The Best Game You'll Never Play - Steel Battalion

Steel Battalion isn't just a controller.

Special thanks to @Tehsnakerer for additional voiceover (if you like my content you will almost certainly like his too)

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:40 Controller
1:37 Manual
2:55 Game Overview
3:49 Gameplay
12:01 Story
13:02 Art Direction
15:37 Sound Design
17:26 Immersion
21:56 Issues
23:27 Second Campaign
25:54 Conclusion
28:00 Credits
28:49 COW

[dmsr]

8:28 the fact that you, personally, need to pay for a new mech like a car in the middle of a war is one of the subtly funniest parts of this entire game

[quox]

Steel Battalion is the experience of being in a mecha-anime but there’s no magic making everything work. There’s no ravens, nu-types, cyborgs, there’s no sync-ratings that decide how good you are. There is no meta-materials to make you bullet proof or nondescript power supplies that keep going until the plot demands it. You are not invincible inside a VT, you need to breath, eat, and if there’s a fire your going to have to fight it yourself, and there IS going to be a fire.

You are meat wrapped in metal, and so is your enemy. You are both human and you both want to come home alive, so the both of you are going to abandon pretentious concepts like honor or mercy. You both are going to use every dirty trick in the book and when you finish it whoever’s left alive is going to author the next edition of it.

[imstupid]

God game manuals used to be so cool

"You're not working with the best the future has to offer here" and that's exactly the way I goddamn want it, top kino. Basically the Japanese equivalent of MechWarrior.

[boi]

"So instead of launching yourself around like it's Armored Core..."
You launch yourself around like a 1st-3rd gen Muscle Tracer (MT) in Armored Core.

[luketfer]

I love the fact that the OS startup includes "coin switch - ok" as a nice nod back to the old arcade cabinet boot ups in a 'blink and you'll miss it' reference

[absoluteshambles]

"7-9 PERSONAL EFFECTS INTO THE COCKPIT

There is a compartment for holding provisions inside the cockpit. If the personal effect is capable of fitting into the compartment space then it is possible to bring personal items into the cockpit. However, carrying private items into the VT must be cleared beforehand by an accompanying commander. Also, it is forbidden to carry the operation manual, which is strictly confidential, into the VT."

> Don't read the manual while playing because you'll leak intelligence to the enemy

[thisguy]

Liking the 'viewing the outside world through a camera/screen' concept, much more true to real armoured combat than sitting in a glass cockpit like most other mech sims.

[quinnmarine]

35 pages is nothing compared to reading a near 800 page for a single aircraft.

[eaglesblades]

God I wish there was a true sequel to this game.

[BlitzWhat]

My best friend had this game when we were 15, one time I went over to his place and was getting bored and jealous just watching him play with his toy for hours. He always kept the safety cover on the eject button up so he wouldn't have to fumble with it in an emergency. I thought it would be funny if I closed it and he had an extra little moment of panic the next time he took an artillery shot to the cockpit.

Long story short, he ended up with a finger splint, a deleted save and I ended up outside. RIP big man, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't love mecha as much as I do today.

[had_fun_once]

Praise the algorithm.

Also, I fucking love documentation that includes tons of unnecessary details that have absolutely nothing to do with playing the game. I would definitely love reading that manual.

[plugslums]

So for those wondering, yes there is a kind of "Steel Battalion" game being developed for vr called OVRLRD. its made by a guy named Niall Slater and is set to come out in Q4 2024 but the demo for the game is currently available...

[delphicdescant]

Calling a mech a "vertical tank" has the same energy as calling a snake a "danger noodle."

[obliviousfafnir]

Before Steel Battalion, the only other well known emersive mech experience here in the US was the old Virtual World Battletech Pods. While the Battletech Centers are ancient history, there are still a few dedicated groups of people who keep, maintain, and operate the pods.

[Scaevola]

A mere 10 hours to learn the basic controls of a combat vehicle is fantastically short.

[JuiceboxCE]

Finally got a bunch of my coworkers to try this game out, and we didn't have the manual onhand. I gotta say, tackling this on Rookie, you get a solid hang of how to play by your 3rd attempt in the tutorial, which was refreshing to witness as I worried it'd be a notable barrier of entry. We also did a party mentality playstyle, where 3 people, one per section of the controller (middle piece had the pedals to accommodate lack of stuff to do), were in charge of those functions, so communication was key. If the mech died, the ejection button block person takes a shot, if the pilot escapes, everyone takes a shot, victory was up to a vote on shot or no, and would vote on the weakest link in the match to take a shot.

TLDR - This game is a surprisingly awesome party game, especially when you divy up the elements, and so much more immersive and impressive during solo play. Couple that with the sequel's online modes being functional through Insignia, there is a LOT to love about this game

[hotcyder]

Respect for getting your hands on the Steel Battalion controller. Really enjoyed the vid, definetly vibed with the developers Tekki rituals.

[ThommyofThenn]

13:23 i love how they made limitations add to the immersion of the setting. It's *meant* to feel janky and state of the imperfect art. That's great design!

this is also really impressive technically on the hardware. The multi-monitor and visuals overall are just terrific

[Fishy_Chameleon]

This is literally my dream review of SB, I wanted to make something like this for the game for the longest time but I'm so lazy and it for sure wouldn't have been as good as this anyways, thank you for doing this, genuinely the best review out there for this game, I can't even nitpick anything lol

[TehNoobiness]

I love that the very first mission involves having to cold-start your mech and do the cockpit startup sequence while under fire.