Stellar Blade assessment
Stellar Blade’s opening hours are so mired by atrocious stage design that I can solely assume individuals are willingly ploughing by for the sake of seeing protagonist Eve’s bum jiggle round in a skin-tight go well with for a bit longer.
Must Know
What’s it? A salacious soulslite about saving humanity and reclaiming a war-torn Earth.
Launch date June 16, 2025
Count on to pay $60/£60
Developer Shift Up Company
Writer PlayStation Publishing
Reviewed on Nvidia GeForce RTX3070, AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT, 32GB RAM
Steam Deck Verified
Hyperlink Official web site
Do I blame them? Not essentially, nevertheless it’s a mighty powerful starting to get by earlier than issues begin getting good. They usually do, ultimately. Although even after 30 hours I nonetheless could not shake the sensation that it was making an attempt just a bit too onerous to be Nier: Automata on sexy steroids.
In any case, its working plot is nearly equivalent: The tip of Earth as we all know it, now populated by monstrous alien lifeforms. A scantily-clad lady combating to reclaim the planet and save humanity alongside a drone companion, soundtracked by eerie feminine vocals that just about stand parallel to the horrors of the world.
Now hear, I have been in these trenches earlier than. I have been taking part in Shift Up’s different title, Nikke: Goddess of Victory, since 2023. I’m not new to the developer’s specific model of goonery. Should you are new to it, nevertheless, Stellar Blade has ass pictures, jiggle physics, and barely-there outfits out of the wazoo.
Does the world or its characters ever acknowledge this reality? Bar one backstreet service provider, no. It is a weird juxtaposition in a recreation that so closely sexualises the undeniably glamorous Eve, regardless of being an entirely sexless character current in a sexless universe. In truth, Eve has little or no character in any respect. The identical is true of supporting solid Adam and Lily who, regardless of me desirous to know extra about them, by no means actually supply up a lot info.
Stellar Blade additionally does little or no in direction of constructing any rapport between the three, but usually expects me to imagine that the rag-tag trio share heaps of chemistry. They primarily seem in Eve’s story with a quick rationalization, after which the sport acts like I used to be imagined to care all alongside. I usually wasn’t moved by harder-hitting interactions between Eve and her companions, as a result of I wasn’t drip-fed many relationship-building moments to get me invested of their dynamic.
Adam and EVE
Story and worldbuilding is definitely Stellar Blade’s weakest level and lessens the impression of its plot twists. It does not assist that it is narratively so near each Nier video games that I could not assist however evaluate its try at an analogous plot somewhat unfavourably. Hell, even in comparison with Nikke’s personal flavour of ‘publish apocalyptic panorama with scorching army girls’ it did not really feel fairly as much as snuff for my liking.
The place Stellar Blade does differ from its inspiration, nevertheless, is the fight. I went in anticipating an analogous hack-and-slash model to Automata solely to find one thing a bit of extra in between a Soulslike and Satan Could Cry-style motion.
Totally different enemies sport a wide range of assault patterns, which Eve can dodge or parry. An ideal parry sends sparks flying, accompanied by an extremely satisfying ching sound as her sword collides along with her opponent. An ideal dodge sees time decelerate as Eve flips across the enemy with the chance to swoop in and get a follow-up assault.
It did take me a short while to seek out my groove. There is a slight delay to the parry button that takes some getting used to, and the early hours see only a few instruments in Eve’s toolbox to repel and counter hits. Handily, Stellar Blade sports activities a barely simpler story mode issue accompanied with a toggleable choice to decelerate time when a parry or dodge window is incoming, the enter flashing up on the display.
The sport enables you to freely swap difficulties at will in addition to flip the slow-mo inputs on and off, which is a pleasant contact. It is a bit of sporadic when it needs to work—in the event you’re mashing away for instance, the sport may not have ample alternative to inform you to cease spamming the assault button and block for as soon as in your goddamn life—nevertheless it’s a useful possibility for individuals who wish to give the sport a strive however aren’t well-versed in the best way of the parry window.
Issues additionally dramatically enhance as soon as Eve will get a maintain of all method of talent tree talents and equipment to reinforce or praise sure playstyles. I used to be in a position to make my dodge and parry home windows a bit of extra lenient and pump a bunch of drugs into enhancing my Beta abilities—particular talents that require increase a meter by attacking and blocking earlier than with the ability to unleash highly effective assaults.
Although I might argue nothing about Stellar Blade’s fight reinvents the wheel, it does really feel mighty satisfying as soon as I began to get into the circulate of issues. I received a complete lot of enjoyment out of speeding right into a foe, good parrying a number of assaults in a row after which unleashing a flurry of strikes in response. It is one of many recreation’s stronger factors, and attending to grips with its techniques is among the fundamental issues that stored me pushing by a few of its sloggier ranges.
Paint the best way
Yeah, Stellar Blade’s stage design is a bit all over. It rears its ugly head essentially the most within the recreation’s tutorial stage, Eidos 7. I am often a little bit of a yellow paint apologist, nevertheless it’s so abhorrent firstly of the sport I used to be shocked that I not solely seen it, however was bothered by it.
All the things will get yellow paint. Secret path? Massive streak on the nook wall. Must cross a bridge? Yup, a splodge on that dangerous boy. Two branching paths? Screw it, stick some yellow paint on each of them.
All it does is spotlight how poorly Eidos 7 flows as a stage. I discovered myself recurrently getting misplaced and confused about the place I had already been, and a Residence Depot’s value of paint cans hardly made issues simpler to parse. It does enhance as soon as I am unleashed into massive areas just like the Wasteland and the Nice Desert, or herded into extra linear ranges like Abyss Levoire.
In truth, smaller ranges like Abyss Levoire have been the place I loved Stellar Blade essentially the most. Tightly-designed areas with nuggets of worldbuilding and a few particular methods of tackling fight—an early stage has me solely ready to make use of ranged weapons, utterly disabling each my sword and the drone scan I might been utilizing as a navigation crutch previous to this—have been my private highlights, and I am wanting ahead to going by them once more in a NG+ playthrough.
As a result of regardless of my general ‘it is nice’ perspective of all of it, I did take pleasure in Stellar Blade and am completely all the way down to run it again to select up all of the issues I missed the primary time. The sport has tons of costumes, for one, which I will admit is one in every of my greatest videogame weaknesses. Even in the event you do not fork out for any deluxe editions or DLC, there are a ridiculous variety of Nano Fits to seek out and accumulate. There are even equipment and hairstyles, and if there’s one factor I do love, it is taking part in dress-up with fictional characters.
The sport additionally runs like an absolute dream. I concern I have been traumatised by some significantly demanding video games this yr—taking a look at you, Monster Hunter Wilds—and my hopes are by no means excessive relating to PC ports of console video games. Particularly contemplating Nikke’s PC model is, at occasions, somewhat scuffed.
But, Stellar Blade could be the smoothest, most optimised PC port I’ve performed in a scorching sec. I had minimal body dips all through, sustaining a easy framerate all whereas wanting fairly rattling good whereas doing it. I even performed by the ultimate stretch on my Steam Deck, and was much more stunned to find how bloody properly it ran on a handheld. I used to be persevering with to get a gentle 60fps for a lot much less crusty graphics tradeoff than I used to be anticipating, and I think about I will be doing a lot of my NG+ playthrough portably because of this.
Does Stellar Blade do something groundbreaking or revolutionary? Not significantly, however I suppose not every thing needs to be the subsequent sliced bread. Should you can look past a middling story and a painful tutorial stage, you will discover a decently strong soulslite lurking beneath. Additionally plenty of latex. And lingerie. Lotta each these issues.