Steelrising is an action role-playing game set in an alternate France under the tyrannical rule of King Louis XVI who is inflicted with a terrible madness inciting him to let loose a scourge of automatons that wreak chaos and havoc through the city streets. Players will inhabit the role of Aegis, an automaton created by Vaucanson, who is the Queen's bodyguard and must patrol the streets taking down the mechanical legion and stopping the King in his tracks.
In Steelrising, players can build Aegis in a bunch of different ways with a plethora of steampunk-type melee weapons for their arsenal. Taking inspiration from the Soulsborne games the player must take on foes, striking, parrying, and dodging their way to the top. Each weapon is unique and specific to the type of build a player wants, whether that hits hard, but is slow, or strikes fast and needs multiple hits to take enemies down.
The combat system is quite meaty with different elemental effects and negative status debuffs that can be applied. The amount of weapons and damage types, plus special attacks increases the more a player progresses through the campaign, so it's worth experimenting with each one to see what suits one's play style. So the only question left is: what weapons get the player's gears turning?
7 Nemesis Claws
The classic brawler or roguish weapon often found in all manner of RPGs. The claws are a pretty early find for weapons in the game and are a great choice for players who prefer getting up close and personal when they enter battle. These claws are weapons that excel in hitting fast and cutting sharp, dealing out multiple hits in a short amount of time.
With a fairly decent damage potential, the quick successive hits can be deadly and help quickly fill the immobilization meter (a gauge that afflicts a paralyzing effect when full). Plus, their special move can cause any perfect parry to equate to inflicting physical damage in return.
6 Wheel Of Vengeance
An unconventional heavy weapon with deadly, slow attacks. This weapon has a chance to deal massive amounts of damage and is best used when approaching combat with aggression, never letting the opponent get any of their licks in. Hitting first and hitting hard.
A perfect choice for a power-type attacker, converting parries to flame-based attacks that can throw the enemy off balance. This weapon might take a while for the player to get used to, however, once the timing is mastered this can flatten enemies in seconds.
5 Falchion And Sabre
Wielding dual weapons is always cool, with fast attacks that chain together to deal incredible damage and inflict the immobilization status at an accelerated rate with each hit, finishing in a critical hit to chop down the foe's health bar.
The Falchion and Sabre boast one of the more interesting counterattacks in the game, Blaze Tornado. It is a spinning attack that (if it catches the enemy) deals many, potentially devastating, successive hits. Even though the move can be powerful it does leave the player open if it misses and can be punished by enemies in return.
4 Romas Partisan
A halberd weapon that can be acquired later in the game once certain bosses have been defeated and traversal abilities are unlocked. This polearm weapon is particularly formidable if the player decides to choose soldier class for Aegis as it has long reach, powerful combos, and is able to pair up well with the power-type scaling the soldier class offers.
The Romas Partisan comes with the Invocation of Lightning skill that summons a potent lightning area-of-effect attack around Aegis and also charges her weapon with the lightning attribute. This attribute helps deliver a more potent punch with every subsequent hit that lands on the enemy.
3 Volley Mallet
A versatile weapon that predominately works within close-quarters combat, but has the ability that can fire shotgun rounds too. An unusual weapon compared to the others in the game, players may find this suits their combat as it brings a lot of flexibility to Aegis' build.
The mallet is slow and slightly unwieldy at first but delivers crushing heavy blows once a person becomes accustomed. It scales well with Aegis's power and can be fully taken advantage of in any strength-based build. The Volley Of Gunfire special ability does trade off blocking, but in return, the blast of bullets deals significant immobilization damage.
2 Fire Chain
Becoming Steelrising'sIndiana Jones with this whip-style weapon. This one is a real ball and chain but can still be classed as a melee weapon. The Fire Chain is a versatile and powerful armament with an extended reach compared to other close-combat equipment in a player's inventory. A whip-like weapon ending in a bludgeoning ball, it can deal substantial damage that only increases if the player decides to invest and upgrade it as they level up throughout the campaign.
The animations for the attack can be long-winded, so players might want to keep in mind enemy spacing and attack timings. Getting stuck in an attack animation may prove to be deadly as enemies can capitalize on that time window to punish the player. The special move associated with this weapon is the Invocation Of Fire, which imbues attacks with flame damage for a short period of time.
1 Fire And Ice
Not a Game of Thrones reference. These pair of dichotomous weapons boast two conflicting and impressive elemental abilities. These blades have all the advantages of the usual dual wielding in the game with fast, devastating attacks that build immobilization quickly on enemies to get in those satisfying critical hits.
The special move tied to these weapons is apparent in its name; on every successful parry, the player deals frost and flame elemental damage to their foe which can be an impressive combo if timed correctly with the immobilization critical that occurs more often than with other single-handed weapons.
Steelrising is out now PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.