Review — Stellar Blade

Save humanity from extinction on a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by the deadly Naytiba in Stellar Blade.

Stellar Blade was announced back in 2019, with the rights quickly bought up by Sony and the game slated for a release in 2024. The game is developed by Shift Up, a South Korean developer established in 2013, mostly known for their work on mobile games such as Destiny Child. However, Stellar Blade would be their first full console game, and expectations were high from the start. I can already safely say that those expectations were met with the release of the demo, which saw huge popularity and was met with extremely positive reactions. On April 24, the game was fully released and saw an influx of players interested in what the full game had to offer.

Star Souls

Stellar Blade is an action-adventure game where the player takes control of Eve, a seemingly human-android hybrid, in an attempt to save Earth from an invading monster species known as “Naytibas”. Eve is part of the 7th Airborne Squad, sent out from a space base known as The Colony, but things don’t go according to plan. Their aerial attack is quickly snuffed out by the Naytibas, with only a few of the Squad’s members actually reaching Earth’s surface. Quickly, Eve and her one surviving team member Tachy are left to their own devices when they encounter a notoriously powerful “Alpha” Naytiba. This creature proves to be too powerful for the duo to take out, resulting in Tachy losing her arm and her life, and Eve being narrowly rescued by a human scavenger named Adam.

Upon rescuing Eve, Adam requests assistance from Eve to recover a Hyper Cell, which is a power source desperately needed to keep the lights running in his home town Xion. In return, Adam promises to locate the Alpha Naytiba responsible for Tachy’s demise. Eve accepts, and after a lengthy trek across a desolate and destroyed city, eventually defeats the Alpha. Here they meet Lily, a surviving member of the 5th Airborne Squad, and together the trio travel to Xion, where they meet the local leader Orcal. Here Eve learns what she needs to do in order to defeat the Elder Naytiba and save humanity and Earth.

Nier: Stellar Automata

Now, if the above short summary does not sound all that exciting, you are not alone. From the get-go, the similarities to a game like Nier: Automata are not lost on anyone. A destroyed Earth where the humans are driven off by mysterious and monstrous beings, a space base sending out android-like super soldiers who seem to wear the most skin-tight revealing outfits possible, a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, and more twists and turns than a Sherlock Holmes story. It’s crystal clear where Shift Up took inspiration from, but as opposed to Nier: Automata, the characters in Stellar Blade seem to lack any form of depth or personality. The game shows plenty of conversation between the main group of characters and among other surviving humans who each have their own history, but I could barely be invested in any of it. Much of the dialogue is dry and bland, and the mediocre voice-acting does not help at all.

This is a shame truly, because I do have an affinity for these kind of stories, overdone as they may have been by now. I was hoping Stellar Blade would put an interesting spin on the “save Earth from invading monsters” narrative, and while it does have some great moments, many others fall flat. The game follows a fairly typical direction: find four Hyper Cores strewn across the world, each guarded by an Alpha Naytiba, in order to learn what happened to Earth and to eventually defeat the final boss, the Elder Naytiba. Stellar Blade provides the players with additional lore that can be found by exploring the beautifully rendered world, which certainly does help with story-building. The game does not feature a full open-world map, but it does allow for ample exploration across the various biomes you encounter, with treasure to be found in the smallest corners, and a multitude of side-quests to help out the residents of Xion. I can’t help but feel there was a great thing here, but given that many of the characters are easily forgotten about due to their lack of personality and charm, it was hard to really care for any of it. Which is a shame.

Stellar Blade: Shadows Die Twice

Despite the story and character element of the game being less than stellar (pun unintentionally intended), Stellar Blade certainly makes up for its faults in terms of gameplay and combat. While the game can easily be lumped in with the ever-growing roster of Souls-like games, the main inspiration seems to have come from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Eve has access to basic attacks which can stinged together in a combo, and a rush attack on a short cooldown which allows the character to strike from a distance. As opposed to managing a stamina bar, which is absent from Stellar Blade, the combat focusses heavily on playing defense. Many of the enemies, especially the larger ones and the bosses, will mercilessly attack Eve with uninterruptible attacks.

