Sci-fi stealth action game Steel Seed teases some of the story underneath the bloody combat in a new trailer

Set in a dark sci-fi world, Steel Seed sees you play as the protagonist, Zoe, and her flying companion drone, Koby, as she investigates a dangerous underground facility. Steel Seed has already shared a couple of other trailers full of Zoe taking on hordes of evil robots, but now we get to see it all again, this time set to classical music.

The new trailer for Steel Seed, shown at the PC Gaming Show, sees Zoe explore a couple of new locations of the underground facility as a mysterious voice who goes by Savi talks about her past and purpose.

As Zoe ascends some sunlit stairs, we find out that not only has she been alive for centuries, but that this world was created by her father with the help of Savi. But with questions about her past left unanswered and clearly, no one around to lend a helping hand, there's nothing left but to explore this strange facility and try to figure things out for herself.

But it's not all about self-discovery, there's also a good bit of action wedged between the thoughtful monologue. This doesn't show us anything we didn't know about the combat in Steel Seed already, but it's yet another example of the kind of dangers that Zoe will face.

As you're almost always outnumbered in the facility, you'll have to use your drone, Koby, to scout ahead and set traps for enemies. This could involve dropping mines or just marking enemies that are close by, managing the order in which Zoe should quietly kill them. Having a second playable character in the form of a flying drone seems like a cool idea and a nice way to mix up the action, as you can approach problems from a different angle, literally.

But it's not just the robot guards who are out to get you. Most of the time, you'll get enough of a challenge just from trying to traverse the environment. In a similar fashion to high-speed platformers like Ghostrunner, you have to act quickly, jumping from one wall to another, dodging falling buildings, or just trying to keep up with the changing world. Each level is unique so you can never be quite sure of what lies in wait for you.

There's no specific release date just yet, but according to its Steam page, Steel Seed will be released sometime in the remainder of 2024. So, for the time being, all we can do is sit back and enjoy Chopin's classical music while watching the latest trailer.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.