Stellar Blade™ Reviews

It is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good. Thought it was a gooner game, turned out to be much more than that.

Just started playing this week. Its such a fun game. The cosmetics are sexy and wicked looking. The combat is pretty intricate. Im so happy we have eastern devs with their balls still

Top tier game. Already played through on PS5 at release. Had to add it to my Steam collection. PC performance is top notch, and made an already great game even better. 10/10

Yes this game has some ,... Eye candy. But has some amazing world building, combat, Characters and music. the combat is a little complicated at first but if you are familiar with combo and parry based games like elden ring or street fighter, you will fit right in. those moments where you get a combo off or parry an enemy combo to get a retribution attack feel awesome. had picked this game up a while back but probably should have played it way sooner, i saw the trailer for blood rain the sequel and the more cyberpunk industrial look of the sequel made me need to play this one first high marks for me across the board for this game. TLDR: 10/10 game , 10/10 Shiftup

Combat is really good, feels like a more forgiving sekiro, enemies are fantastically designed, areas look beautiful, also tiddies

TL;DR 89/100 Solid foundation held back by a few annoying things (no minimap/map in some areas, platforming is annoying and some puzzles as well as sidequests are insanely tedious) but a decent soulsborne with the potential to spawn a very successful sequel if they improve on mistakes that were made. Definitely worth at least giving it a try and picking up on sale. Don't treat it like a hack and slash. The combat rewards patience and precision and is very satisfying when you get the hang of it. So I wanted to finish the two main endings to the game before writing a review and ended up putting a ton of hours in. First off Stellar Blade is a great game. Don't be deceived thinking it's some surface level fan service nonsense. If you want EVE to be running around with little to almost no clothing on and physics that make Newton roll around in his grave then go for it but there are plenty of outfits (exosuits) that are far less revealing and prone to "physics". To me Stellar Blade is sitting in an interesting position at about an 89/100. It's just shy of being an A and honestly if there were some slightly better map design choices, streamlined quests and general QoL I could see it pushing 95/100. The story isn't 10/10. It's interesting and despite complaints from others I don't find the characters to be "flat" or "lifeless". EVE, Adam, and Lily are all interesting to some degree and the VAs (in English as I played it) do a great job. I have had far worse experiences in games that people praise as "masterpieces" with characters that were far "flatter" and the audio quality sounded like it was recorded through a tin can. That said, I think there is a ton of potential for this story and that ShiftUp has done something interesting to set up what could be a very promising sequel. The combat appears to be hack and slash and the general provocative image people have of EVE invokes thoughts of titles like Bayonetta but this is not a hack and slash. It plays like a soulsborne. The combat revolves around a few simple combos and timed parries and dodges but it HEAVILY rewards patience and studying the movesets of your enemies. It has a "bonfire" mechanic with camps (some you can fast travel from, some you can't, and some are just purely fast travel points) and when you "rest" at a camp to replenish supplies (your estus flask equivalent is a "tumbler" potion with a few other consumables) all of the Naytibas (enemies) respawn save very major bosses/obstacles in typical soulsborne fashion. This is where the game can be both fun and tedious depending on what you are looking for and how much time you want to invest. There are several abilities that EVE gets later on as you progress through the game that make combat MUCH more reasonable (you do get a ranged weapon and yes there is a double jump but it is tied to a side quest later on so don't just keep jumping off dying somewhere because you can't "jump high enough" just come back after you get it which... there is a note on that later) so it really is in your best interest to focus on the core story at first to gain abilities and survivability instead of just struggling through the open areas as basic mobs tear you down as hard as the bosses can at first. The open areas are a bit of a problem in that Stellar Blade can't exactly decide what it wants to be or what it wants to do in some situations and the side questing is one of the biggest problems there. There are two "open areas" that both unlock later on and they are both dreary deserts which is a bit of a bummer (it makes sense given the story and setting but you start to just see a lot of sand when running around collecting things and completing quests). Any platforming or parkour or laser jumping puzzles or bottom-less pits or........ really honestly anything that involves EVE having to jump around with accuracy and precision to get somewhere should have been cut entirely from the game or had an entire team dedicated to improving the platforming. Stellar Blade is at its best when it hits its soulsborne roots with