Ever wondered what an Assassin’s Creed game would look like in a futuristic setting? Like, way into the future? Steel Seed is probably the closest thing to old-school Assassin’s Creed gameplay, mixed with fresh elements in a futuristic setting. Are you intrigued yet? Let’s dive in.
Story
Storm in a Teacup, the studio behind Close to the Sun, returns with Steel Seed, a stealth-action adventure set in a grim sci-fi world. You play as Zoe, a technologically enhanced woman, accompanied by her drone companion, Koby. Together, they explore a hostile underground facility searching for answers—perhaps the key to humanity’s survival. The story, which I could play until a certain point, has been rich and pretty page-turning, so I won’t spoil too much about why Zoe is what Zoe is. I’ll address why I’m talking about a certain point – I want to dive into the gameplay elements before turning a bit sour.
Gameplay & atmosphere
Steel Seed blends stealth, parkour, and dynamic combat into a tight gameplay loop and delivers what I loved about the first Assassin’s Creed games. Steel Seed lets you control Zoe, who can sneak past enemies or disable them with the help of Koby. Koby is a versatile drone that marks enemies and clears the way with their beams and other utility gadgets. Next to exploring, parkouring, and sneaking around, Steel Seed revolves around fighting robotic enemies, straight out of a Terminator movie. The way of fighting and exploring felt intuitive and familiar to me, and it’s clear that they took inspiration from titles like Prince of Persia, Uncharted, and even Darksiders in a way. There’s a tangible flow to the movement—slipping between shadows, scaling walls, and taking down foes from above. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it polishes what works.
Finding nodes, hiding in corrupted fields along the way, pushing enemies away with quick time events – everything works. Searching for switches with Koby, which often leads to timed runs and jumps for Zoe, feels like a breath of fresh air in the action RPG genre. It felt like I was working through a combination of the Mass Effect Universe and Dead Space, while playing Space Assassin in the Animus. Steel Seeds’ underground setting is a visual treat. Combining the vast industrial landscapes with bio-domes and pods was a good idea since it gives an eerie feel to running around the corridors and hallways. They are brought to life with dynamic lighting and story elements hidden in plain sight. The constant pressure of roaring machines and shifting shadows contributes to an oppressive, immersive atmosphere. You can sense that the developers put a lot of love into crafting this world, although I could argue that the lighting shaders should be set a bit higher than recommended, since sometimes the way forward can be a bit too shrouded.
Problems
Since the game’s tone is dark, darker, darkest, sometimes the way forward is not the most logical way you would imagine. Zoe has a tracking system guides you in the right direction, but sometimes the lighting effects work to your disadvantage. While writing this review, I got stuck in Steel Seed – I can’t progress to a specific waypoint, even though I found the way up. This sucks and feels like a bug, since I can’t use Koby to reach the trigger that’s needed to progress (which would lead to the big story reveal I wanted to share a bit about). I tried contacting the studio and PR representative about this error/bug, including my waypoint and path of progress. Maybe I just missed something? Sadly, I got no response, which left me with a game collecting dust. I will try to progress in Steel Seed next week, when the retail version drops and people start working through the game. Maybe I missed something, or perhaps it’s just a thing they’ll fix on the day one patch. I don’t know, I will update the review if I find something new.
Conclusion
Steel Seed is shaping up to become a compelling entry in the stealth-action genre. With its gripping atmosphere, familiar gameplay, and intriguing sci-fi premise, it’s one twitch out for. I fell in love with Steel Seed after the first fifteen minutes of gameplay, and I want to love it until the end, so please fix my issue and let me continue my journey with Zoe and Koby.
