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Severed (PS Vita/PSN) |OT| Swiping your way to victory limb by limb

Finished it a couple of days ago, and I really loved it. Got the Platinum too (#13, I think). The difficulty was kind of weird; at first it was fine but then I really started to struggle in the second dungeon, and I hated the fights on the clouds as adding a time limit before death felt like bullshit. A lot of the battles later on felt a bit tedious as the enemies have so many buffs, and a lot of them have magic guards as well so you can't do anything about it except fight. I also felt the health was kind of trivial, as when you die and restart from a checkpoint (which is before almost every battle, I think?) you start again with full health - meaning that if you're low on health and get into a fight, the best thing to do is let yourself be killed immediately and then restart again with full health. Same thing happened in Tomb Raider Anniversary and I always felt like that spoiled the difficulty balance. Anyway, despite my minor grumbles I really loved it overall and I liked the understated plot and interactions with the Demon and the Stranger.

Finished it at 7hours and 30 min, more or less. I enjoyed my time with it and was another fun game by Drinkbox.

Loved slashing enemies and gaining body parts. My largest gripes were the jarring hallway transitions and the mini-map. I feel like it took a chunk of my focus when I was trying to enjoy the environment. Also there isnt much to do after fighting the boss, I kinda expected more content like a more harder new plus mode or something.

Overall, I would love a sequel that adds more variety to the enemies and a new solution to hallway transitions. Oh and perhaps a bit more clarification regarding the story, the only thing I understand is that
Sasha and her family were brought here into another demonish universe where their humans were killed off.
What I dont get is regarding Sasha's missing arm and the rainbow arm. Was the
Dragon in charge of everything?
And why
were Saha's family even brought into this world?

I think it was that after Sasha's
family died the Demon took her into limbo or some afterlife realm and gave her the chance to bring them back and stay there with them, or lay them to rest and go back to the real world. I didn't really understand the rainbow arm, but I assume the dragon possessed it in order to control her, as it started going on the blink in the final battle and then Sasha cut it off again?
I dunno. It was strange and the whole premise was unexplained, and I quite liked that.
 
I think it's about
dealing with loss. The world is different stages of grief and it's her story about overcoming the depression after something terrible has happened, burying her sadness (literally in the ending) and moving on to become whole again in the real world. The world in the game doesn't actually exist, it's symbolic and in her mind.

I suppose thats a possibility but there are things like
The Wanderer
and the whole
friendly helpful demon giving the sword who is also unexplained as to why its helping Sasha
and
2 head bird thing
being there. With their presence plus a bunch more, I cant help but question and wonder more about this world. Hopefully a sequel rectifies this.

Edit:

Finished it a couple of days ago, and I really loved it. Got the Platinum too (#13, I think). The difficulty was kind of weird; at first it was fine but then I really started to struggle in the second dungeon, and I hated the fights on the clouds as adding a time limit before death felt like bullshit. A lot of the battles later on felt a bit tedious as the enemies have so many buffs, and a lot of them have magic guards as well so you can't do anything about it except fight. I also felt the health was kind of trivial, as when you die and restart from a checkpoint (which is before almost every battle, I think?) you start again with full health - meaning that if you're low on health and get into a fight, the best thing to do is let yourself be killed immediately and then restart again with full health. Same thing happened in Tomb Raider Anniversary and I always felt like that spoiled the difficulty balance. Anyway, despite my minor grumbles I really loved it overall and I liked the understated plot and interactions with the Demon and the Stranger.



I think it was that after Sasha's
family died the Demon took her into limbo or some afterlife realm and gave her the chance to bring them back and stay there with them, or lay them to rest and go back to the real world. I didn't really understand the rainbow arm, but I assume the dragon possessed it in order to control her, as it started going on the blink in the final battle and then Sasha cut it off again?
I dunno. It was strange and the whole premise was unexplained, and I quite liked that.

By
Demon
, do you mean
the hand shaped head floating demon?
I like this possibility a bit more, reminds of the anime
Fullmetal Alchemist plot
detail. Sasha
sacrifices her arm to bring them back, only to get tricked by the Dragon.
 

