Absolutely Stellar
Leading up to Stellar Blade’s release, it seemed that the only controversy surrounding the game was going to be the fact that Project EVE, which was the game’s originally revealed title, was at one point a multi-platform release. However, that wouldn’t last long as Sony would snap up the publishing rights in an effort to have some sort of release in 2024, especially given that their calendar year was already looking slim. Then as the game was ready to hit prime time, one of Eve’s outfits would see a small change and suddenly supposed boycotts and censorship warriors would come out in full force to have such a silly conversation around a game that genuinely kicks ass.
Stellar Blade isn't the debut title from Shift Up, but it is their first appearance on consoles. Their more recent claim to fame is the mobile/PC release in the Gatcha shooter, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a title known for focusing on its well-endowed female cast. The studio was founded in 2013 by KyungRip Min and Hyung-tae Kim, the latter being the artist behind the Magna Carta series. This fact alone is what got me even more excited for Stellar Blade as I loved the character designs and artwork present in 2009’s Magna Carta 2 on Xbox 360, a title that is criminally not available elsewhere or made backwards compatible.
Going into Stellar Blade, I had a particular expectation for its art design, but to walk away with it being one of the best-looking titles on the platform was missing from my bingo card. Stellar Blade is remarkably gorgeous, heavily detailed, and oozing in style. From a wide range of outfits for its lead in Eve, to a decent cropping of grotesque monsters, larger-than-life bosses, and breathtaking environments, especially some stunning locations in the game's final act. This is a release that takes full advantage of PS5’s impressive hardware, yet a title that is likely destined for release on PC sometime in the future.
Stellar Blade is an action game that straddles the line between being something of a soulslike and yet in the same camp as a character-action title. Think of it as Devil May Cry meets Sekiro if that helps paint a better picture. Basic attacks and special skills are pulled off in a very character-action way with parries, dodges, and rest points that refresh the baddies all around you. And to be honest, the soulslike elements are pretty light here once you start to open up Eve’s combat capabilities, making this more of an evolution of the character-action genre than anything else.
Any further explanation of what Stellar Blade is is also tied into how much the game borrows from Nier: Automata, a game that is easily its core inspiration. This goes beyond the comparisons of a post-apocalyptic world and exploring it as a female android-like anime protagonist with a drone. While there are numerous similarities, one that is easily the most noticeable is that Nier: Automata’s very composer, Keiichi Okabe worked on about half of the soundtrack, making this comparison to be on a whole other level. The soundtrack is absolutely incredible, especially a track later on in the game called Raven’s Theme that I immediately downloaded to my phone and set as my ringer. In fact, not only did I pause the game to just listen to it, but the fight that took place during this jam elevated the fight immensely.
Stellar Blade has you take control of Eve, a member of the 7th Airborne Squad on a mission to save Earth from an alien race known as the Naytiba. However, as soon as Eve arrives on the planet, with thousands of her fellow squadmates and their drop pods being shot down all around her, Eve barely escapes with her life, rescued by a man named Adam. Regardless of her current situation, and being heavily outnumbered, Eve’s mission to eradicate the Naytiba still stands, and Adam, and a young mechanic you'll rescue named Lily, must join forces to track down and eliminate the Alpha Naytiba and save Earth, at any cost.
If I had to fault Stellar Blade for anything, it would be that the story only really gets interesting as you dive deeper into the background of the Naytiba and just exactly what happened to Earth all those years ago. Humanity has been on the brink of extinction for decades now, and what Eve and many have been told may not be the full truth. The story eventually gets to a very satisfying place, complete with multiple endings, and even a bonus area you can unlock, but the moments following the initial hour or so are certainly paced a bit too slow in regards to how the back half of the game is handled. It’s also worth pointing out that this level of storytelling fits the framework of what they are attempting to do. It’s not trying to be a narrative masterpiece, but it works extremely well with the type of game this is. This is a very anime-like game, so having a very anime-like story fits it perfectly.
While the main story can be pushed through in around 12-15 hours, there is some work needed to be done to unlock a bonus location that was honestly one of my favorite places in the game. This is done by filling up a meter for a particular character. You'll do this by collecting a certain amount of Intel and by completing side quests. It is actually very easy to do this, even if it is never mentioned or explained whatsoever. In fact, apart from picking up said Intel or completing quests, there is no way to manually check your progress. This location also contributes to which ending you’ll have access to.
Away from the deserts and a junk-filled wasteland, or its destroyed cities and underground sewers, you’ll regularly stop in Xion, a city that houses many of the last remnants of humanity and is a central hub for commerce and conversation. You'll have several shops to browse, both integral to a few key systems as well as a host of outfits, hairstyles, glasses, and earrings, all for Eve. Elsewhere, several characters will have side quests to explore as you learn more about them and the world. These range from finding books or sentimental items for its citizens, or tracking down a few bottles of wine to finding loved ones that have not returned from the dangers of the wasteland. You'll also take on a series of quests from a job board, giving you plenty to do.
