Severance: Blade of Darkness for Windows

Fantasy hack-and-slash experience

Severance: Blade of Darkness is a premium role-playing game from Rebel Act Studios and Codemasters, originally released in 2001. This combination of a fantasy premise and classic hack-and-slash gameplay has made it a cult classic. You choose one from four heroes, starting at different places but all converge into a single route later in the game.

Despite its dated graphics, Severance: Blade of Darkness enjoys newfound popularity, with some people considering it as a pioneer of the Soulslike subgenre. It shares similarities with Dark Souls Remastered and Elden Ring, with the same increased difficulty curve but with a smaller scope.

Defeat the evil necromancer

Severance: Blade of Darkness features a mix of dark and high fantasy story elements. You choose one of four characters—a barbarian, a dwarf, a knight, and an amazon—as you set off on an adventure to obtain the magical Ianna’s Sword and the runes that power it. You will ultimately fight the evil necromancer Dal Gurak, before facing an even greater darkness as a secret stage of sorts.

One fun feature of the game is that you can hack an enemy’s limb and use it as a makeshift weapon. Each character has their own arc before going on the main quest. In terms of visuals, expect a dying world, which makes for great dark fantasy backdrops. There are very few NPCs and most of the world’s story is told only through sparse dialogues and item flavor texts.

Its coincidental Soulslike elements include generally increased difficulty, dark fantasy themes, and limited opportunities for healing. The gameplay difficulty is particularly brutal, with emphasis on dodging and parrying. While you can block, it is a very limited option since they break easily. Also, its bleak and muted world helps explain why its sound design feels so flat, aside from the overall dated visual quality.

A challenging dark fantasy story

Overall, Severance: Blade of Darkness deserves the renewed attention that it enjoys. Granted, the storyline feels generic by today’s standards, and the graphics are dated. Still, the fact that it has a good take on a dark fantasy world long before FromSoftware stepped into the picture is worth mentioning. Even for experienced players, its combat mechanics make it equally challenging and rewarding.