Kodros

Member
Im sure it has been said in this thread already but I'd be real interested in trying this game out on PSVR. They should make it happen.
 

JonnyKong

Member
FINALLY just beat boss 2. I still kept getting "missed" or "early" when trying to swipe away his left arm, but nm, I realised that using charged shot on pretty much everything was the way forward to victory.
 
By
Demon
, do you mean
the hand shaped head floating demon?
I like this possibility a bit more, reminds of the anime
Fullmetal Alchemist plot
detail. Sasha
sacrifices her arm to bring them back, only to get tricked by the Dragon.

Yeah, the creature who rises out of the floor in her house and gives her the sword, wears a black cloak and has the hand shaped head type thing.
 
Platted the game Friday night. Hats off to Drinkbox for creating a very satisfying experience, well worth my time as well as the full asking price.

At first I thought that the game was too short, but primarily because I enjoyed what I had played so much up to that point. However in retrospect, given the mechanics presented (and notably the ones they don't), the map layouts as well as the story/motivator to keep you moving forward, I think that Severed is in fact the perfect length for what was presented. Any longer and I think I ran the risk of feeling laborious.

Fantastic game though. Juggling enemies and their cooldown timers hasn't felt this satisfying since Transistor. Definitely in my top 10 for the year.
 
Platted the game Friday night. Hats off to Drinkbox for creating a very satisfying experience, well worth my time as well as the full asking price.

At first I thought that the game was too short, but primarily because I enjoyed what I had played so much up to that point. However in retrospect, given the mechanics presented (and notably the ones they don't), the map layouts as well as the story/motivator to keep you moving forward, I think that Severed is in fact the perfect length for what was presented. Any longer and I think I ran the risk of feeling laborious.

Fantastic game though. Juggling enemies and their cooldown timers hasn't felt this satisfying since Transistor. Definitely in my top 10 for the year.

I thought it was a little unbalanced, as I spent a lot more time in the first dungeon than
the other two
, but I think quite a lot of that was traipsing back and forth to hit the sun/moon gong. I would have liked another dungeon
in the mirror
at the end, but there's a lot of content here for the price and I can't grumble too much for not having another one.
 
I thought it was a little unbalanced, as I spent a lot more time in the first dungeon than
the other two
, but I think quite a lot of that was traipsing back and forth to hit the sun/moon gong. I would have liked another dungeon
in the mirror
at the end, but there's a lot of content here for the price and I can't grumble too much for not having another one.

I hear ya. I spent the same disproportionate amount of time there as well but I usually chalk that up to similar experiences I have in every game, particularly these types of dungeon crawlers, where I'm getting comfortable with the mechanics and puzzle types. Lord knows how long I spent crawling my way around the first few floors in Grimrock, Xeen, or Ultima Underworld for that matter.

I really, really like the combat in Severed though and wished there were a few more encounters
(other than the endless encounter lever in the House)
, but given that there's no XP progression system, and the fact that I maxed out everything prior to the final area, there were obviously more than enough encounters to get me where I was going. Severing things is pretty damn fun though.
 
Loving the shit out of this game. Great dark fantasy vibe, much like recently with Toren and Hyper Light Drifter. The double-headed crows as comic relief are a nice contrast from all the misery.

Those worm tunnels are no joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nehL2UhVxBA
Getting poisoned while having to go through a battle to get to the source of the poison. Incentivising you to be a more efficient player.
 

Z3M0G

Member
After finishing this I was inspired to go back and finally finish Mutant Blob and Guakomelee... both are fantastic games that I should never have put down.

Now I may come back to this and hunt down the remaining secrets I missed.

What a legacy this company has...
 

JonnyKong

Member
I'm getting pretty tired of back tracking through the Crow domain now to find all the secrets, mainly because I'm tired of those darn sun/moon doors. Other than that it is still a fabulous game.
 
Anyone figure out how to get to the Citadel L2 red lever?
severed_citadel_l2_red_door_by_digi_matrix-da38zd9.jpg
 
These battles in the Citadel where you have to win before
sky potion runs out
are really annoying.