Dodging is an option, but there are no invincibility frames here, so the game encourages to block and parry attacks in a timely fashion. Performing a perfect parry will deplete the enemy’s balance meter, and once fully emptied Eve can launch a devastating blow, taking out huge chunks of health. Not all attacks can be parried however, but these will be telegraphed by either a blue or red aura. Blue attacks can be dodged into, resulting in Eve ending up behind an enemy’s back allowing for a follow-up attack. Purple attacks will display an enemy’s weak point upon performing a perfect dodge, which can then be shot at using Eve’s ranged attacks. Red attacks then need to be completely evaded, either by moving away far enough or dodging at the perfect time. Failing this will result in Eve taking massive damage and being knocked to the ground.

To make combat even more interesting, Eve has access to four so-called “Beta Skills”, which require energy to perform but can deal massive damage as well. One skill I saw myself using often is the shield breaker, which — as the name implies — deals massive damage to an enemy’s shield meter. Progressing through the game will eventually unlock more skills, and without going to much into spoiler territory, one of these is a kind of “ultimate”, which makes Eve temporarily invulnerable and allows you to dish out powerful attacks. Skills can be upgraded by spending skill points, which are acquired by defeating enemies and completing quests. Stellar Blade’s combat is certainly the game’s selling point. It is fluid, feels very responsive and is a visual feast to behold. Especially the many boss fights are memorable, and you’ll have to use Eve’s full arsenal of skills to prevail.

Barren Glory

Earth has become a desolate place, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to do. As mentioned above, Stellar Blade is not a huge open-world game but does allow for exploration of its interestingly designed zones. The land may be barren and devoid of human life, but there are plenty of Naytibas roaming around and collectibles and treasure chests to discover. Many spots will be inaccessible at first unless you venture far enough into the story, while others provide small environmental puzzles to solve. Most treasure chests can be opened freely, while some require a short puzzle to solve, and other require you to find a passcode somewhere. You’ll encounter many fallen humans who shared their lasts moments in their diary, or fallen squad members of Eve whose body cores you can collect to increase Eve’s maximul health. Little robots are strewn across the world which drop valuable crafting materials upon defeat, and the world is littered with soda and beer cans that can be collected to earn even more rewards. There is a lot do in the world of Stellar Blade, but nothing feels like it is overdone. There is even a fishing mini-game to unlock eventually, which can get you even more rewards.

And of course, there is the much contested aspect of the game as well: Eve’s outfits. There are (so far at least) about 30–40 different outfits to unlock, with each showing Eve in various degrees of dress or undress. There is no denying it: many of the outfits leave Eve looking hyper-sexualized, with options such as the skin suit not leaving much to the imagination. Nevertheless, Stellar Blade is a great game and Eve’s looks and outfits should not discourage any fans of the action-adventure Souls-like (or Sekiro-like in this case) from playing it. For many players I can imagine this is one of the selling points of the game, but I’m personally not one for hyper revealing cosmetics. On the bright side: Shift Up allows the player to collect and craft outfits without spending actual money on them, which seems to be a rare thing nowadays.

The Verdict

Stellar Blade is great, especially its combat mechanics and gameplay elements, with a wonderfully rendered world, insanely high-quality graphics and one of the best and hauntingly beautiful soundtracks. The combat is certainly the game’s main selling point, as the story is derivative and not terribly interesting or unique, with bland characters and mediocre voice-acting (I’m talking about the English dub here, I’m not familiar with Korean voice-acting at all, but I can imagine this option would be a default for many players). The game offers a New Game+ option for people who want to have another go a it or to gather any missed collectibles. Stellar Blade is a welcome addition to 2024’s game catalog, and one that is certain to land high on many people’s favorite list, including mine. For a studio’s first main game release, Shift Up really delivered something great, which hopefully bodes well for their future.

3.5/5

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.
Downloade code provided by the publisher and PR Agency.