Publisher: DrinkBox Studios
Developer: DrinkBox Studios
Platform: Playstation Vita
Tested on: Playstation Vita
Severed – Review
The definition of ‘to sever’ is divide by cutting or slicing, especially suddenly and forcibly. Or ‘put an end to (a connection or relationship); break off.’ You’ll be severing limbs from monsters and thus ending their connection to their lives. So title wise the game matches the gameplay perfectly. The game has been released on PlayStation Vita and this is a game the system has been begging for since its release. With only Sony seemingly making use of the touchpads, it’s a refreshing touch to have 3rd party publishers make use of the system’s uniqueness.
Story
You are a silent female protagonist whose name you’ll learn as you progress through Severed and you’ve been through a lot, you’ve seen your family being cut down and you were helpless in the process. Not only that, but you’ve also lost your left arm during the event. Now you are stuck in a weird realm and you have to find your family in this strange world while becoming more hardened as you cut down the opposition with quick slashes and long cuts.
The writing of the characters is consistent and their personalities become apparent without becoming obnoxious. The ending isn’t what you’d think it would be, it’s not a happy one, but in its open endedness, it leaves room for a sequel. Here’s to hoping!
Graphics
When you look at Severed, it doesn’t use every ounce of the PlayStation Vita’s full processing power. Does that mean it look horrendous? Actually quite the opposite. The game has a cartoony vibe to it, but its visuals are in synch with the dystopian nightmare you inhabit. The visuals are raw and with the design of the monstrocities it works quite well. Vibrant is what you could call the environments as no two parts of the maps are the same and even with the heavy tone of the game, it doesn’t get too oppressive.
Sound
The word that could describe ‘Severed’ is ambient. A second playthrough was necessary because I missed the background noises in the first, it fits that well, that you don’t even pay attention to it until you start wondering about it. When you do get down to it just fits. The birds tweeting in the forests, the crowing of the crows, the weird calls of the monsters you cut down, the sound effect that signals you’re focus attacks. It has all been engineered so it doesn’t stand out until you pay attention to it.
There’s a sort of voice acting going on. No real language has been used, but the characters make weird noises whenever they talk, and even in these you’ll hear that they have their own charasteristics. Like the two headed crow has two different noises depending on the head you’re currently talking to.
Gameplay
Severed is a action adventure hack and slash game with rpg elements. The kicker to Severed is that you use the touch screen to chip away at the enemies lifepoints. Fast strikes do small amounts of damage, but you can execute these quite quickly, depending on how fast you can flick your finger across the screen.
Longer slashes do more damage, but the downside is that they take longer to execute. As you damage the enemies you’ll build up focus. Which, when the meter fills up, gives you the possibility to cut off enemy body parts. These are used to build your character. The tutorial isn’t really that extensive, but most of the gameplay comes naturally because of it is mostly self explanitory, anyone with the necessary braincells to utilize a PlayStation Vita will be able to predict enemy patterns and attack accordingly. As the game progresses, enemies will get buffed.
That’s when things get interesting, you’ll have to strategize on which enemy to attack and which stats to leech and defend against enemy patterns. The only letdown is that it only happens about two times where you can’t just blindly hack away at an enemy to win the battle. Yet this is what made it feel like the stakes were raised. By this time you’ll have completed 90% of the game. Severed is a short game, short and sweet, speaking of length, it could do with double the length when it has raised the stakes and it wouldn’t grow stale. However the game clocks out at about 6 hours.
Conclusion
Severed is an interesting game by the team that brought you Quacamelee, and they use the Playstation Vita’s front touch screen quite well, which more developers should. The price content ratio is just right, but the game cuts off just as things start to get interesting. If you are looking for an interesting Playstation Vita title, don’t let this one slip by.
Severed - Review,
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