Steel Circus Adds New Character in Latest Update

Editor’s Note: My apologies for the lack of music/audio in the feed. I did not have time to get something edited in. So, with that in mind, pop on your favorite Speed Metal band, or whatever gets you hyped and watch some Steel Circus! The embedded Champion Spotlight does have audio though.

Last week I had a sit-down with the Steel Circus developers, where I got a sneak preview of the latest character to be added, Galena. We had an exclusive sneak peek at the content, and I have to say, I love Galena. Steel Circus actually released two updates, one on last Friday, and one on Monday. Friday’s update worked on the Matchmaking, improving it significantly. There were some bugs that had to be ironed out, so they put a new matchmaking system in place before the next character: Galena. During Gamescom, she had a brief showing, but the footage attached to this article is a good forty minutes of me dominating with her. But she’s not the only change coming in this update. Also being added is a 1 vs. 1 (vs. an AI Bot). This is a tremendous way to learn characters, practice and learn shots as well as angles. A minor (but neat) change, they added something to the screen when you score, to encourage players to use Emotes. It’s easier to just press that one button to pop an emote and show off.

In two weeks, there will also be an improvement to the tutorial. Three real players will be able to do battle against Bots, so you can get more practice and learn the game before you dive in against real opponents. The developers are looking at where players are dropping off, and where to improve, and the bots/tutorial is a sound improvement. A major change that I’m excited for, is that when someone drops out of a match, an AI bot will show up to take their place. This was really causing me grief when I was messing around with the game initially, and I’d rather have an AI than someone who is going to troll or ditch. Players can also look forward to voice chat in lobbies, team voice chat, and custom lobbies. Each arena also has a new playfield, so there are new ways to approach each match.

With that, I wanted to talk about something I really enjoy, as far as changes go.  When I first started playing Steel Circus, it felt more like a Sports MOBA: Characters had defined roles, or so it felt. This is a bad thing with a small roster because you don’t want your playerbase to be upset that they can’t/shouldn’t use a character, just because you already “have” a Striker, or a Defender, or whatever on your team. These are 3v3 teams right now, so you want some kind of balance. Now you can see the character’s stats (with a star system) to see where they shine in the arena. While you don’t have to run a character with plenty of defense, it won’t be a bad idea. This will likely lead to far more interesting squads/compositions since there is no class system. This is probably the most interesting change to me, personally.

Galena herself is technically a Support-style character, but she’s incredibly aggressive. She’s also the first Martian-born competitor and a representative of the Martian Concord. The game has three stats: Power, Speed, and Sprint. Her Power is 1-star (out of 3), Speed is 2-star, Sprint is 2-Star. Her Health is 4 out of 5. Where she shines are her abilities. Her first is Discontinuity. She fires a long shockwave, and players hit by it cannot use any of their skills for a short period of time. I believe this also affects tackling and passing, so she really makes your opponents calm down and wait (and get bopped) if they’re caught in the beam. Her second power is Vortex. Galena throws an imploding charge that creates a vortex, in a fairly wide circle. Champions caught in it are held in place for a few seconds and cannot escape. This is both a great offensive and defensive move since if your team has possession of the ball, it becomes significantly easier to score if you snatch up a whole team.  Today’s video shows several matches where I play as Galena. She’s a great deal of fun, and I really hope more people check out Steel Circus when they can. It’s intense and I found myself wanting to play more and more. I had to make myself stop so I could get back to work, but the actual gameplay is fast-paced and the visual design is just as sharp as the gameplay is addictive.