I started Steelrising with an awkward feeling, by time I was reaching the end I realized I had fell in love with it -

- so it's true that the game is a bit flawed, and maybe not for everyone. Among some flaws I encountered, the optimization and graphical textures aren't the best, true / you can get stuck in a place where you'll have jumped, and not being able to get out of it, unless using a disassembly coin, which will make you lose all your anima / you'll find throughout the game some garphical or story inconsistencies, like objects floating up the air, or wondering how some human characters in the story can move to another location without getting crushed by all these fearsome machines / some locations might be unclear to some when wanting to achieve a quest, because some area names from Paris sometimes aren't clearly indicated on the map.

In spite of these few concerns, of the fact that Steelrising isn't perfect - well to me in any case, it was such a beautiful and different kind of souls-like game; I found it btw easier than most games of the genre I've played before, and would recommend it as a starting point for newcomers to the genre, by its' easier approach then, and because it is a game truly deserving of praise.

To rush straight to the point of what really got me with this game, it was the global ambience, of a reinvented revolutionary old Paris - even if I was a bit unsettled by the way the main character looked (the costumization is quite limited, and the fact that it keeps anyway a very machine-like appearance is surely intentional) and moved, once I got used to it, and the whole universe Steelrising has to offer, I just couldn't *not* go on until the game was finished.
What I really loved was, although with this game, old Paris' story is reinvented, I felt that the game was a work of true love, with areas of the city that were most faithfully reproduced, a rich lore representing well those times, a very careful sense of detail concerning the graphics (in spite of their rather poor renders) and some beautiful classical music, swapping from creepy / mysterious to sweet / melancholic, to more somber and dreadful when enemies appear.

What was also interesting was to "rediscover" famous figures of the french revolution, and to be able to write history as it was, or to change it - I liked much this aspect of the game, making that you can have slightly different story paths / endings.

As for the gameplay, the main character seems clunky to handle at first, but as you go on through the game, you get used to controlling it, and the new abilites you gain as you progress are few and easy to memorize. Souls-like amateurs will with no doubt easily get the gameplay sytem, but I believe that even a non-confirmed player would grasp it's functioning without too much effort.

I actually have only very few complaints concerning the game, the most important one being, having been softlocked several times, when finding myself in an area that was meant to be unreachable, or simply stuck; and a map that maybe isn't enough detailed. Also....I felt the price was a bit too steep, might have been more reasonable to set it at half, or just a bit more - but after all I don't regret my experience. If this game gets on a good sale, I think it's totally worth for those who would hesitate about it.

So it's overall a thumbs up for me, with no hesitation - I found that the devs did a splendid work recreating a beautiful (and gloomy) end of 18th century Paris, and that even if complaints could be made on some (minor, to me) points, Steelrising is a game that has been taken great care of in its' making, and that doesn't disappoint, if you let yourself get immersed in its' very special vibe and universe - an impressing one, at that.

Aux armes, citoyens ! : D