Steel Century Groove Review

The moment I booted up Steel Century Groove, I was bombarded by blinding lights and pumping music, like a warning of what’s to come. Set in a future post-post-war Earth, I, a fledgling “Tenzerk” pilot, set off on my maiden voyage. Accompanied by my best friend, Seny and my newly acquired, completely harmless Mech Suit, I’m off to become the best dancing mech pilot in all the land!

Steel Century Groove is steeped in distractions. Rhymery, the game’s social media platform, has captured the world’s attention, it being the only avenue of communication you have with your mother after leaving your hometown. 

Distractions.

Defunct tools of war have been repurposed into tools of entertainment, all in a bid to obscure and rewrite history.

Distractions.

Walking no more than ten seconds has you locking eyes with foe after foe, interrupting your main quest and entering you into dance battles that serve as…

While the rhythm mechanics of these groovy grapples are straightforward, the complexity comes from the vastly different ways you interact with the notes. Different model Tenzerks use different operating systems, changing the steel dancers’ abilities and thus, affecting the flow and cadence of “combat”.

Instead of a simple battle of moving and grooving, Steel Century Groove instead transforms the simple timing-based mechanic into a more strategic back-and-forth. Depending on the model of mech you choose, different inputs are deployed in an array of ways, including offensive, defensive, and utility abilities. Alongside these macro changes are mods that can be applied to change up playstyles even further.

My main Tenzerk gave me a number of floppy disks I could upgrade and use at will to boost my stats and interrupt my enemies. After applying several specific mods, my entire playstyle inverted; instead of narrowing my deck of disks as fast as possible, I was stacking it with as many as I could get my hands on. I was constantly surprised by how much depth the combat system posed; it felt more akin to a fighting game with a rhythm mechanic attached.

Instead of carrying myself through the game with my impeccable rhythm, I had to line up move combos and time them accordingly, lest I take damage or suffer a movement lock-up. A returning motif, Steel Century Groove uses visuals to distract. The large spread of UI elements, the smorgasbord of colour and light, and the comical visual of gigantic mechs freely mangling the scenery offer an information overload that feels intentional.

While I began my journey frustrated with this barrage, learning to overcome it and establish that flow state later in the game felt like an enormous triumph. While the challenge ebbed and flowed, Steel Century Groove never hesitated to throw you a curveball every now and again to keep me on my toes. The feeling of repetitiveness withered even further once I added my own music to the game. The game’s in-built music detection was almost seamless, simply plug and play.

Similar to the rest of the package, Steel Century Groove’s story has a lot going on, with the game’s final act feeling strangely unmarried to the rest of the story. Thankfully, you’re accompanied on your journey by one of the most sincere characters I’ve encountered in a game, your best friend, Seny. If you can look past the somewhat messy narrative, you’ll find a heartfelt and meaningful story of personal growth and companionship.