Koutetsu Reiki: Steeldom [鋼鉄霊域 スティールダム] Game Sample - Sega Saturn
Koutetsu Reiki: Steeldom is Technosoft's follow-up to their previous game, Reverthion / Hyper Reverthion which was released for both Playstation and Sega Saturn. Released in 1996, the game was being developed parallel to other projects and was released not much longer than the Saturn port of Reverthion, which created an aggressive time table for the development team to overcome. There are many subtle changes mechanically between this work, the previous work, and the two ports, but to simplify things a bit, we'll say that the Sega Saturn versions are the best versions to go with (due to spending more time in development and adding some extra quality of life changes over the PS originals). This game adopts a different setting and characters from the previous work, going for a Feudal Japanese fantasy approach. It's hard to say if this is a good game or not, and in a few ways, it's harder to enjoy than Reverthion, but we'll discuss that later.
Steeldom takes place in the empire of Roukoku, a place once known as paradise on the Eastern end of the world with fertile land and beautiful water. Ten years prior to the start of the game, a fierce battle broke out at Mt. Jigoku that lasted almost fifty days and was fought using a supernatural secret power known as Ryuga, an ability that manifested various powers from the souls of individuals that are worn like suits of armor, but a powerful tyrant named Kougen led the charge against the empire and nearly brought it to ruin. In the end, he was narrowly defeated and sealed away by the former hero, Yugen, but the toll of the battle weighed heavily on him, as he had to rebuild the empire and deal with the aftermath of the battle (his wife was murdered, his son went missing, etc.), driving him mad. Now, as if his soul is somehow under the influence of Kougen, the only pleasure he finds in life is to oppress the commoners and the only joy the commoners have is wrapped in a silver lining - the empire's sponsored Ryuga fighting tournament. Some fight for fame, others fight to test their strength, some do it for money, but all see it as their one main distraction and best chance to escape a life of poverty and misery...
As the game is an alternative version of Reverthion, you should probably know what that entails: a game that is somewhat loosely similar to Sega's "Virtual On". Yes, it is an arena game with mechanized warriors going head to head and yes, there are basic obstacles and adjustable arena sizes, but the game is mechanically quite different, and not for the better. To the game's credit, it has quite a few additions to Reverthion's core gameplay system -- each character has more special attacks, a boost attack, the ability to "slide" (teleport) which is invincible, a search button to automatically target your opponent, combat voices for attacks, the ability to hover and move in air (which consumes a mobility gauge), a new ring-out nullification system (you CAN be ringed out, you just can't accidentally walk out, but you can jump out or be knocked out), a down system which makes you invulnerable briefly when knocked down by a powerful attack, and even victory poses. With all this in its favor, it should be leaps and bounds above Reverthion right? Not exactly. While the effort is appreciated, the implementation of these mechanics are less than stellar.
Let's just start with the controls in general: they still suck. Reverthion was one cumbersome game to play due to how movement was handled as you had to use the corners just to turn and it was an unnatural substitute for pre-analog movement (and would've probably been better with a Resident Evil or Robo Pit type system). This game is Reverthion with extra steps and the EXCLUSION of an easy weapon control feature. While you "can" search, it moves slowly and by the time you look one way, the opponent is already in another spot. It's faster in air, but it's easy to disrupt. Some attacks are far too easy for ring outs and send you flying a good third of the already small arena. Many attacks are far too slow and easy to interrupt, and the game has less of a shooting emphasis and more of a fighting emphasis now... which makes the slow and clunky movement seem even less forgiving. You CAN learn some simple tricks to win, but it feels more like exploitation than strategy. Versus mode is either a slow split screen affair, OR you can link up systems like Bushido Blade and a few other games of the day, which was a novel feature to Rev/Steel.
At least the game looked decent for its time with smooth 60FPS gameplay and that good old trademark Technosoft music, but the added voice samples are surprisingly low quality. Some of the game's faults are even pointed out in the Saturn-exclusive "Development Postscript" hidden on the disc. While the game's backstory is somewhat interesting, about a third of the characters deviate from the main plot and have unrelated endings. Oh well... this is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.