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Clockpunk Soulslike Steelrising Bares Its Steel Teeth
Revolutions come in many forms, but this could be the first one decided by clockwork automatons. Developed by Spiders in Paris, France, Steelrising is a fast-paced action RPG with Soulslike and Metroidvania mechanics, set during an alternate French Revolution. You play an agile and graceful automaton, Aegis, sent by Marie Antoinette on a mission to the burning boulevards of Paris. The King’s mechanical soldiers patrol the streets, citizens are hiding in fear, and the revolutionaries are in hiding—the perfect setting for a clockpunk beatdown of revolutionary proportions. Intel Gaming Access met in secret with Yoann Thiébaut-George, senior project manager at Spiders, to find out what awaits players in the “City of Light.”
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In Steelrising, the fledgling revolution of 1789 has been brutally crushed by the King’s army of clockwork soldiers. Your character, Aegis, is a complex mechanical automaton originally designed to dance, but modified for combat in order to serve as Marie-Antoinette’s personal bodyguard. The Queen sends you to Paris to find the truth behind the death of her son, and to stop the King’s madness. As the fires of revolution rage across the city, Aegis will fight the King’s clockwork army, and face formidable and imaginative bosses—such as the Bishop, a murderous priest in a mechanical pulpit.
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The game has a strong Soulslike feel to it, but the team wants to also appeal to players for whom dying every 30 seconds isn’t really the ideal. “We’re aiming the game as much at Soulslike fans as regular action RPG fans, since we have a strong narrative focus, decision-based quests, and multiple game endings,” said Yoann. To keep the revolution open to all, the designers added an Assist Mode with various options to let players tailor the challenge. “We want everyone to be able to feel at ease with the game and have fun, no matter their level of experience.”
“We also want to attract players interested in the historical setting and famous figures in the game,” said Yoann. “As a setting, the French Revolution in 18th-century Paris is not too common in video games, so we hope it will be a refreshing and attractive universe for players to explore.”
Up and Down
Steelrising is the first game from Spiders that introduces verticality to exploration and combat. Players can jump and dash in mid-air, and among the many tweaks and upgrades available for Aegis, are unlockable tools to help her reach new heights. “Making sure the playable character was not forever rooted to the floor was a challenge,” said Yoann. “We had to think differently about our level design, animation, combat, and many other little things. For example, areas that would normally be out of bounds can become accessible. There was a lot of testing and fine tuning.”
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Beneath the real streets of Paris lies a vast subterranean world, a fact that Steelrising capitalizes on by taking Aegis down below, as well as up above. “Exploring new areas and going beneath the surface of Paris lets players find and fight uniquely designed enemies and bosses using an impressive arsenal and a variety of playstyles,” said Yoann. Weapons range from serrated fans to heavy halberds, and from up-close and personal claws to arm mounted muskets with a hefty kick.
On their travels, players will encounter revolutionaries in hiding who will aid them, and propose side quests where high-ranking diplomacy is as useful as battle smarts. “Almost all the characters in SteelRising are based on real historical figures, such as Marie Antoinette, Lafayette, and Robespierre,” said Yoann. “On certain quests, choices can mean the difference between success and failure, so players will have to learn to have a way with words, as well as weapons.”
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Path to Paris
For the team at Spiders, the road to Steelrising was not a straight one. “The game was initially going to revolve around a similar mechanical main character designed to be a dancer or acrobat, in a kind of revolutionary context, but in a different setting, partially inspired by The Obscure Cities graphic novels by François Schuiten [and Benoit Peeters],” said Yoann.
Unconvinced by the setting of the initial prototype, it took a lightning bolt of inspiration for the team to find the game’s final direction. “After a visit to La Conciergerie, the revolutionary prison in Paris, our CEO Jehanne Rousseau had a revelation with the discovery that Marie-Antoinette is the most internationally known historical French personality,” explained Yoann. Following that realization, the team transposed the prototype and main character into their alternate-history version of the French Revolution, and, voila—SteelRising was born. 
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The designs of the mechanical characters in Steelrising are impressively detailed, and the team found plenty of period source-material to work with. “Our clockpunk automatons are inspired by the works of the French artist and inventor Jacques de Vaucanson, along with other automatons of the era, such as ‘The Dulcimer Player’, created in the 1780s by German watchmaker Peter Kinzing and the queen's cabinetmaker David Roentgen,” said Yoann. “Louis the sixteenth himself had a passion for watchmaking and locksmithing.”
The characters’ clockwork forms bring valuable benefits to the combat experience. “In terms of gameplay, our enemies’ mechanical bodies are perfect for surprising the players with unexpected attack moves and abilities, in a way that wouldn’t work with characters made of flesh and bone,” explained Yoann. “For a combat game where being defeated multiple times in a row is part of the game, playing an automaton which cannot really die, and [can] be permanently reconstructed and upgraded with various weapons and mechanical extensions, is an interesting perspective.”
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The team also worked to bring compelling depth to the game’s narrative elements. “We tried to treat the revolution and its actors with a certain complexity, as its real-world equivalent was complicated, to say the least,” said Yoann. “It’s not just the big, bad King and his evil army versus the lovable, scrappy band of rebels. Aegis will discover that while the various revolutionaries, reformers, and royalists share a common goal in deposing the Clockwork King, their interests are not in total alignment, and she will have to decide which factions to favor.”
Like Clockwork
Performance-wise, a reasonably high spec PC is definitely going to help get the most out of Steelrising. “We designed a combat-intensive, action-packed game, where the player needs to react quickly and be precise in their movements,” said Yoann. “To make that work, 60 frames-per-second is a target you don’t want to miss. Getting the necessary fluidity and reactivity is very important.”
“Having a recent GPU is recommended,” continued Yoann. “Then all you need is a gamepad, a thirst for adventure, and around 20 hours of free time.”
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The team at Spiders is eager to see Steelrising find its audience, but they’re not planning to rest on their laurels. “We really hope that the players will enjoy the amount of love, work and originality we’ve put into SteelRising,” said Yoann. “As for Spiders, we already announced our next production, GreedFall II: The Dying World, so more great, lovingly-made games are just around the corner!”
Steelrising releases September 8. <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1283400/Steelrising/">Buy Steelrising on Steam</a>.

Clockpunk Soulslike Steelrising Bares Its Steel Teeth