It's just another way the game teaches you to juggle and prioritize enemies. I agree though that the particular type of area you're talking about can be really frustrating. There is one battle in particular
(you need to beat it to access the Father's Memento)
that was a wall for me as well until I upgraded enough stats
as well as grabbed the Mother's Memento and its buff.
. In the end it teaches you to be better at the game, but I agree that realizing you have that extra thing to think about while in battle is super jarring.
 

Osla

Neo Member
Stuck on one last secret in the Domain of The Crows, the ground level heart piece. According to the book I have to go back a bit towards a location marked with an X and swipe a pattern three times to open a secret door, but nothing happens when I try that... Any tips?
 

Number45

Member
Stuck on one last secret in the Domain of The Crows, the ground level heart piece. According to the book I have to go back a bit towards a location marked with an X and swipe a pattern three times to open a secret door, but nothing happens when I try that... Any tips?
This is the one where
the pathway has a seemingly pointless alternative route to "cut" the corner? In that case you don't need to swipe it, you need to walk that route three times.

I usually suck at secrets/puzzles so I'm quite proud that I managed to get them all without needing to ask/look it up. ^_^
 
Great ending and final battle. Very emotional. Well-executed story about grief and seeking closure. Intuitive map, level design, fun precise slashing combat, gradual mechanical surprises, cool enemies, and a great challenge. Sasha's design is one of the coolest ever. Loved that they kept the day/night shifting from Guacamelee. Never felt any difficulty spike. It's just a really well designed game in every aspect.

Yamantaka Sonic Titan & Papayo's soundtrack is excellent.

One of my 2016 GOTYs, easily. I'm so glad I bought a Vita just for this game. Didn't believe they'd follow in the greatness from Guacamelee but loved that they went full into a story about death with a more somber tone.
 

Osla

Neo Member
This is the one where
the pathway has a seemingly pointless alternative route to "cut" the corner? In that case you don't need to swipe it, you need to walk that route three times.

I usually suck at secrets/puzzles so I'm quite proud that I managed to get them all without needing to ask/look it up. ^_^

Oh wow, thanks! I spent a LOT of time doing the wrong thing :')
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Regarding the ending:
Is there any point in collecting the mementos besides trophies? I beat the game without finding anyone of those, then i went back and 100% the game, and got all the mementos, then beat the game again. The ending seemed to be exactly the same eventhough that there is an own trophy tied to it.

I really enjoyed the game :) Took me about 8 hours to 100% the game (no guides used). Definitelly good value for the money, at least for me.
 

JonnyKong

Member
How in gods name am I supposed to get past the door behind the crab man quickly enough before the door comes down again? (I turn a wheel to move the door up first). I'm assuming I have to come back to him once I've got an ability upgrade because right now I just can't beat him quick enough.
 
How in gods name am I supposed to get past the door behind the crab man quickly enough before the door comes down again? (I turn a wheel to move the door up first). I'm assuming I have to come back to him once I've got an ability upgrade because right now I just can't beat him quick enough.
Have you got Rage yet? How upgraded are you, have you got the crit and blind ones? Which one is this, exactly?
 

JonnyKong

Member
I've just this minute unlocked rage, so now I shall go back and try defeat that guy I couldn't before.

At the moment I seem to be going higher and higher up in the Citadel towards who I assume is the final boss. Will this be the best time for me to turn around and head back into the other two areas for all the secrets? Or shall I keep going upwards and see where the story takes me?
 

TMWNN35

Member
Really want to buy this but I'm 2 pounds short on wallet funds and I don't think I can bear going through the hell it was to get more funds into my psn wallet last time again.

Will have to wait for a sale :)
 
I've just this minute unlocked rage, so now I shall go back and try defeat that guy I couldn't before.

At the moment I seem to be going higher and higher up in the Citadel towards who I assume is the final boss. Will this be the best time for me to turn around and head back into the other two areas for all the secrets? Or shall I keep going upwards and see where the story takes me?
Yeah, don't worry about finding secrets, you won't be locked off. The point of no return is for the final boss near the House.
 