While a few of these tasks are nothing more than a series of fetch quests, you will find some that are far more involved, such as helping a man rebuild an android woman who sings at his bar. Helping them and diving deeper into her own past was pretty interesting and added a nice emotional moment for Eve to take in during its conclusion. For the fetch quests, I wasn’t too bothered as most of these take you to locations that you’ll want to explore further for outfits, items, and the collectible cans that have Eve striking a pose whenever she finds one, all of which build towards unlocking one of her more revealing outfits and a host of other upgrades. I also appreciate the ability to travel back to the quest-giver at its conclusion, even if the option disappears should you get into combat when the prompt shows up.
During your first playthrough, there are approximately 34 outfits that you can unlock with more to be found during newgame+. My initial playthrough was just under 60 hours and that saw me find every collectible can, catch every fish, as well as every possible costume you can unlock during the first playthrough. And from what I can gather, this was also with tackling every side quest available. Since there is no manual save, you’ll use newgame+ to work towards the other possible endings and outfits, each that sees variation in the final battle as well as the ending cutscene. Newgame+ also grants additional skills to Eve’s skill tree as well as additional features for Adam’s drone. While I don't normally jump right into newgame+ or even replay most games, here, it was a no-brainer.
The combat in Stellar Blade has many people attempting to explain it in their own way. I’ve seen Metal Gear Revengeance and Devil May Cry thrown around, as well as Bayonetta, Sekiro, and more. That said, you can certainly see bits and pieces of several games here, all coalesced to create one incredible combat package, one that feels paced well and deliberate in how you dodge, parry, and block. As mentioned previously, I found Stellar Blade to be a combination of both character-action and a soulslike, in what options you have available to you. It’s tense and combat has a significant weight to it, despite the nimbleness and fluid motions provided by Eve. You don’t have any sort of stamina system and all special attacks are performed as you earn the energy to pull them off.
So that said, let’s break down what Stellar Blade truly offers for action fans. First, combat allows for a series of eight combo strings that have you pressing different button combinations to get the result you want. While you can button mash to a certain degree, especially on Story difficulty, the standard modes require you to really understand how this system works. Early on, you’ll unlock the perfect dodge, parry, and blink abilities, which open up combat significantly. Knowing when to parry and when to dodge is truly up to you, however, some enemies will be affected in different ways depending on your choice and their attack. Blink is the ability to almost teleport behind an enemy and pull off a bit of ambush strike. You’ll eventually unlock a forward alternative called Repulse that has you assaulting them from the front.
These attacks and counters come in the form of different colors to explain what is about to go down. A red flashing enemy indicates a series of attacks that will hit Eve, so you’ll want to either block or parry these to avoid as much damage as you can. Yellow is generally an unblockable attack, so you’ll want to dodge it. Blink opportunities are Blue, and the forward assault called Repulse is purple, but you’ll be several hours in before this is even an option. Similar to Sekiro’s posture gauge, enemies here have a guard meter displayed under their health in yellow. As you pull off perfect parries, you’ll slowly reduce their guard, leaving them fully open for an attack called Retribution. These attacks are pretty much fatal on most standard enemies, but bosses will usually take a few of these hard-hitting moves to go down. And speaking of fatal attacks, if you can sneak up on foes walking about, you can pull off a single-strike finisher, taking them out of the picture for good, providing you have purchased this ability from the skill tree. This translates into an aerial assault as well as you can leap from above and take them out in one fell swoop.
Another constant companion to Eve is her Beta skills. These are pulled off through Beta Energy. Beta Energy is stored in smaller squares that form several larger ones which are then consumed upon use. Landing attacks and parrying will earn you Beta Energy in combat. Perfect Parries, for example, will fill up two smaller squares, whereas standard attacks require several landed attacks to even fill up one. Regardless, combat is rather fast and often against multiple foes where you’ll be building up Beta Energy constantly. What is great about this system is that stored-up Beta Energy does not disappear after combat ends, allowing you to keep ahold of everything you’ve earned for the next encounter.
Beta Skills are applied in combat through L1 and the corresponding buttons; Circle, Square, Triangle, and X. These attacks consist of Triplet, which performs a series of forward thrusts, Slash, which can be charged up, Shockwave, which unleashes two waves of fatal energy, and finally, Shield Breaker, which is a powerful upper-cut-like kick that can break through their defenses. If the skill is lit up, then you have the required Beta Energy to pull it off. Additionally, you can utilize camps to access the skill tree and unlock the remaining Beta Skills as well as purchase upgrades that make them work better for you. There are also gear items and additional skills that allow you to earn Beta Energy faster and more efficiently.
