I’d almost missed that that Motorslice now has a Steam demo out, despite enticing gifs of its Brutalist wallrunning and slicey, Metal Gear Rising-tinged chainsword combat repeatedly finding their way into my Bluesky feed for months. I’m liking it so far, though don’t let its swingbars and trundling excavator enemies trick you into thinking this is some light platformer jaunt.
It is, in fact, quite tricky. Motorslice drops hints of wackiness – its name is derived from the practice of slamming your weapon into a wall and being yanked along by its cycling, biting teeth – and yet traversing the concrete megastructure requires care, even patience. P, your waifu-bait freerunner, has strong hands and lead feet, so there’s a weightiness to movement that’s easy to underestimate, especially on the transition between moves. I hit the dirt multiple times by wrongly expecting Ghostrunner-tier sharpness when pinging across walls.
It’s not sluggish, mind. It’s just a matter of getting a feel for P’s pace, after which it becomes much more satisfying to chain together hops, runs, and slides into smooth, almost rhythmic sequences of hazard-dodging. Once you’ve got a handle on it, the sense of exertion becomes an outright strength, especially during the demo’s climax: scaling a titanic, malevolent dump truck, its constant rumbling only heightening the peril of making a slip. Like Shadow of the Colossus, if the Colossi were the kind of industrial machinery you’re not supposed to operate after having a paracetamol.
Fighting the lesser construction ‘bots is also harder than it looks, albeit in a much quicker, punchier way. While a chainsaw stroke bisects them in a single hit, you’re just as fragile yourself, and the enemy diggers are both faster and more numerous than your anime tomboy. Non-boss battles are, thus, all about getting in quick and striking first, chopped actuators forming heaps in the sand before your blade finishes revving down. Brief yet bright flashes of near-instinctive action, to counterbalance the more considered parkour.
No release date on this one, but I’m glad there’s seemingly more to Motorslice than parryposting. Here’s a link to the demo again.