Spman2099

Member
Guys, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but there is a spoiler in the screenshots section of the first post.
The one with the corpse of your little brother.
The story is pretty simple, but that was actually a moment that genuinely caught me by surprise. It wasn't spoiled for me, thankfully, but I would have been pretty annoyed if I had seen that screenshot before buying the game, only to have had that moment ruined by this thread.

If the TC is kicking around, I think it is a powerful enough moment that you should probably remove that screenshot. No one likes spoilers.
 
If the TC is kicking around, I think it is a powerful enough moment that you should probably remove that screenshot. No one likes spoilers.

Is it really a spoiler though? I got the impression immediately that
the character's family was dead and that you were trying to get them back and become powerful enough/defeat some powerful entity in the hopes of bringing them back to life.

Interesting seeing the cut enemy designs and UI from the final release in the announce trailer.

severed_cut_enemy_designs_by_digi_matrix-da3i0qi.gif

That bell monster looks great. I definitely could have gone for a few more enemy types, but definitely can appreciate how much better the final enemies look vs. the ones featured in that trailer.
 

Spman2099

Member
Is it really a spoiler though? I got the impression immediately that
the character's family was dead and that you were trying to get them back and become powerful enough/defeat some powerful entity in the hopes of bringing them back to life.

Despite your impressions, I definitely think it is a spoiler.

The only thing you are told about your family is that you "have followed your family to this world." Nothing more explicit is said than that. You see their silhouettes transposed over a red background, which could obviously represent their death, but it is FAR from explicit. Beyond that, what the crows say definitely implies that your brother was alive when he was taken to the crow island. While they say that he has likely been eaten by now, that sort of thing is often said before you rescue people in video games (not that they have explicitly been eaten, but that they are likely dead). It is actually a nice subtle subversion that they are correct.

Hell, other people have mentioned in this topic that it was a shocking moment for them. It seems really unfortunate to take that moment from someone.

I am only saying that as a fan of the game.
 
Despite your impressions, I definitely think it is a spoiler.

The only thing you are told about your family is that you "have followed your family to this world." Nothing more explicit is said than that. You see their silhouettes transposed over a red background, which could obviously represent their death, but it is FAR from explicit. Beyond that, what the crows say definitely implies that your brother was alive when he was taken to the crow island. While they say that he has likely been eaten by now, that sort of thing is often said before you rescue people in video games (not that they have explicitly been eaten, but that they are likely dead). It is actually a nice subtle subversion that they are correct.

Hell, other people have mentioned in this topic that it was a shocking moment for them. It seems really unfortunate to take that moment from someone.

I am only saying that as a fan of the game.
It was in trailers, on their website as a screenshot, and personally was one aspect that got me more interested in the game.
 

Spman2099

Member
It was in trailers, on their website as a screenshot, and personally was one aspect that got me more interested in the game.

I don't know if the company's marketing team also spoiling the scene instantly makes it okay. I think of spoilers as being spoilers no matter who gives them away...

We sorta live in an age where movie trailers are spoiling huge moments in movies routinely. That doesn't make movie spoilers more acceptable either, as far as I am concerned.

It just would have honestly hurt a great moment for me and I wanted to help other people potentially avoid having something ruined for them. I really like the game and think that is one of its best, most powerful moments (narratively speaking). I guess I am lucky I somehow managed to miss it before I played the game.

However, I can see that I am way in the minority here. I am the only one that sees it as a problem; point taken.
 

Bebpo

Banned
The game started to grow on me at the crow boss when things started getting more complicated, but now I'm in Ghost Mountain and I'm just completely stuck on a fight. The poison worm tunnels are not fun, fighting 3 sped up enemies constantly having to switch between them while losing health from the worm is really annoying. Since enemies don't respawn to get items to level up more and since there are no difficulty levels I'm not sure what I can do after a half dozen attempts on a single triple mob battle. Like I literally get through the battle without taking a single hit but the poison kills me because I can't do it fast enough.

