Severed Reviews
Utilizing the Wii U gamepad's touchscreen controls, Severed serves up a fantastic adventure with plenty of engaging swordplay and a healthy dose of monstrous bodily dismemberment. The beautiful art style and a subtly-told melancholy story keeps players absorbed in the bizarre world in between bloody battles and the clever, Zelda-style dungeon puzzles.
If a colorful, morbid, corporeal, dungeon-crawling Punch-Out!! isn't sweet enough to sell Severed, consider it a vision of a world where the PlayStation Vita remained a stronghold of original and endearing creation.
Severed is a short adventure that has a lot of major gameplay elements packed into it. Its unique art style will keep your eyes engaged, while your brain will be firmly occupied with the puzzles and sword play. There’s not a lot more you could ask for from a $14.99 game.
Severed is an excellent dungeon crawler, with a frenetic gameplay and a series of wonderful puzzles.
Review in Italian | Read full review
DrinkBox Studios pushes the boundaries on the Vita’s unique hardware once again. Although from a technical perspective it occasionally lets them down, Severed’s unique combat system and beautiful art style carry the day on what is a fun, if not short-lived, dungeon crawler.
While a touch-focused first person dungeon crawler might sound crazy on paper, Severed's unique brand of combat is as deep as it is engaging. Oh, and the visuals and soundtrack are bonkers to boot.
It’s a shame that Severed came so late in the Vita’s life cycle, because it had me wondering whether or not more games like it could have saved the system. That’s just wishful thinking, of course, so it’ll just have to remain what it is: an incredible eleventh-hour treat for fans who have invested their time and money into the handheld. If you enjoyed Guacamelee!, you’ll find a lot of what you loved in that game has returned. Vibrant colors with a unique “diorama” artstyle really pop off the screen, and its inventive gameplay successfully combines touch-twitch antics and old-fashioned role playing. There may not be enough reasons to shell out for a Vita now, but if there had been more content like this arriving alongside the system back in 2012, we might have seen a very different fate for Sony’s second portable.
Vita owners thirsty for new titles will rightly give an arm and a leg for this one, but they should know ahead of time that it can be hard on the ol' swipin' appendages.
Severed is the kind of game that comes along once a generation, and helps define a console.
Drinkbox Studios has another masterpiece to add to its portfolio. With a fantastic atmosphere, a unique combat system that never gets tedious and a perfect difficulty curve, SEVERED is a must-play for Wii U owners. Unlike so many titles where touch controls are shoehorned in, this game makes using the stylus feel perfectly natural. A few frustrating elements are only slight scratches on this feverishly enjoyable experience. This should be fun for anyone, unless you dislike Metroidvania games, corridor action-adventure, and excellent combat.
You have to commend Severed for using the Vita's touchscreen heavily for its gameplay. And while that use of the system works and is mostly enjoyable, it's not always entertaining.
Severed is a simple and quick-to-learn game that puts the players at the centre of a rather harsh story that is further advanced by its visuals and navigation. While there certainly is room for improvement in the way the story is presented and on the level of interaction with the Wii U's potential, fans of dungeon-crawler types will find plenty of assets in Sasha's adventure to be reunited with her family.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Give it a shot, you may very well find yourself in love with it much like I was.
A valiant attempt at creating a touch screen-based action experience with real depth, Severed struts confidently for four or five hours – before ultimately devolving into the same old swipe-fest that it seems to detest. Still, this is a wonderfully presented experience, with a mystifying world and some intelligent level design. If you're the kind of person who appreciates tailored Vita titles, then you'll more than get your money's worth here. It's just a shame that the studio fails to cut the foray off before it gets stale.
Severed is one hell of a game, complete with addicting mechanics, a bizarre and wonderful story, moments of pure horror and a silent heroine that does the
A grim and foreboding fairytale liberally swathed in colourful style, Severed masterfully combines touch screen combat, metroidvania game design and hugely satisfying character progression to make the most essential PS Vita title to date. Severed is quite simply a handheld tour de force without equal.
It’s a beautiful game that needs to be seen, and every single aspect has been designed with care.
There are few titles more deserving of being called one of the truly essential experiences for the Vita than Severed. If you own the latest PlayStation handheld, do yourself a favor and pick this up: you won't regret it.
[D]espite all odds, [Drinkbox Studios has] managed to craft a title featuring a fantastic world that begs to be explored, and a combat engine that’s intuitive and the finest use of touch controls since Tearaway. It’s simply the best title to come out for the Vita in some time, and one worth adding to the library of every Vita owner.
With an emotional story and touch-based combat that feels both clever and natural, Severed is an excellent game that will stick with you long after you’ve finished playing.