satisfying combat and interesting combinations of gear and a plethora of enemies all with unique movesets to test your arsenal out on. The combat becomes pretty fluid and fun and even the boss mode from the main menu becomes enjoyable when you have the hang of it. My biggest complaints easily are the frustrating platforming, the complete and total lack of any map at all for several key areas (use something like map genie and save yourself the headache if you are getting collectibles) and just various QoL things like the absence of a minimap (you get a compass but the game really would benefit from a minimap) can be detrimental to the experience. With all of that said, I do find that the game excels in so many areas and some of the more frustrating/tedious aspects are optional content that you hardly have to even hit half of to get all three of the endings in two (if you time your saves right) playthroughs with a NG+. Something that a lot of people overlook or developers often just completely and totally forget are accessibility options and just general options for how the game UI appears/functions and various other settings and this is a game that EXCELS in that department. There are a ton of options to customize every control (even on a controller), turn the timer off on "puzzle boxes" (kinda like lockpicking minigames) and completely and totally simplify the fishing minigame making it a breeze. Also you can have QTEs auto succeed and on story difficulty the prompts for the more advanced inputs are displayed and help you adjust and it's worth playing around with if you are struggling with the combat. I can't praise ShiftUp enough for all of the accessibility features they have added. The game realizes something important in that it is a single player game so it doesn't matter if you want some extra time on puzzle boxes or find QTEs obnoxious. Having the ability to tinker with all of that is something every game should have. I understand the reasoning behind "the way the game was meant to be played" but there are a lot of people who aren't able to play the game the way the developers intended it to be played or the options/features are so lacking that the control schemes become so horrible that it can ruin a masterpiece. More devs and publishers need to follow ShiftUp's example here 100% Stellar Blade is fully a 10/10 in that department. That the company who made a gachapon cover based waifu shooter for mobile went and created something at this level is honestly mind boggling. ShiftUp has something solid here to build a framework on and I am very excited for the sequel and hope that it improves on the areas where this game is lacking but doubles down on what really makes it enjoyable. Also if you are still in Eidos 7 (Silent Street/Haven't reached Xion yet) and having a bit of trouble with the beginning trust me try to at least push through to Xion and the game will open up and give you a lot more freedom in terms of what you do, how you do it, and your available equipment/combat options. I stand by my 89/100 rating in that I do feel the game is lacking just enough to push it into something grander or "goty" level but the foundation is there and it is totally worth grabbing. Also side note on the DLCs, the NIER crossover is entirely cosmetic in rewards while the Nikke crossover introduces a minigame very akin to the mobile game (and it's quite frustrating if you're playing on a harder difficulty so put it onto story mode if it's bugging you) but it also introduces a number of cosmetics as well as a very interesting boss fight (in the boss rush mode after you have collected everything). I don't think the DLCs are really worth the full price for the content they have but they are worth picking up on sale for sure especially the Nikke one for the extra boss fight if you enjoy the game's combat.

Came for the visuals and Eve, stayed for the gameplay, story and music.

Game wise, Stellar Blade is a fantastic, well made, fun to play, and overall enjoyable game. The mechanics were fun, exploration and parkour enjoyable, and the graphics are beautifully done. That said, I did not care for the story. I was very excited for a great story with the excellent introduction, but it was a huge let down for me. It comes off as a safe overplayed plot line, and one that is not enough to play the game for alone. Fortunately, the rest of the game is very well done. The music and voice acting was decent, but it was nothing outstanding. It reminds me of a big publisher grinding out many games, where moments do not always fit. A voice over of a possible dialogue change down the road is noticeable, and there are moments the voice acting feels lacking for the situation. It was not horrible though. The music starts decent, and has some better tracks through the game, but much of it is very generic. In short, I recommend Stellar Blade for a fun game, but do not expect something like Elden Ring. This is a one off experience that is fun to play, but I have no interest in coming back to it.

Phenomenal! Currently going through another playthrough. Combat, enemies, environment, character/enemy design, the music, all of it is fantastic!! Plays great and runs great! Can't wait for Blood Rain!!

This game is legitimately fun as ♥♥♥♥. The combat is fluid and feels rewarding when you master it. Oh and yeah ass and titties blah blah