Severed, by Toronto indie studio DrinkBox, might be PlayStation Vita's swansong

DrinkBox Studios is hoping for its next big hit on a small screen.

Severed, available Tuesday, is the Toronto indie studio's third major game on the beleaguered Sony PlayStation Vita, a handheld largely forgotten by gamers and by Sony itself.

The new first-person dungeon crawler follows the studio's string of critically acclaimed titles — notably 2013's Guacamelee, an action-adventure that drew heavily from Mexican folklore and lucha libre wrestling. But will Severed be the last great game for the Vita?

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Severed begins with a young girl named Sasha, who wakes up to see her home destroyed and the surrounding forest overrun with nightmarish creatures. She's recently lost her left arm, and her parents and little brother are missing.

Sasha encounters an ominous creature made of little more than bones and floating blood vessels, who hands her a demonic sword to help fight off the hordes of monsters at her doorstep, and find out what happened to her family.

"The player's journey is kind of similar to Sasha's journey where she wakes up, and she's not exactly sure what's happened," explains Graham Smith, producer and co-founder of DrinkBox.

"She's experiencing flashbacks to the tragic event that made her lose her arm, and the player's kind of learning along with her while she's exploring this world."

Intense touch-screen combat

The game heavily utilizes the Vita's touch controls. Players swipe across the screen to attack with Sasha's sword. They have to carefully monitor enemies' weak points and strike from the right direction, parrying their attacks in kind.

An example: one enemy, essentially a floating brain covered in eyes, is surrounded by two rotating shields. You' have to swipe the screen through the gap between those shields to damage it, changing your angle as they constantly change position.

It sounds simple, like a bloodier, broody version of Fruit Ninja. But difficulty ramps up very quickly. You'll soon find yourself surrounded by multiple enemies, each with unique attack patterns you'll have to memorize to successfully block and parry, not unlike the '80s classic Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.

Severed isn't just about combat, however, as you'll search for Sasha's family in sprawling environments like ruined temples overgrown with alien vegetation, or a forest inhabited by a talking two-headed bird who does little more than mock your chances for survival.

Gamers who've spelunked the 2D Legend of Zelda games will find its grid-based maps familiar, but Severed has more in common with Dungeons and Dragons-like games The Bard's Tale or Eye of the Beholder: lonely, claustrophobic affairs that never hold the player's hands.

Not your usual gaming heroine

Clad in demonic armour and nursing a bloody stump at her left elbow, Sasha is the latest in an increasingly diverse cast of leading women in games.

Like the rebooted Lara Croft, her origin story is steeped in trauma rather than wide-eyed adventuring. Her scars and grim quest evoke Charlize Theron's turn as Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. And she's a rare Latina character who isn't a luchador or capoeira dancer.

Playable female characters have been a flashpoint for discussion and controversy in games, but for DrinkBox Studios Sasha's role as heroine grew naturally from the beginning.

"When [concept lead Augusto Quijano] made the initial pitch, she was always female. Nobody ever flagged that as out of the ordinary or anything," Smith told CBC News.

"I think the fact that no one's talking about it is actually a good sign. It's not a big deal. It shouldn't be a big deal."

Vita's last hope?

More unusual is that Severed is launching exclusively on Sony's PlayStation Vita.

The handheld system has seen diminishing returns since its launch in 2011, reportedly selling an estimated 10 million units at the end of 2015. Nintendo reported selling 58 million of its 3DS handheld in roughly the same period. High-profile games on the Vita have slowed to barely a trickle in the last couple of years.

Smith remains optimistic, saying the combination of a touchpad for combat and traditional buttons and analog sticks for exploration works best on the system.

"We have a really long history with Sony," he added. "We've worked closely with them on every game we've released."

Three years later, though, the Vita has even less of a profile, barely earning a mention in Sony's PlayStation news conferences or marketing.

"We really don't know what to expect this time around," Smith told CBC News. He added that while it's possible Severed might show up on other consoles in the future (as they did for Guacamelee), "right now we're just focusing on the Vita release."