Severed (Nintendo 3DS) Second Opinion Review

The first most striking quality of Severed is its visuals. The art team at Drinkbox Studios achieved some very innovative 2D graphics that create a strong impression of first-person 3D. This is all thanks to the fixed way Sasha moves throughout the maps, which is restricted to step or tile-based movement as seen in The Dark Spire or the Etrian Odyssey games. It is the same art style from company's previous games, which has an animated insurance commercial feel to it. In Guacamelee, the art was a natural fit due to its comedic and outrageous tone, what with all the constant video game references strewn about. With Severed, it first creates the impression that it is going to be more of the same... but it totally isn't, and is, in fact, a much darker game than the art would suggest.

It can be kind of jarring seeing such a bleak quest for revenge with such an art style that is so closely associated with a light-hearted beat 'em up. The surreal landscapes reaches almost alien levels of otherworldly, since the world vaguely resembles velvet paintings by way of Samurai Jack. Even the day-glow dungeons have an otherworldly aesthetic that does draws people in.

After about two hours, the limitations of the art become apparent, as Severed begins to repeat and recycle assets. This sort of thing is to be expected, but it is only because the core game is so simplistic that it becomes easy to succumb to sensory deprivation. The gameplay comes down to exploring the grid-based world and getting into encounters with monsters that are all defeated the same way: cancel their attack and slash away. There is a finishing moment where Sasha can zandatsu herself some materials for learning new moves.

Encounters are more interesting when there are multiple enemies, which makes the game more about rotating to the enemy who is about to attack and to cancel the bugger before he does. This is the extent of the action, and while at first it seems like it is pretty fun thanks to the stimulating visuals and responsive controls, it gets really old after a couple of hours. Since the story is extremely thin, there really is not much holding the gameplay together and everything just starts to feel mindless.

Severed's story could not be more simplistic. The protagonist is a young woman named Sasha who regains consciousness from an attack on her family's home. Sasha, being the only survivor of the attack has lost her arm during attack, takes up her mother's sword and sets out to take revenge on the murderer of her family. She is a one-armed swordswoman and the vibe really does harken back to an old samurai movie, but after the initial introductory moments, there really is nothing else until the end. Sasha has almost no character and the only other characters she interacts with are monsters, which she dismembers. There is not much to go on to give context to the adventure, which shockingly affects the gameplay. If there was any case for a game that suffers from lack of story or narrative drive, it's Severed.