''Severed'' is an
action-adventure video game
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...
developed and published by
DrinkBox Studios
Drinkbox Studios Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Toronto. The company was founded in April 2008 by Chris Harvey, Ryan MacLean and Graham Smith, three programmers previously employed by Pseudo Interactive, which closed earlier t ...
for the
PlayStation Vita,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
,
Nintendo 3DS and
Nintendo Switch. It was released on April 26, 2016, in North America and Europe for the
PlayStation Vita and it was released on
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
and
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
on September 22, 2016. It was released on
Nintendo 3DS in Europe on September 22, 2016, North America on October 13, 2016. It was released in Japan on December 28, 2016.
Development
On April 14, 2014,
DrinkBox Studios
Drinkbox Studios Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Toronto. The company was founded in April 2008 by Chris Harvey, Ryan MacLean and Graham Smith, three programmers previously employed by Pseudo Interactive, which closed earlier t ...
announced ''Severed'' in association with video game blog
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
...
. Because of its heavy focus on touchscreen controls, ''Severed'' was anticipated as a game for mobile devices, though
DrinkBox Studios
Drinkbox Studios Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Toronto. The company was founded in April 2008 by Chris Harvey, Ryan MacLean and Graham Smith, three programmers previously employed by Pseudo Interactive, which closed earlier t ...
was considering versions for other devices like the
PlayStation Vita, the
Nintendo 3DS and the
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
, too. Motion-sensing technologies like
PlayStation Move
is a motion game controller developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Initially released in 2010 for use with the PlayStation 3 home video game console, its compatibility was later expanded to its successor, the PlayStation 4 in 2013, its Pla ...
and
Kinect were considered. However, the developers did not confirm the game for any of these platforms at that time.
DrinkBox Studios
Drinkbox Studios Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Toronto. The company was founded in April 2008 by Chris Harvey, Ryan MacLean and Graham Smith, three programmers previously employed by Pseudo Interactive, which closed earlier t ...
was aiming for a release of ''Severed'' in 2015. At the
PlayStation Experience 2014 in December,
DrinkBox Studios
Drinkbox Studios Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Toronto. The company was founded in April 2008 by Chris Harvey, Ryan MacLean and Graham Smith, three programmers previously employed by Pseudo Interactive, which closed earlier t ...
announced that ''Severed'' would be released on
PlayStation Vita, continuing the trend of DrinkBox' previous games of releasing on PlayStation platforms first. After being delayed,
DrinkBox Studios
Drinkbox Studios Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Toronto. The company was founded in April 2008 by Chris Harvey, Ryan MacLean and Graham Smith, three programmers previously employed by Pseudo Interactive, which closed earlier t ...
announced on April 11, 2016, that ''Severed'' would be released for
PlayStation Vita on April 26.
On June 13, 2016, during the
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 (E3 2016) was the 22nd E3, during which several hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily re ...
, ''Severed'' was announced for both the
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
and
Nintendo 3DS. The game supports
cross-buy
Cross-buy is a feature of some digital distribution systems available across multiple device platforms, where users who purchase a license to a specific piece of software are able to use the versions of the software for different device classes at ...
, so if a user buys it on the
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
, they also get the game free on the 3DS. The
Nintendo Switch version released on August 8, 2017.
Music
The soundtrack for Severed was created as a collaboration between the Juno and Polaris-nominated band
and
Pantayo, and was created with the support of
FACTOR
Factor, a Latin word meaning "who/which acts", may refer to:
Commerce
* Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent
* Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate
* Factors of production, suc ...
and the Canadian Government. Severed's soundtrack took home an award for Best Musical Score from the Canadian Videogame Awards
Reception
The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
[ It was named Apple's 2016 iPad Game of the Year.]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2016 video games
Action-adventure games
Apple Design Awards recipients
DrinkBox Studios games
Flyhigh Works games
Indie games
IOS games
Nintendo 3DS eShop games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation Vita games
Single-player video games
Video games developed in Canada
Video games featuring female protagonists
Wii U eShop games