Un juego indie para la 3DS. De acción, aventuras y puzles sobre el enfrentarse a la pérdida de seres queridos.

Es muy original en cuanto al combate, que es su punto más fuerte, siendo uno de los títulos de esta consola que mejor aprovecha la pantalla táctil. La acción consiste en enfrentarnos a un grupo de enemigos usando los trazos del lápiz táctil como espada. Cada enemigo se comporta de una forma totalmente distinta, y para poder derrotarlos tendremos que adaptarnos y aprender su comportamiento, e ir alternando a qué enemigo le prestamos atención cuando nos enfrentamos a una horda. Pronto nos daremos cuenta de que los combates son como puzles a resolver, en los que incluso la decisión de a qué enemigo derrotar antes es un punto clave para salir victoriosos.

En cuanto al apartado visual es precioso. Respecto al sonoro, los efectos de sonido están muy logrados, pero la banda sonora consta de muy pocos temas distintos y pronto se vuelve extremadamente repetitiva. Los puzles que presenta son interesantes pero terminan volviéndose repetitivos por ser muy simples. Por suerte el juego sigue un ritmo muy adecuado y sabe cuando introducir mecánicas nuevas que le vuelven a dar vida. La progresión es tan buena que el juego sigue sorprendiendo hasta el final del mismo.

Por desgracia tiene dos grandes fallos. Uno es el movimiento del personaje. La vista en primera persona con los controles de tanque y el hecho de que el desplazamiento y la exploración sea de laberintos tipo Etrian Odyssey hace que moverse por los niveles sea muy poco interesante. La transición de una sala a otra llega incluso a marear, haciendo que prefieras avanzar mirando exclusivamente el mini mapa y perdiéndote así los bonitos escenarios. Esto te quita las ganas de completar el juego al 100%, ya que hay que volver a zonas anteriores y el juego NO tiene viaje rápido.

El otro error está en el sistema de muerte. Al morir, vuelves a la vida desde el último punto de guardado. Hay bastantes de estos ya que hay guardado automático regularmente. El problema es que revives con toda la barra de vida llena y sin ninguna penalización. Esto choca completamente con el mundo cruel y despiadado en el que se desarrolla el juego y con los temas que trata. Además, hay objectos de restauración de salud que no son muy comunes y que no tienen sentido sabiendo que la mejor forma de curarte es dejándote matar.

En resumen, es un juego muy original con buenas ideas, cuyos puntos fuertes son muy destacables pero que en sus puntos débiles flaquea mucho. Aún así, buena experiencia.

After loving Guacamelee as a kid and recently enjoying Nobody Saves the World on PS5, I thought I'd jump into Severed as it's a Drinkbox game I've had since close to release but never jumped into.

This game is great as a decent short adventure with dungeons and puzzles that feel Zelda-adjacent. I love the artstyle, which is very similar to Guacamelee. The gameplay is also a lot of fun; at first the touchscreen combat can feel a little flat, but the game really shines later on through more complicated encounters that force you to use all the systems available to you and to plan tactically. Figuring out which enemies to take out first in a tough battle is a lot of fun. Some of the bosses are also great, I especially liked the second one.

The story is minimal but a somber tone is captured quite well. Whilst I don't think this is Drinkbox's best game, I do respect them for having more love for the Vita than Sony did at the time. I'm glad now that everyone can experience this game through the Switch and mobile versions. I don' think it's quite an 8, but certainly a strong 7.8/10

Ok, I got so much in love with this game that after beating it on my 3DS, it only left me craving for more. It is, sadly, too short.
So, I just got the Vita original and finished it in a single sitting, platinum trophy and everything. :P
Well, since I’d already gave my general opinions on this little gem of a game, this review will simply be a comparison between both gameplay experiences.

First of all, the striking difference lies in the presentation.
The game looks phenomenal on the Vita, and combined with the OLED screen displaying beautifully saturated colours and the device’s piano black finish (in the case of my model, at least), it provides a much more immersive experience, especially considering that the game is always being displayed on a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The 3DS version gives you the option to display the gameplay on the wider top screen, but since the gameplay will mostly take place at the bottom one, I felt little incentive to do so, especially since it mirrors both screens at the same time, which felt weird and less optimal. Although the graphics didn’t take much of a hit when converting the game for the 3DS hardware, they are much more vibrant here, even having more particles and slight lighting effects.
Also, as I mentioned in my previous review, having the full map on the top screen of the 3DS at all times is much more convenient, but it’s easy enough to adjust to the original minimap on the top right corner of the screen on the Vita, which actually makes it easier to focus on the details of the game’s environments.

All of that makes the visual presentation much more seamless and appealing on the original version, really immersing yourself in the world of Severed.

Still, on the gameplay department, I still give the edge to the 3DS version.
I can’t describe how much I HATE touching my Vita’s screen. I absolutely despise leaving fingerprints on the thing. Because of that, my Vita’s screen is relatively “virgin”, giving it a bit more friction when swiping through stuff with my fingers. Because of that, slashing through enemies in this game felt quite uncomfortable to me, and I played the entire thing wearing a thin cotton glove on my right hand just to make the gameplay more fluid. Also, I felt it super clumsy to hit certain angles of movement without feeling the need to move my entire right arm or change the angle in which I was holding the device with my left hand. Couple all of that with the fact that the Vita isn’t necessarily a light device, and you’ll may have a bit uncomfortable experience with longer gameplay sessions (which will probably be your case since, again, the game is short and super hard to put down).

Not only playing the game with the stylus on the 3DS feels more comfortable, but extremely more precise.
In the same situations where I felt the need to twist my entire arm on the Vita, it was simply a matter of easily moving my wrist on the 3DS. Also, there are penalties in combat when you accidentally hit something you’re not supposed to, and that actually gave me a hard time on the Vita where on the 3DS it was much easier to hit smaller objects and such.

So, despite rating this Vita version half a star less, my verdict is, basically, hugely inconclusive.
Whilst the visual presentation is much nicer on the Vita original, I simply feel that this game deserves to be played with a stylus. For that reason, I much preferred my time with Severed on the 3DS, but I don’t feel confident enough to recommend it over the Vita/other platforms’ versions for its less striking visual presentation (although, as I said, it’s not really that big of a deal in the case of this game).

The Wii U version might be the best candidate for that, combining 1) an actual gamepad, in contrast to mobile versions; 2) the gorgeous graphics of the original and 3) a stylus.
But, well, I don’t have a Wii U, so I’m just speculating. :P

Maybe I’ll get the game on my iPad at some point and play it with my Apple Pencil to check how it feels.

All in all, despite enjoying it more on the 3DS, Severed is a great game on any platform, and has easily become my favourite DrinkBox Studios title. Play it in any way you can.