When Severed was first announced back in 2016 critics and fans gave the game’s developers (Drinkbox Studios) a questioning look. ‘Why?’ they asked, ‘why release a game in 2016 exclusively on the PS Vita?’. ‘Well’ Drinkbox said. ‘Because Vita owners buy games on the system’.

Nearly a year and a half later and the landscape is a little different. The Nintendo Switch is a platform where its owners are buying games hand-over-fist. There is no question why indie developers should bring their games to the system. And even though I platinumed Severed on the Vita, I was more than happy to go back and revisit this beautiful and unique game.

The Story

In what can only be described as Drinkbox’s version of the ‘upside-down’ from Stranger Things, you play as Sasha. Sasha wakes up in this strangely familiar, but eerily corrupted world missing her right arm and her family. A dark figure tells her there is still a chance to find them, if she acts quickly. With a sharp sword and her mother’s training, Sasha sets out to save her family and find her missing arm. Along the way she will have to defeat monsters, sever their limbs and use them to make herself stronger. Plus solve puzzles and manage the local crazy lady to try and save her family from an evil dragon.

The Game

What’s unique and refreshing about Severed is that it is a touched base game and can be only played in handheld mode (because you need the touch screen). The game is a first person dungeon crawler with some metroidvania aspects. As you progress through the game, Sasha unlocks different items from defeated bosses that open up new paths. The metroidvania aspects are much stronger if you want to 100% the game, as there is a lot of back tracking to do. However, if you just want to experience the story, these new items will be more important in combat.

Combat is the most interesting part of the game. Each battle enters a screen where Sasha is surrounded by enemies. To attack, the player needs to swipe left and right on the screen, which simulates a sword swing in the game. Swipes can be large or small and made at any angle. Successful hits fill up a ‘focus meter’ that lets Sasha sever limbs from the monsters she defeats.

However, Sasha can only face one monster at a time. Each enemy has its own unique pattern that the player needs to learn to defeat it. The patterns include both attacking and blocking. So when you attack, there will be parts of the enemy that will block your attack. If an enemy blocks you, it ends your attack combo and slows the speed of which your ‘focus meter’ fills. In addition, enemies will attack you! At the bottom of the battle screen is each enemies’ timer, which tells the player when they will attack. However, you can be surrounded by enemies. So it’s important you keep and eye on this timer to block attacks from behind and to the side of you!

Monsters’ attacks can be blocked with counter swipes. So for example, an enemy may attack you with a swipe that is right to left. To block, you would have to perfectly time a swipe that is left to right and parry the enemy. Therefore, the player has to balance attacking the enemy, filling up your ‘focus meter’ and blocking enemy attacks.

When your focus meter is full and you have depleted an enemies health, time will slow down and you can sever that enemies’ limbs. Lines will appear on the enemy where you need to swipe to sever. A timer runs so you have to be fast to get all you need! These limbs can then be used as resources to upgrade Sasha’s combat skills.

The main hook of Severed’s combat is learning the enemies’ attack puzzles and getting your timing perfect. Towards the end of the game you feel like a God! Switching between enemies, attacking, blocking and severing their limbs; it’s so fun! For me the touch screen worked perfectly, I never felt like a swipe was missed. Using it also was very refreshingly and because Severed was designed specifically for touch screen, it fits perfectly on the Switch! Even more so than the Vita because the Switch’s screen is bigger.

Art and Music

If you like the art of Guacamelee then you will love the art of Severed. Though the world is a ‘dark world’ there is so much colour and flair there. I thought the design of Sasha was exceptionally cool. Especially when you gain all of her items and armour! The monsters too look unique. The harder the game got there was unique models for the monsters, even if their attack patterns stayed the same.

The music on the other hand was ok but a little repetitive. There is one track in the cellar of Sasha’s house that is great (with the pianos) but I mostly found myself getting bored of the music in the game.

Problems

Honestly there wasn’t that many. I’ve already played the game so knew what to expect and as I said above, the touch screen worked exactly how it should have.

There was one bug I noticed in the game. There is a section where you open a gate and it will spawn enemies 5 times. It rewards you with lots of limbs and is sort of like a grind section before the last boss, to make sure all of Sasha’s upgrades are unlocked for the player. Through the spawning sequence, the game first (somehow) sent me back to the last check point and then the second time crashed. The third time was the charm though, and I managed to get all the goodies I wanted. This was the only problem I had with the game.

Summary

Severed is a fantastic game and is a must buy on both Switch and the Vita. Its combat is complexed but fun to play. The art style is fantastic and the touch-screen mechanic was refreshing for me.

That’s why I give Severed by Drinkbox Studios my rating of

What did you think of my review? Do you like touch screen games? Did you play Guacamelee? If so let me know over on Twitter or join the conversation over on Discord.

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