Later on, once you reach a particular zone, you’ll unlock Burst Skills. These are extremely similar to Beta Skills, but only charge up through the use of perfect dodges and the use of Blink and Repulse. These attacks are far more deadly and have a bit more flair added to their animation. These consist of Punishing Edge, which releases Burst Energy to deal a fatal blow to nearby enemies, Descending Break which is an aerial strike, Overdrive, which increases melee attack power and speed, and lastly my personal favorite, Tempest, a charged attack that unleashes a storm of blades with the power of Burst Energy. These attacks are pulled up with R1 instead of L1 and are red in nature.
In regards to combat moves, there are two final additions; your drone, which can be outfitted with numerous ammo types to give you range options, as well as a mode that I don’t want to name as it gives away a particular character spoiler. This addition is basically Eve’s version of a Devil Trigger, granting her additional power and moves. This is performed by building up her meter and then pressing L3 and R3 together. And should you dispatch your foes before the meter drains, you can press those buttons again to exit it, reserving what is left of your meter.
When it comes to your drone, you’ll find its usefulness to be rather rewarding, even apart from its scanning capabilities. You can swap to a variety of ammo types such as standard slugs, shotgun shells, blaster cells, stingers, and explosive shells. Stinger shells are a typical lock-on missile alternative, whereas blaster cells allow for a powerful concentrated beam. And you’ll come to rely on these ammo types fairly often, especially in a few underground locations where Eve’s sword won’t be usable. This turns Stellar Blade into an almost Dead Space-like action game, complete with limited light sources and numerous jump scares. These moments really stand out and without being able to rely on your Beta or Burst Skills, you have to rethink on how to approach combat.
While combat with your sword and dispatching enemies underground with the drone are huge chunks of what is on offer here, Stellar Blade pulls a lot from Nier: Automata in that is also provides a sea of other gameplay elements. These are through various puzzles, and platforming areas, even if the jumping can feel a tad too loose at times, especially when you attempt to leap at ropes or floating drones. While I certainly saw my fair share of deaths from how Eve can handle, I never found it to be too annoying as the penalty for dying is largely nothing more than reattempting the traversal again. Adding to the platforming are areas that have you sliding through decommissioned rollercoaster rails to an entire speed-tube network that has you navigating hazards as you fly through it. These distractions are extremely well-handled and for a guy who normally skips every single fishing mechanic in games, I’m proud to say I stuck with it and nabbed every single fish.
Finally, Eve can equip a series of gear items that allow you to construct a build of sorts. From exospines to gear equipment, these come in all shapes and sizes. You’ll also use the game’s crafting component to upgrade them, unlocking additional tiers of features for your Exospines. Exospines vary all over the place from increasing your critical damage to your Burst Energy power. These are so powerful that you’ll only be able to equip one of these for some time. Gear items are lesser in power, but you’ll be able to equip four of these once you’ve unlocked the slots to do so. Gear items also only have one trait, such as increasing your max shield, bonus gold drop, or increasing your combat attack power.
While I touched upon the outfits earlier, they are a significant draw to what Stellar Blade offers. While these are purely cosmetic, you’ll unlock patterns to craft these as well as whole outfits found during certain side activities, as well as those found in the shops, provided you raise a shopkeeper's affinity by being a good patron. You’ll also unlock hairstyles, earrings, and glasses as well, but the outfits are a huge draw for a lot of players. That said, you can unlock new looks for your drone, Adam, and Lily as well, so make sure to keep an eye out as you explore. With a total of 74 outfits to unlock across multiple playthroughs, a few of my personal favorites are the Black Pearl, which you unlock by collecting all the cans, the Prototype Planet Diving suit, Daily Denim, which is almost like a sleeveless suit, and the Orca Exploration Suit, which has a very Cyberpunk 2077 vibe to it.
Stellar Blade is a game I could sit here and detail every single enemy, outfit, skill, and character, and feel I am never saying enough about it. Combat is downright incredible, and the style and substance this game brings is impressive. Its story takes a bit to really get interesting, but overall I am just blown away by how much I really enjoyed my time here. As I push through my second playthrough, between playing a ton of other games, I really have to commend Shift Up for delivering a stunningly polished game that exceeded my expectations and then some. With various performance and accessibility settings to make the game as fluid and enjoyable as possible, even newcomers to the character-action/soulslike genre can find enjoyment here. While its lead in Hyung-tae Kim may have garnered a lot of excitement for me towards what Shift Up can produce, Stellar Blade is what has made me a believer in this studio and I can’t wait until we see Eve return in a hopeful stellar sequel.
Developer - Shift Up. Publisher - Sony Interactive Entertainment. Released - April 26th, 2024. Available On - PlayStation 5. Rated - (M) Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence. Platform Reviewed - PlayStation 5. Review Access - Stellar Blade was purchased for review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.