Stellar Blade is the latest major outing for Korean developer Shift Up, but does the game live up to the hype?
Stellar Blade is likely going to do well based on its slick marketing campaign and its, shall we say, aesthetically pleasing protagonist. But the main question players will have is is the game all style, or does it also contain any substance? The good news is yes, Stellar Blade is an exciting action-adventure game and developers Shift Up has clearly made the game a labour of love and worked hard to create something which is much more than mere spectacle.
Let’s start with the combat, which is essentially a blend between the Soulslike formula and more frantic, hack-and-slash focused games like Bayonetta. Those who go into Stellar Blade hoping to button mash their way through it will soon come unstuck, however, Dark Souls this is not. For starters, the game has an easy mode, but even that isn’t a breeze. Players will need to engage with Stellar Blade’s combat mechanics if they want to get past the first boss.
Eve can be customised in lots of different ways.
Those coming to Stellar Blade looking for their next rock solid boss fight fix before the Elden Ring DLC though will be disappointed. Battles are visually stunning and boss enemies are never pushovers, but those who master the game’s parry and dodge systems early won’t struggle too much. These systems are always satisfying to use in combat too, and much of Stellar Blade’s combat is focused on timing them correctly.
In many ways, Stellar Blade could be seen as a gateway drug for those who have always been keen to try Soulslike games, but have been wary of their difficulty. While Stellar Blade is not a traditional Soulslike game itself, it certainly used the genre for inspiration. This is a good thing, but the game borrows from these games rather than truly emulating them, something that really helps Stellar Blade stand out and establish its own identity in an increasingly saturated market.
Stellar slaying
When it comes to the roleplaying elements of Stellar Blade, these are mostly gear upgrades and a variety of skill trees that let players add more moves to Eve’s arsenal. There’s some build-crafting to be had, but the game doesn’t feature a levelling up system. Instead, Eve grows in power through the gear she equips and the various buffs these provide. This can be done strategically though, in order to enhance certain attacks and movesets, tailoring Eve’s repertoire of to the taste of each player.
We were able to become very overpowered by simply updating Eve’s Beta abilities, focusing on one special attack tree branch and using items to buff our damage output – while ignoring more other move upgrades. After mastering the timing around the parry, dodge and blink abilities, we were able to make our Eve a glass cannon who could do massive damage to enemies with a single combo. Other players may choose to take a more balanced approach, and the game offers the freedom to do that.
Its also possible to hunt down roughly thirty different outfits for Eve as well as a range of earrings, glasses, hair-dos and more to tailor the protagonist further. Some costumes exist for the sake of sexiness, while others are more sci-fi leaning and make Eve look especially bad-ass while she hacks aliens to pieces. There’s lots of fun to be had in unlocking these styles, and every Eve will feel distinct and unique.
The game allows players to wield a range of moves with Eve’s sword, even having her drone double up as a gun, but this is the only weapon. There’s no switching out the sword for something else. This will disappoint some players but it didn’t really hinder our enjoyment. If anything, it helped us double down on our powerful offence-focused build. It will be interesting to see the inevitable DLC (unconfirmed at the time of writing) adds any others.
Stellar Blade’s world looks great, but feels hollow at times.
A mediocre apocalypse
What was disappointing was the game’s story, characters and unoriginal setting. Stellar Blade felt like a mishmash of ideas from NieR: Automata, Fallout and Bayonetta, and while it didn’t do anything terrible, we just found these elements rather lacklustre. This is a shame, as Shift Up has clearly gone to a lot of effort with its world-building, filling the game with notes, diary entries and the thoughts of those facing down the end of a world in real time. While this sounds incredible, most notes were admittedly dull with the game never finding it’s “itchy, tasty” moment – if you know, you know.
Eve, and her fellows lacked charisma, and for the most part, so did the world itself. Stellar Blade starts relatively linear, then gradually expands into a semi-open world. This is fun for a time, but we eventually lost interest in exploring it and accelerated to the end of game and the next epic boss encounter. There is a New Game+ option which lets players keep their upgrades and gear, so replaying the early hours of the game with our endgame Eve unlocked a whole new layer of fun.
Stellar Blade is a solid game and is worth the price of admission for those who want to slay some mighty bosses and enjoy some frantic and fun combat. Those who enjoy Soulslike games and the more fast-paced slashers will likely love it. However, those looking for a provoking tale that will stick with you for years to come may need to adjust their expectations. Stellar Blade’s story exists to service it’s gameplay, and in this case, we think that’s enough to get by.
