Review of Stellar Blades
There are many positive aspects of Stellar Blade, despite the fact that it has become stale as a topic of conversation and has been the subject of some really depressing debate. The PlayStation 5 debut title from developer Shift Up has been teased for what seems like forever, and the final result is considerably more polished than you'd expect from a team that specializes in mobile games. However, when compared to other games in the genre, Stellar Blade regretfully falls short despite having a great presentation and engaging fighting.
However, Stellar Blade is an adequate action game, greatly enhanced by its excellent battle system. It looks and feels more like a Soulslike than it is at first since it emphasizes timing dodges and parries to expose opponents to a flurry of blows. The action game foundations of Stellar Blade, however, begin to show through as you advance and give Eve access to new skills.
Most adversaries may make you nervous at first, but in a few of hours, you'll be dancing among them and easily defeating even the most difficult boss fights. The fighting seems more responsive and fluid thanks in large part to the skill tree in the game, which expands your parry and perfect dodge windows, allowing you to concentrate more on high-damage and spectacular combinations. After a few hours of upgrading, the fighting in Stellar Blade—which occupies an odd middle ground between Dark Souls and Devil May Cry—finally clicked. I certainly began the game hoping it leaned much harder one way or the other.
Surprisingly, one of Stellar Blade's most enjoyable features is its upgrades. The stages in the game are more difficult than they first look, and difficult enemies, treasures, and combination codes may be found almost anywhere. You may easily spend hours exploring every nook and cranny of Stellar Blade's universe, and the game creators have carefully considered how many awards to tuck away behind each corner to keep you following their well crafted trail of breadcrumbs.
It is also rather flexible in terms of customizing Eve's equipment and skills. Every time you encounter a safe zone, you may unlock one or two new talents thanks to the game's rapid skill point distribution. Additionally, the vast array of skills allows you to customize Eve's appearance significantly from someone else's. Perfect parries and dodges are both useful in fight; to save energy for your talents, concentrate on chaining together lengthy combo strikes or slashing at opponents quickly.
Equipment is a major factor in this as well. Eve may equip a variety of Nano Suits and other items that have significant stat increases attached to them. In order to repeat light strikes and avoid becoming trapped in protracted attack animations in case I needed to parry an approaching assault, I found myself concentrating on increasing Eve's crit rate. This was well served by Stellar Blade's skill tree, which allowed me to acquire passive skills that accelerated my rate of energy regeneration after each successful hit. Stellar Blade's growth mechanism is excellent since it allows for a wide variety of gameplay styles.
Sadly, Stellar Blade's other features can't match the competition. The plot is the greatest letdown in this instance; what started off as a very intriguing idea and setting quickly becomes cliched science fiction that has been handled much better in numerous other shows. We should have gotten a better plot for the superb character and environmental concepts.
Stellar Blade's setting is at least somewhat engaging, but the worldbuilding is really shallow and leaves you wanting much more. Each zone has a number of corpses scattered about with notes and letters attached to them, however the messages are usually only a few words long and feature some of the most cliched science fiction you've ever read. It's generally a combination of "these monsters are really scary" and "do we really know what's going on," neither of which is very interesting.
The worldbuilding and plot of Stellar Blade, at the very least, don't impede the action. The majority of the exposition occurs during your exploration, and cutscenes are short, so you may choose to ignore them if you'd like. That won't make up for the halting vocal renditions, unfortunately. You'll become used to Eve, her companion Adam, and the rest of the cast reading monotonous line readings outside of a few chosen sequences.
It's quite simple to squander hours playing Stellar Blade before you even know it, despite those disadvantages. The breadcrumb trail of upgrades and trinkets has previously been discussed, but each sword strike has more effect than the last, and each special burst talent feels more substantial than the last. It never gets old to crush a shield with Eve's shield breaker ability or slice through a crowd with a charged slice. It's simply one of those games that tries far too hard to prioritize enjoyment above all other considerations, regardless of the consequences.
The sound that objects make when you pick them up is one of the simplest things that ever makes my head hurt. Additionally, Shift Up amplifies the haptic feedback of the DualSense by causing the controller to vibrate in a really gratifying way in response to almost every motion. Many games boast about their DualSense integration, but Stellar Blade's use of the technology makes me think of a fantastic arcade machine where each input has a tactile feel to it and an addictive reaction.
That is Stellar Blade's primary feature. Stellar Blade is really a game about huge dopamine surges and quick reward. Flashy action is one thing, but creator Shift Up really has a knack for drawing you in and making you lose track of time until you realize how long the game has been going on.
All things considered, Stellar Blade is a good action game that combines rewarding exploration with captivating graphics to make for a fun experience, even if the setting and plot are a little underwhelming. After you have a few upgrades under your belt, the flashy fighting system feels fantastic in action—that is, if you can put up with awkward dialogue and boring worldbuilding. It doesn't linger too long, and in my opinion, an action game that is well-thought-out and reasonably short is always appreciated.