Slicin' limbs in Severance blade of Darkness

[Zerth]

I'm playing as the barbarian, It's pretty fun to abuse a foe's opening and turn it into mincemeat by chaining a couple combos; also hurling the severed heads, impractical as weapons but amusing nonetheless. Every enemy type has their own attack patterns and behavior: orcs are very aggresive, whereas knights rarely drop their defensive stance, zombies are slow as fuck and skeletons are faster but clumsy fighters, the big ones are similar though..

Giddy camera aside, the keyboard/mouse scheme feels pretty organic to the gameplay, I doubt It would be as good with a gamepad. Pretty much the opposite to the Dark Souls pc port. Also I like that the dodge is performed by sidestepping instead of rolling around the floor like some kind of sonic the hedgehog wannabe (at least for everyone but the amazon).

With dwarves, a knight's order, futhark runes, magic gems and ancient demons; you can't get anything more derivative than this storywise. But since the game it's so sweet and straightforward, and the plot exposure is mostly skippable so far, It really doesn't bother me like, at all.

 

[Neanderthal]

Thought the use of Zoroastrian mythology was pretty original.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Yeah it's a underappreciated gem.
I posted some screenshots a while back.
I think it's main problem is the enemy variety, few bosses and level design being a bit of a hit or miss.
Otherwise it's just great.
The story migth be derivitive like you said, but the setting and lore make up for it.
I think every ARPG with Hack n' Slash should have similiar way to evolve the combar skills as Severance. Also if Gothic or Morrwind had this game's combat, they would be truly excellent ARPG's.

EDIT:
Neanderthal you seem to have played the game longer than I did. Any mods that make significant changes to the gameplay (to warrant another playtrough) or adds some well designed new level(s)?

 

[Neanderthal]

Never done much modding (apart from graphics fix) though i've heard good things about Gladiator mod, I just edit stats to make it harder now.

Back in day this were one o better sites, surprised its still up: http://blade-of-darkness.bigtruck-canada.ca/

Funnily enough I picked up a physical copy o game other week in a charity shop when I were dropping off some old clothes, snagged it for 50p even though I still own it on GOG, mint condition an all.

 

[Zerth]

Thought the use of Zoroastrian mythology was pretty original.

Come to think of it, I picked a rune that told a piece of backstory regarding how Ahura Mazda created light and darkness from the primordial chaos and give the capacity of thought to these ones. Another one tells how the primordial chaos became an independent entity.

So far I have found two. I'm not going to restart the campaign in case I missed one though.

 

[Neanderthal]

Fair warning mate, you need all six runes to unlock full ending o game. However you get chance to go back and get em all later if you miss any.

 

[Baron Dupek]

IIRC when you return to beaten levels for remaining runes there will be stronger monsters.
Found it in painful way.

 

[Mikeal]

I'm playing as the barbarian, It's pretty fun to abuse a foe's opening and turn it into mincemeat by chaining a couple combos; also hurling the severed heads, impractical as weapons but amusing nonetheless. Every enemy type has their own attack patterns and behavior: orcs are very aggresive, whereas knights rarely drop their defensive stance, zombies are slow as fuck and skeletons are faster but clumsy fighters, the big ones are similar though..

Giddy camera aside, the keyboard/mouse scheme feels pretty organic to the gameplay, I doubt It would be as good with a gamepad. Pretty much the opposite to the Dark Souls pc port. Also I like that the dodge is performed by sidestepping instead of rolling around the floor like some kind of sonic the hedgehog wannabe (at least for everyone but the amazon).

With dwarves, a knight's order, futhark runes, magic gems and ancient demons; you can't get anything more derivative than this storywise. But since the game it's so sweet and straightforward, and the plot exposure is mostly skippable so far, It really doesn't bother me like, at all.

Where did thou get it?

 

[Zerth]

Where did thou get it?

I downloaded an ISO from Myabandonware website, and run it with raster OpenGL since nGlide is sluggish and crash often.

 

[Mikeal]

Oh dude that makes my day. Many thanks!

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Yeah, you can get it just by searching: Severance Blade of Darkness download.
Because the game has been abondware for some time now.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm playing as the barbarian

Good.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

I'm playing as the barbarian

Good choice. The Barbarian is the most fun character of the game.
The Knight is also a fun character, but sometimes he can be a bit boring because of the shield. He's clearly the character the devs spent most time in as well - since he's the one with the largest arsenal and moveset. That's why he's the most recommend character for new comers.
The Dwarf is the hardest to play as, because he's a manlet.
Amazon however is the worst character. Her first level is the best one (in case you don't know, each character has a unique starting level), but she's the most OP character of the game. Might not seem like it at first, but here's why:
-in this game dodges don't consume any stamina, and her dodge is a roll - so it covers more ground, it's faster and it's harder to get hit;
-her weapons have the longest reach;
-she the fastest of all 4 characters;
-finally her attacks are very fast, consume very little stamina and her more powerful attacks do shitloads of damage.