I've never been particularly great at touch controls and the level of dexerity required just seems beyond my ability and there's no way to get stronger or reduce difficulty so I guess I just need to give up and shelve the game.
 
Welp, I finished it. Got the platinum and absolutely loved it! I'm not into dungeon crawlers, certainly not first person dungeon crawlers, but this game hooked me. The mechanics were fast paced and action oriented. I could easily influence how a battle was going to play out.

I wish it was longer! Any chance for some DLC?? I'd buy it in a heartbeat!
 
The game started to grow on me at the crow boss when things started getting more complicated, but now I'm in Ghost Mountain and I'm just completely stuck on a fight. The poison worm tunnels are not fun, fighting 3 sped up enemies constantly having to switch between them while losing health from the worm is really annoying. Since enemies don't respawn to get items to level up more and since there are no difficulty levels I'm not sure what I can do after a half dozen attempts on a single triple mob battle. Like I literally get through the battle without taking a single hit but the poison kills me because I can't do it fast enough.

I've never been particularly great at touch controls and the level of dexerity required just seems beyond my ability and there's no way to get stronger or reduce difficulty so I guess I just need to give up and shelve the game.

Are you using the abilities that you have? And upgrading as often as you can? Because some of the abilities you get totally shake up the flow of a battle.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Are you using the abilities that you have? And upgrading as often as you can? Because some of the abilities you get totally shake up the flow of a battle.

What abilities should I focus on to make it easier? The only non-upgrade ability I have at this point is the blind spell which helps a little but not a ton.
 
What abilities should I focus on to make it easier? The only non-upgrade ability I have at this point is the blind spell which helps a little but not a ton.

Spam that! Boost the time that it lasts and go to town. They become vulnerable for that time and you can really mess them up.
 

ghibli99

Member
Been playing this for several nights now, and just beat the second boss... this game is too good. While I do spend most of my time staring at the minimap in the upper-right corner, that's OK with me. Makes it feel like an oldschool CRPG in a way, which I just love. The combat is perfect, and the layered dungeon design (very similar to Metroid/Zelda in that respect) is so addicting and fun to explore and re-explore.

Such a great game! Definitely going for the plat on this one.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Spam that! Boost the time that it lasts and go to town. They become vulnerable for that time and you can really mess them up.

Hmm, I haven't been putting many upgrades into magic stuff, blind didn't seem that useful because it just let me get a few more hits on one enemy while the others are still attacking. Been focusing entirely on damage upgrades to the sword slashes.

I got past that part eventually and I'm making progress through ghost mountain, but I die and have to retry a couple of times on like every third encounter. Maybe it's my reflexes, like I said I don't really play touch games, I'm left-handed and I'm bad at this touch swipe with accuracy & speed stuff, but this is seriously one of the hardest games I've played in my life. I really wish there were difficulty options so I could play it on easy and be less frustrated.

I should probably backtrack at some point at get all the heart/mind pieces I missed to get more HP/MP.

But I'll keep pushing on because I like the art/music/world and the gameplay in concept is creative.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Halfway through the Citadel and the game has been so much more fun and loads easier more manageable since I've been upgrading like crazy along with the new devour ability. I also went back and got all the secrets I could in the areas prior to the citadel so I got a lot more hp/mp and parts to upgrade with. I like the devour skill a lot, grabbing a health regen off the bat in a large group lets me ignore some enemies and just take hits while I concentrate on thinning the crowd. My strategy is mainly to take out the enemies I can take out the fastest first, even taking some hits and then work on the one or two remaining enemies that take some time to kill. I still think stuff like the worm tunnels, where your hp is ticking down during the fight, are the hardest bits so far prior to health regen. The two bosses so far have been surprisingly not too tough considering some of the hard normal enemy fights.

The game took a while, but it's finally clicked and hard to put down, just speeding through the dungeons now. Glad I stuck with it.
 

Bebpo

Banned
Cleared it. Would get the Platinum, but I can't beat a fight to the memento in Ghost Mountain where you're on clouds and you fight the toughest enemy type (red ball wizard monster) and he has every buff and is immune to magic. I steal attack buff from one of the other enemies and then spam his red ball, then counter arm slashes x 3 then spam his guts, then counter arm slashes x 3, then spam guts...and he's still not dead and by this point I'm almost out of time and still have the other two enemies to take care of. Not sure how to beat this guy. I'm fully maxed out in upgrades.

