Stellar Blade review: An exhilarating spectacle that sometimes gets tedious

Stellar Blade surprised me twice. When I played the demo back in March, I didn’t realize how much of an influence the Soulslike sub-genre had on the game. With all of the comparisons to other action games like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata because of its female lead, I expected Stellar Blade to be similar.

But after playing through a few hours of the full game, I didn’t expect it to also have an open-world. Based on the demo, I expected tightly designed levels with interesting puzzles — and Steller Blade delivered that in spades. The open-world can be tedious and the story can be predictable at times, but Stellar Blade’s strong points shine through. With its real-time action combat, Stellar Blade is a thrill to play, and the gorgeous graphics make it a spectacle to behold.

Crash landing

Stellar Blade follows a woman named Eve who gets sent down from space along with her soldier peers to reclaim Earth from an alien race called Naytibas.

These grotesque organic monsters look like something out of a Resident Evil game, contrasted by the sleek and robotic design of Eve. I also love how much variety there is among the Naytibas too. For example, the Lurkers are plant-based desert crawlers reminiscent of the Infected from The Last of Us — and the Skull Troopers reminded me of Pyramid Head from Silent Hill.

Stellar Blade deals with themes of existentialism, and for the most part, handles them well within the story. For example, you’ll find collectibles called Memory Sticks from deceased individuals scattered throughout the world. These add a lot of worldbuilding as these sticks contain the thoughts and dreams of these individuals. What was it like during the war effort against the Naytiba? What was Earth like before the invasion?

That’s where I saw its comparisons to Nier: Automata the most. However, Stellar Blade’s plot twists are rather predictable and ultimately doesn’t land the emotional gut punch like some of its contemporaries. Still, the story is far from bad and it’s an admirable effort.

The game does a great job of keeping its main cast small. Its side quests involving its supporting characters and NPCs are worth taking on, as they always provide rewards in the form of skill points for Eve or useful items. While many of them are fetch quests, they always have some sort of backstory that helps make the city of Xion, the game’s central hub, feel more immersive. For example, in one mission, Eve restores a singing android named Enya back to life and then helps her regain her old memories as an opera performer before Earth was invaded.

Stellar Blade’s presentation is top notch, with breathtaking realistic visuals as well as its soundtrack. The holy choir fits the game’s existentialism and religious themes, and the blaring guitars get me amped up for boss battles. I personally love the jazz jingle that plays whenever I visit Xion’s side quest job board, and it sounds like something out of Persona 5.

Fighting spirit

As previously mentioned, Stellar Blade’s combat has a lot of Soulsike influence, which means players have to be more deliberate. There’s a heavy emphasis on parrying and dodging attacks while waiting for the right time to strike. Eve’s sword strikes feel incredibly satisfying, especially with the DualSense’s haptic feedback features. The window for parrying attacks isn’t as forgivable as Rise of the Ronin, but every time I successfully pull them off, I can feel the controller shaking, which I absolutely love.

Thankfully, as a Sony published game, Stellar Blade offers plenty of accessibility options, such as slowing time with a button prompt to let you know when to parry if you’re having trouble, as well as filters to help with colorblindness.

Eve has access to a gun, too, which adds even more variety to the gameplay. Between standard bullets, rockets, and even a giant laser beam, it was great switching between close and ranged combat in order to keep combat from feeling stale.

I also enjoyed how simple Eve’s gameplay progression was. After defeating enemies, you earn Skill Points to invest in Eve’s combat abilities, such as making her attacks stronger or giving her extra room to dodge enemy strikes. Her weapons and parameters like HP are upgradeable with items dropped by powerful enemies or materials found on her fallen soldiers bodies throughout the world. It’s all very straightforward — and I didn’t feel overwhelmed by any complex stats or numbers.

Feeling like 'Mad Max' and 'Dune'

Stellar Blade has both an open-world and closed level areas. They both compliment each other and add a lot of environmental variety. However, there are some small gripes I have with them. For starters, the open-world feels unnecessarily big. The two big open-world areas, the Wasteland and Great Desert, feature large swathes of sand that take forever to traverse across. I wish Eve had something like a horse from Tears of the Kingdom or Chocobo from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to ride on to make the trek faster.

The closed levels are much more cleverly designed and they feel more like classic stages in a Bayonetta or 3D Mario game. Sometimes you’ll be in a flooded city or even an underground lab. They feature puzzles such as moving a certain amount of weight to unlock a door, or twisting knobs in a certain direction to get electricity going. They strike the perfect balance of not being not particularly challenging, but not too easy. This made solving the puzzles quite fun and I never felt like they impede my progress.

One thing I’m not fond of, however, is the imprecise platforming in these levels. For example, I barely missed a platform I was trying to jump to, leading to my death. This meant I respawned at the save point, but it was actually quite a bit away from where I had perished. These instances felt like an insult to injury.

Is 'Stellar Blade' worth it?

I finished Stellar Blade feeling more positive than I initially anticipated.

The gameplay is fun and exhilarating, on top of having top-notch production values. While the story isn’t the most mind blowing, the cast of characters are a delight and the excellent worldbuilding makes the game worth experiencing. And despite some open-world and platforming woes, Stellar Blade is one of the best action games this year.