Developer: Storm in a Teacup
Publisher: ESDigital Games
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Steel Seed – Review
We trade in our recent stealthy expeditions in Assassin’s Creed Shadows for a futuristic stealth title by the name of Steel Seed. The game managed to entertain us during Gamescom 2024 when we were able to give a short demo a go. Nonetheless, it did take a bit longer than expected to get our hands on the final product, and we were rather enthusiastic to dive back into this title that puts Zoe and Koby in the lead.
Story
Steel Seed’s story starts out a bit vague, as you’ll be playing as Zoe, who seemingly finds herself transformed into a cyborg of sorts. She only remembers being on an operating table when her father tells her everything is going to be fine. Zoe wakes up, with the environment around her abandoned and in disrepair, only to be in the presence of Koby, a small flying robot drone. After a short tutorial, you’ll get more information about the demise of the human race, what happened to your father, who designed a cradle of humanity, and what part you’ll play in all of this.
All in all, the flow of the story is pleasant, albeit somewhat predictable. Most players will probably see the plot twist coming a mile away, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s enjoyable, the characters a likable, albeit not completely fleshed out, and it’s just a bite-sized adventure to play through.
Graphics
Graphically, Steel Seed didn’t disappoint. While the game never pushed our PS5 to its limits, the entire experience still looked good. The environments, in particular, while lacking in variety, were well-designed. The lighting was great here, and it did add to the overall atmosphere of the dystopian futuristic setting. Steel Seed has all the right components for a believable sci-fi setting. Not everything was as amazing as the environments, however, as the game suffers from a lack of enemy variety, and Zoe also looks a bit less polished than we would have loved. She does tend to float over the surface from time to time, and the little part of her human face that is still visible is often just completely static. There is also a lack of asset variety in the environments, which is a shame.
Sound
We were quite impressed by Steel Seed’s sound design, and in particular by the soundtrack. The music is great and sets the mood for this sci-fi adventure title. The menu music already puts you in the right mood, and the in-game music is quite cinematic. Decent sound effects and a reasonable amount of voice acting further support the varied soundtrack. The voice acting is not too bad, but it does lack a bit of emotion at times. Some of the writing also feels lackluster, which also doesn’t help.
Gameplay
Steel Seed is a stealth-action adventure title that revolves around Zoe and Koby’s quest to restore humanity in a distant future. You’ll have to explore different habitats, albeit in a linear way, in this bite-sized game. The mechanics are rather straightforward and remain fairly shallow. You’ll have typical sneak mechanics, basic combat skills, and skills you get to unlock as you progress. The game itself can be beaten in around eight hours, depending on how much you explore the limited environments or how well you perform during platforming segments.
The skill system in Steel Seed is rather interesting, but not without its flaws. Instead of gaining experience or traditional skill points, you’ll have to complete challenges to earn the right to buy certain skills. It does motivate players to adhere to specific conditions, such as performing several stealth skills or using a number of energy bars, to unlock skills, but it will serve as a deterrent to other players. Some challenges are trickier than others and require very specific conditions, making them sometimes annoying to clear. Nonetheless, the skill tree itself is nice, and Zoe and Koby can get some upgrades to make the gameplay loop more interesting.
At its core, Steel Seed is a very basic stealth game with a lot of platforming segments and mild puzzle elements. For the most part, you’ll play with Zoe and swap to Koby to mark enemies or toggle distant switches, or pick up faraway items. It’s a fairly straightforward experience, but also very shallow. Stealth mechanics are undercooked and only offer the very basics, and the same can be said about the combat and the platforming. Combat suffers from very monotonous combos and little to no variation. Platforming, on the other hand, feels dated. Climbing can only be done via highlighted ledges, which feels like very backwards game design. This means that you cannot climb regular ledges, forcing you to stick to a very linear path. That being said, the levels are well-designed and still have some exploration options, stealth-killing enemies feels satisfying, and regular combat still manages to entertain at times. Steel Seed shines during certain segments, and we would have loved to see more of these moments with more intricate gameplay mechanics.
One of the biggest issues with Steel Seed is that the game is not void of bugs. Even with the somewhat shallow gameplay mechanics, things don’t always go as smoothly as they should. We encountered issues with Koby being unable to mark enemies, Zoe unable to climb ledges, or even transition to other ledges around corners. Due to this, we had to restart segments or even reload save files if the issue persisted. This is not exactly our idea of having a good time if basic functions even fail to work. Luckily, we didn’t encounter too many big issues, but some did ruin a few game sessions.
Conclusion
Steel Seed is a fairly competent stealth-action adventure title that sadly keeps its main mechanics a bit too shallow to truly become a memorable game. Nonetheless, the characters are fairly likable, the predictable story still manages to entertain, and the levels are reasonably fun to play through. It has all the right ingredients for a short and amusing adventure, but it never reaches its full potential due to a lack of intricate mechanics and some dated game design. Even so, if you’re looking for an old-school stealth-action adventure that still manages to shine at times, we still suggest checking this one out.
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