Overall, I liked it but didn't love it. The art & music was fantastic, most of the time the dungeon bits were a lot of fun, the puzzles were enjoyable, the combat with the buff and devour system is great, the boss fights are all real good, and the upgrade system is quite alright. The story is nice for being kind of different.

What I didn't like are the minor blister on my index finger from fucking finger burn from all the extremely high speed spam swiping, the magic resistance enemies because it sort of negates all the interesting magic systems that give the combat more depth, ALL of the timed encounters, aka the cloud stuff & the worm poison fights, the dungeons are super linear, backtracking the dungeons for secrets is a pain in the butt because the navigation while linear and clear when going through the dungeons the first time, just becomes a confusing mess on revists, and imo the battle system is boring until the extra layers are added, so the first couple of hours are repetitive and dull and then it gets better and better for the most part.

Also wish you could deactivate character upgrades mid-battle. A bunch of times I'd be swiping frantically in a fight only to have the battle pause and the upgrade screen show up because one of my swipes hit the area that activates the upgrade screen. Don't really see the need to upgrade mid-battle.

Glad I played it, but definitely my least favorite of the 3 Drinkbox games I've played. I'd probably give it like a C+ I think if they want to do more dungeon crawling, I'm still in because Severed is a good first step and hopefully a second game in the genre would have much more depth and be a better game because of it. Otoh if they want to go back to platformers, I'm all for that too.

As an aside, the game seems tailor made for ipad/iphone. Seems like a waste if they don't release it on tablets.
 

Number45

Member
For the hard fights I personally worked on keeping the main guy (the one that was clearly supposed to give you trouble) quiet - just swap to him when you need to counter his moves - and demolish everything else as quick as possible so that you can then focus him down.

I actually did the mementos after (I think) I had maxed all upgrades so that might have helped.
 

JonnyKong

Member
I've read on another site that the memento fight in Ghost Mountain is rather difficult. I'm nearing the end of the game now.

Would you guys recommend I do it in this order..

Find all secrets and collectibles.
Find memento in citadel.
Fight final boss.
Get memento in Ghost Mountain

?
 

ghibli99

Member
Got my plat on this last week. Wonderful game with some truly challenging battles. Easily one of the best on the Vita!
 
I've read on another site that the memento fight in Ghost Mountain is rather difficult. I'm nearing the end of the game now.

Would you guys recommend I do it in this order..

Find all secrets and collectibles.
Find memento in citadel.
Fight final boss.
Get memento in Ghost Mountain

?

The way I went about it:

Grab the memento
(and your arm)
in the Citadel.
Get the memento in the Mountain Ghost Town
Finish up the secrets and collectibles
Fight the final boss
 

JonnyKong

Member
The way I went about it:

Grab the memento
(and your arm)
in the Citadel.
Get the memento in the Mountain Ghost Town
Finish up the secrets and collectibles
Fight the final boss

Cheers for the advice dude. I'll try this later tonight. I've reached the point where I'm nervous to continue cos of how difficult it might suddenly become! I'm determined to get the plat though as so many others have.
 
Cheers for the advice dude. I'll try this later tonight. I've reached the point where I'm nervous to continue cos of how difficult it might suddenly become! I'm determined to get the plat though as so many others have.

Severed isn't all that difficult, so I think you'll have that plat in no time! I would say that the only battle I kept banging my head against was
on the clouds on my way to the memento in the Ghost Mountain Town.
I found that grabbing the memento in the Citadel, as well as unlocking more upgrades, helped immensely.

Also, if you feel like you've run out of enemies to sever in order to upgrade,
there's a section right before the final boss that'll allow you fight an unlimited amount of enemies for farming purposes.
 

JonnyKong

Member
Whoop all mementos grabbed, secrets found, upgrades completed, time to go confront the final boss. Any words of advice?
 
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