Steel Seed Review — Ghost in the Shell (Adjacent)

Steel Seed is a dystopian sci-fi stealth action game with an emphasis on parkour, cinematic storytelling, and its characters. To be frank, it’s a game I struggled to come to an opinion on. It’s by no means a bad game, but there are simply areas where I feel the game could have been more innovative, and overall, I found that much of what the game has to offer is going to be up to subjective interpretation. Areas in the game I appreciated, I could easily see others finding less interesting, and areas I would criticize are likely to be enjoyed by others. Something of a mixed bag of a game, what can certainly be said is that Steel Seed was created with passion by its developers, and if you have an interest in the game, I think it is worth giving a try for yourself.

Steel Seed tells the story of a humanity brought to the brink of collapse, with the best and brightest stored away in an advanced facility awaiting the day they can be reawakened and inhabit the world once more. That is, at least, what was supposed to happen, yet the AI created to cater to and reawaken humanity has gone rogue, led by one malicious system that believes that humanity will simply repeat its mistakes. As the daughter of the scientist who created this contingency plan, you are reawakened in a cybernetic body and tasked with retrieving the scattered consciousness of your father and freeing humanity, though a horde of rogue machines lies in your way.

I don’t want to talk too much about Steel Seed’s story. It contains some really interesting ideas, and it contains some clichés and tropes that vary between being done really well and being kind of generic. What I will say, however, is that for a story driven primarily by the identity of its main character, I wasn’t super enthralled by our protagonist, Zoe.

I simply found that her character arc wasn’t quite as deep as the game advertised it to be, and that my least favorite lines of dialogue in the game often came from her—especially when she was having one-sided conversations with a mute robot that only communicated in subtitles with “beep” and “boop.” My feelings for Zoe solidified when I realized that, for a story that talks an awful lot about the line between human and machine, she had barely any reaction to waking up in what would be a body dysmorphic nightmare, and despite voicing her distrust for a random and strange machine, she began trusting it almost instantly with very little done to earn it.

Mechanically, Steel Seed puts a lot of focus on stealth and parkour/platforming. The stealth aspect of the game is probably the best of the gameplay, even though I found it a little boring (I’m not partial to stealth games unless they do something to change up the formula somewhat), it was pretty solid, if uninnovative in its execution. Stealth segments require you to move from cover to cover and through hidden paths around rooms of enemies who follow patrol patterns. The use of a drone can help you mark enemies and scout terrain, and the stealth takedowns look fantastic.

That’s another thing, Steel Seed, looks incredible; the game is not only built with beautiful graphics and incredible sets, but is designed in such a way as to show them off at every chance they get. It definitely feels like a cinematic console-style game, moving you through locations on a straightforward path with incredible background visuals or big, epic events unfolding around you.

I found that the parkour could be a little fidgety, with jumps requiring very precise footing to accomplish, in such a way that felt less purposefully designed and more like my jumps generally fell a bit short.

The game’s combat, unfortunately, failed to wow me. It makes use of a fairly simple basic attack, heavy attack, and dodge system, with a few special moves or gadgets thrown in if you complete challenges and unlock them. The inability to block immediately feels pretty bad, especially with how quickly and hard the enemies attack. The game emphasizes the stealth element, as the hostile robots (who have incredible visual designs, by the way) are an absolute nightmare to kill. You can cut the game some slack on the combat, since it isn’t the point, but it wouldn’t win any awards either, except maybe one for the gorgeous animations.

There is a lot of good in Steel Seed. The game looks incredible, is super cinematic, and has a big focus on storytelling (your perception of which is definitely going to be subjective, based on the tropes and character types you enjoy) set in a uniquely crafted and stunning world. The stealth gameplay isn’t super innovative, but it’s solid, and the game runs very well. There is just a lack of originality. No new gameplay ideas or innovations to sell me on it as a game. It felt more like a story someone really wanted to tell, and this was the outlet they chose; completely fine, but not something that’s going to appeal to everyone.

There is so much about Steel Seed that has to be left up to personal preferences and subjectivity. As a reviewer, I can only offer my opinion of the game, which is that I probably wouldn’t have played it myself if not for this review. That being said, it is far from without merit, and I know the game will have an audience, especially on consoles and with fans of the genre.

TryHardGuides was provided a PC review code for Steel Seed. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Steel Seed is available on Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, and PlayStation.