 

[vota DC]

It is similar to Die by the sword? In that game reach was very important: an ogre could beat countless lava monsters in the arena with the pit.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

It is similar to Die by the sword?

IMHO... It's better.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

It is similar to Die by the sword?

No, Severance doesn't have shitty controls.

 

[Zerth]

Good choice. ..

At first, I picked the knight. But after reaching fortress of Nemrut, I realized I'm more akin of the aggressive play style rather than one that resorts on shielding and counterattack, because I spent most the time of that playthrough baiting strong blows and dodging rather than looking for opportunities to shield up and make an opening(which is tricky to perform anyways, most strong attacks are gonna split your shield open, so u have to predict a weak one to block).

In other words, I was pretty much playing with the knight as you are suppose to play with the amazon, besides, I got pretty greedy with the king's shield.

I picked the amazon afterwards and you are right; her moveset is pitiful, and spamming whirlwind over and over got boring pretty fast. She is an easy character to play with though.

So I eventually picked the Barbarian, and after checking He also has a large moveset, I knew He was definitely the one.

The Dwarf is the hardest to play as, because he's a manlet.

Also his running animation is hilarious.

 

[Neanderthal]

Naglfar is my favourite character to play with, you just have to know his strengths and weaknesses. He's a counter puncher, meaning he hits after the enemies unleashed their attack, this makes his short range not a problem and his dodge is actually quite good, I'd say equal to or better than Tukaram and much better than Sargon. He has a limited (but useful) moveset so relies more on his weapons special attacks for the big damage, and there are quite a few good ones. Takes some getting used to but it's very satisfying to be in the thick of the melee, needing no room and giving no breathing space to your enemy.

However never pick up or use the war axe from the bottom of Mount Khelbegen, it's bugged and useless.

The running is hilarious though.

 

[Zerth]

Naglfar is my favourite character to play with, you just have to know his strengths and weaknesses. He's a counter puncher, meaning he hits after the enemies unleashed their attack, this makes his short range not a problem and his dodge is actually quite good, I'd say equal to or better than Tukaram and much better than Sargon. He has a limited (but useful) moveset so relies more on his weapons special attacks for the big damage, and there are quite a few good ones. Takes some getting used to but it's very satisfying to be in the thick of the melee, needing no room and giving no breathing space to your enemy.

However never pick up or use the war axe from the bottom of Mount Khelbegen, it's bugged and useless.

The running is hilarious though.

This playstyle sounds similar to a melee rogue. Neat.

 

[Zerth]

Well, I've beaten the game with I suppose it was the bad ending, since I didn't find all the runes. Thrilling that with the barbarian, I have been several times in a predicament when it comes of whether picking up and wield a newfound stronger weapon and leave the former behind or hold on my current weapon.

Heavier, hard hitting weapons such as Doom Axe and Shark tooth compromises a lot of defense, and their special combos are slow to execute. Truly these are designed for the more experienced hands, rewarding good positioning and well timed dodge/blocking with a truckload of damage. But yeah, getting hit is not fun, you lose a lot of health to anything.

 

[Neanderthal]

Yeah it's one o them games where ideally you don't want to get hit at all, though I've only managed that on one playthrough.

 

[abnaxus]

Ianna's sword wasn't made for Dorf or wombyn. I only get true ending with barbarian or knight.

 

[Ulukai]

I’m happy to learn that Barbarian is not the most easily class, I was afraid to lost variety of Knight parrying style (at beginning it’s a bit boring when shields break everytime in the middle of a fight, I smirked while thinking about Breath of The Wild inventory...


The music of Severance is forever engraved in my brain. There is a heavy and hypnotic touch that help to focus on the hostile and desperate environments (especially the drums leitmotiv)


It seems that Demon Souls contain a theme deeply inspired by this one (forgery or simple tribute ?)




From Software developers admitted to being influenced by western fantasy games but never cited Blade of Darkness which announces the core mechanics of Dark Souls


It's sad that so few people even know the existence of Severance, which is perhaps the legitimate but hidden mother of all this wave of « medieval hardcore gaming »

 

[Mikeal]

I’m happy to learn that Barbarian is not the most easily class, I was afraid to lost variety of Knight parrying style (at beginning it’s a bit boring when shields break everytime in the middle of a fight, I smirked while thinking about Breath of The Wild inventory...


The music of Severance is forever engraved in my brain. There is a heavy and hypnotic touch that help to focus on the hostile and desperate environments (especially the drums leitmotiv)


It seems that Demon Souls contain a theme deeply inspired by this one (forgery or simple tribute ?)




From Software developers admitted to being influenced by western fantasy games but never cited Blade of Darkness which announces the core mechanics of Dark Souls


It's sad that so few people even know the existence of Severance, which is perhaps the legitimate but hidden mother of all this wave of « medieval hardcore gaming »

TBH mother of medieval hardocre gaming is Die by the Sword.

 

[Mikeal]

Oy lads one question. I'm in dwarven mines and I finally collected all three games. Problem is when I put last one (blue) in socket cutscene should start but nothing happens camera only shows one frame and nothing else.