Posted by Marcus Sellars follow him on Twitter
In Severed you take control of a one-armed hero wielding a living sword as she knits together pieces of her story from both the past and the future. Explore a surreal non-linear world using a touch based combat mechanic to defeat enemies in this first person RPG. Progress in abilities, discover secrets of the land, and grow as you master both the art of attack and defense techniques.
Severed is a handheld only game you need to utilize the touchscreen to defeat enemies. I thought it would be very awkward having to hold the switch in one hand and use the other to swipe the screen but I was surprised to find out that its rather comfortable. You have to physically swipe to kill enemies and being in first person you feel very immersed especially with this epic soundtrack that brings the game to life. However the game starts off in a setting that looks like Mars and not knowing it was first person I was wondering what this game was all about! I also didn’t know it was heavy focused on using touch controls so when the first enemy appeared and it prompted me to swipe I was not sure on how this game was going to play out. On another note there is not many first person games if any on switch it felt very weird at first being very close to your surroundings with a narrow field of view. After I had comprehended that this game was very unique I was ready to embrace what came before me. Then out of know where when I had just gotten used to the controls and zoomed in view a two headed crow flew down and started talking to me telling me out my adventure of finding my family.
The story is very dark in this game and some parts are very gruesome, one part that stood out to me was when the protagonist found her brother with spikes plunged straight through his skull and right out of his eyes. So if you don’t like violent and bloody scenes this game might not be the perfect fit for you. To get around the deadly caves and woods you have a mini map in the top right corner that serves as a great tool to help you navigate and find hidden objects. I found myself relying on this mini map a little to much as I got further in to Severed instead of looking around in front of me I just looked at what direction I had to go in on the map. You have to backtrack a lot so it was handy to quickly get about places instead of guessing if you have to go left or right.
The art style is very unique in Severed and unlike anything I have played before but it complements the game greatly with dark colors and dim lighting. There is many enemies some being easy to defeat and others being more advanced. They are hard to describe because the artwork is way out there but one looks like a spider and you have to chop off its limbs. This is where the name of game comes in as you have to chop off all the enemies limbs and keep them for parts. These severed limbs aren’t useless however you use them to upgrade your health or damage output. The battles to become a bit repetitive when you keep seeing the same enemies over and over again but then they do end up changing appearance and get a little more powerful. All the enemies are fun to take down especially when you are slicing all the limbs off really quickly it reminds of Fruit Ninja. I stated above you will be going back and forth quite a bit due to the need to solve puzzles and a lot of them include you flipping a switch that then opens a door on another floor.
Content wise there is about 7 hours of game-play to enjoy which is good for the price but no new content is added for the Switch version its exactly the same as the other platforms. If you haven’t played this game yet this is definitely console to buy it on Switch is a great Severed works so well with the touchscreen its responsive and the screens very vibrant.
Overall Severed is a fun yet dark action game and a great title on the Switch. However you cant play Severed on the TV, so it just might not be the right fit for some people. It does play and look superbly on the Switches handheld and shouldn’t put you off if you primarily play on TV. I would definitely give Severed on Nintendo Switch a go its very unique and has an interesting feel about it.
