Fast-paced action-adventure games are something I love a lot. From Bayonetta and Vanquish to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and even the DmC version of Ninja Theory. But lately, a lot of fantastic action-adventure games have borrowed heavily from the SoulsBorne subgenre. These consist of numerous titles such as Rise of the Ronin, Sekiro, and Star Wars: Jedi. Then there are titles such as NieR: Automata, which have raised the bar for action-adventure game storytelling. We now have Stellar Blade, another thrilling entry in the action-adventure genre. Simply said, the game is amazing, with a compelling plot, fast-paced action, and breathtaking graphics. This is especially impressive given that developer Shif Up is making its first step into the AAA game market. Let’s examine the specifics.
Story
I can’t say much about Stellar Blade’s plot without giving anything away, but suffice it to say that NieR: Automata is an influence on the game. Take on the role of Eve, an Airborne Squad member sent to a post-apocalyptic Earth to eradicate creatures known as Naytibas. Like in any good video game narrative, you are the one who miraculously survives and will save the day when the game opens with a boom, and the Naytibas are killing nearly all of the pods delivering the Airborne Squad to Earth.
Adam, an Earth survivor, greets you right away and leads you to Xion, a colony where the remaining few survivors reside. In Xiom, there exists an “oracle” (yeah, I see the Matrix allusion here, too) who provides hope for eradicating the Naytibas from the world. You then set out to rescue Xion (as well as Earth) until you encounter the story twist. There are numerous side missions, and important choices that you can make that can influence how the tale turns out. It goes without saying that there are several possible outcomes, each of which is dependent on certain crucial game situations.
Speaking of side missions, these span from straightforward fetch quests to an objective that requires you to see a survivor’s wife who is in a state of cryosleep; to reiterate, this feels a lot like NieR: Automata without being an outright imitation and that’s a very positive thing. Since NieR: Automata and Stellar Blade both have excellent takes on the human-AI-survival of living species topic, you’ll be hooked even though some of the story’s most important moments are spaced a little too far apart. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Gameplay
Stellar Blade will seem quite familiar to you if you have ever played any of the games listed in this review’s opening. Although it moves quickly, it is not a button masher. You must approach things methodically. The typical light, heavy, and ranged attacks are available, in addition to a variety of combos. Holding down the left or right shoulder button along with the face button allows you to perform eight different moves that are very powerful. In order to combat the adversaries, your ally drone also functions as a gun. It can fire a variety of rounds, including shotgun shells, homing missiles, and regular machine guns. Then there are special attacks, denoted by blue, purple, or red color codes, that you can launch following a flawless parry or after successfully evading an enemy’s powerful strike.
Still, that’s not all! Shield and stability are the two extra health tiers that each adversary possesses. Their solidity is decreased by a successful parry, and certain strikes concentrate on rapidly reducing the shield. You can utilize some powerful combos to reduce your health after you’ve used up all of the shields. It’s amazing how such quick-moving action can have subtleties that are both simple to understand and challenging to master. Additionally, you can use a variety of explosives to weaken an enemy’s shield, stability, and health, as well as temporarily stun them. Stellar Blade borrows heavily from Soulsborne games since combat mistakes are rarely pardoned.
There is also a wide variety of foes. Some will launch projectiles in your direction, while others are miniature grunts that are comparatively slow but can deal a powerful blow, or they might combine with a fallen adversary to bring it back to life. Additionally, there are the Alpha Naytibas, which are categorized as the game’s bosses.
The game has two modes: normal and story. I eventually found the combat in normal mode to be too difficult for my aging reflexes and switched to tale mode. The ability to lengthen the window for a parry or a doge, analogous to Final Fantasy XVI, makes the game more playable, which is good. It goes without saying that even if the game is extremely difficult, there is enough to keep it playable by a wider audience without being as harsh as Soulsborne titles.
In relation to soulsborne games, this is also where their version of a campfire is located. There are campsites where you can take a break, recover yourself, and improve your abilities. On the other hand, you also heal the nearby opponents with every save.
Although the game’s globe isn’t quite open, there are still a lot of expansive regions to explore, with Xion serving as your home base after completing each objective and side quest. In order to spice up the gameplay, there are also a few puzzles included. Some of them will leave you scratching your head, but the majority are rather simple.
Graphics and Sound
Let’s get the contentious subject out of the way before moving on to the graphics. Yes, the main heroine is a really lovely woman who will undoubtedly win over many young people’s hearts. She reminds me of Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil 3 Remake, the renowned Lara Croft, and a host of other female characters that have defined female protagonists in video games. You may view our list of notable female video game protagonists here.
I thought the main character’s animation and smoothness were excellent, particularly while executing some challenging combos. It’s important to note that not all actions have cancelable frames that allow you to instantly hop into a block after initiating an attack. This is something to consider while learning some of the more intricate combinations that involve careful consideration of the animation.
Next, there are three graphics options available in the game: Performance, Balanced, and Graphics. As the name implies, performance locks in 30 frames per second at 4K resolution, while balanced attempts to deliver 60 frames per second at the lowest available resolution. With the exception of a few occasional framerate hiccups and texture pop-ins, I found the game to be rather fluid and entertaining when I played it in balanced mode.
Even though you travel to a variety of locations, including abandoned metro stations and post-apocalyptic towns, the game’s center, Xion, is always populated. There aren’t many NPCs in this world, nor are they very active. They mostly exist to provide you with quests and a number of stores where you can buy goods.
The Naytiba’s design has to be the game’s best feature. The variety of opponents available ranges from slimy, oozy critters that inhabit corpses to mutant beasts and even some walking cannons. Their appearance is akin to something from a horror film, and although some foes bear similarities to previous titles such as Prey, they all possess unique characteristics. Some of the best-designed bosses are the Alpha Naytibas bosses that you will confront. Even though they are enormous and have a big screen presence, it’s their extremely violent fighting animation that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The Naytibas don’t have any dialogue per se, but they do have the customary grunts and fighting sound effects. You may expect the normal swishes and growls during conflict.
As one may anticipate from the game, the humanoid characters all have voices. They’re all excellent, but I can’t really find anything wrong with them.
The background score is what I find strange. Pop music occasionally plays in the background while you move through the world, giving the impression that you are listening to your playlist while playing the game. It appears unusual to me, yet it’s not horrible at all.
The game’s implementation of DualSense deserves special attention. There’s a part early on where you walk in the rain, and you can feel the rain clearly all throughout the controller throughout that part. It’s subtle, but it shows just how amazing the DualSense is as a controller for immersion. One of the few games that utilizes the DualSense’s potential is Stellar Blade, and I suggest playing it with every function turned on.
Conclusion
Stellar Blade is an excellent game all around. It has a fast-paced, methodical gameplay style with numerous endings reminiscent of NieR: Automata, an engaging story, and a soulsborne gameplay design that is accessible due to the game’s easier difficulty and wide parry and doge windows. It’s a worthwhile game to replay, especially with New Game Plus (if available), to fully realize your character’s potential and discover every corner of the planet. There aren’t many navigational issues in the game, and most of the puzzles aren’t difficult, but other than that, I have no complaints. Of course, anybody searching for a button masher won’t find it appealing because the fight does require you to learn some really nifty moves.
