Treasure Trove - Severed

Welcome back, Treasure Seekers. This week, I take on the best of the best when it comes to touch screen-based combat: Severed. The follow up to Drinkbox Studio's excellent platformer Guacamelee!, Severed is a bleaker look into how to cope with tragedy while delivering an elegant solution to touch screen combat controls. Listen below:  

And as I stated above, here's the link to the concept video for the game. Thanks to Konrad "FeniX" Gadzina and Cleyton R. Xavier for the music in this episode and Kenney for the minimal artwork for the logos. Head over to their links to check out more of their great work. 

Some Links
Take Your Time Review

Slicing Swan Song for Vita - The Take Your Time Severed Review

Quick Note: The touch controls will turn many away from this fantastic game, but don't be fooled: Severed isn't a shallow recreation of Fruit Ninja or similar, simplistic titles. Beneath the surface Severed has a deep battle system that requires timing and skill from the player, which is joined by the wonderfully sparse, yet emotional, story the game delivers to make an instant classic for Sony's handheld.

Touch screen gaming has built up a bad reputation for itself. Much like the dreaded motion control scheme, the mechanics of using one's finger to deal damage to the opponent or move the character on screen has been tainted by the hundreds of games that use them all wrong. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with touch controls, most 'hardcore' gamers won't come anywhere near a game that uses touch screen mechanics as a staple to gameplay. If Severed has taught me anything, it's to not be so judgemental about a game using mechanics I do not prefer. Severed uses touch controls so well I can't imagine playing the game any other way.