cheek to challenge him. You play as this self-important dancer robot bird called Aegis, sent by Marie Antoinette to sort the mess out. Paris is an actual graveyard, corpses lining every street, patrolled by daft, deadly robots. Gotta hand it to them, it's a cracking setting.

But is the game itself actually any good? It's a bloody brilliant Soulslike from top to bottom, that's what it is! Sure, it has a few minor ♥♥♥♥-ups here and there when the game unexpectedly crashes. But it autosaves regularly, so no harm no foul really. The combat is an absolute joy - there's such an amazing variety of weapons and movesets to mess about with. Only gripe is, you can't respec your stats. End up with more resources than you know what to do with by the end, but would've been nice to mess about with more weapons early doors. Those nifty Metroid-y powers you unlock that open up new areas of the maps? Chef's kiss, that is! Proper rewarding exploration, revisiting old areas and uncovering all sorts of fresh goodies you missed first time around. And those cheeky little shortcuts that all the good Soulslike games have. Nothing quite like unlocking a sneaky new path that saves you the grueling slog of backtracking through areas you've already fought through, is there?

Steelrising is the real bloody deal when you can nab it on sale, my friends. Not an all-timer that'll have you ignoring your spouse, your job, and all basic human needs, mind you. But it's still a lovingly crafted experience that any self-respecting Soulslike fan simply has to play.