The Angel Descent

When I first saw the trailer for Stellar Blade a while back, I was surprised to see the name “Shift Up” come up as the developer.

I thought to myself, “The devs that made that booty mobile game?”

Suffice to say, going from making mobile games to a major console one tends to set a very different set of expectations. However, another Korean developer “Neowiz” known for making rhythm games absolutely knocked it out of the park with “Lies of P” only a few months back, which has since gone on to be one of my favorite souls-like game so I didn’t see any harm in checking out Stellar Blade and hoping that it would turn out to be yet another pleasant surprise. I’m happy to report that not only did I thoroughly enjoy my time with it, I came away feeling quite impressed.

Time to get serious.

MSRP: $69.99 (Demo Available)
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
Platforms: PS5
Length: 27~ hours

As a member of a squad of elite fighters, Eve drops into Earth, a once home to humankind that has since become taken over by hostile entities known as “Naytiba”. Her mission to eliminate the powerful “Elder Naytiba” goes off the rails when all her squad mates are killed in combat, and she ends up being rescued by a survivor named “Adam”. With the help of Adam and Lily, another member of a previous squad, Eve strikes out to complete her mission and begins unraveling the mysteries of the past.

In terms of the overall story and plot, there were plenty of plot twists and revelations along the way to the ultimate truth of the world and its current state. While I won’t say that any of it felt particularly inspired as I’ve seen the same kind of story beats in other forms of media, I would say that it was executed well enough to keep me interested in seeing what would happen next.

The characters and world deserve a special mention as when Eve discovers the last bastion of humans on the surface in the city of Xion, she meets many different denizens, all with their own history and problems. Helping them with their issues by completing side quests rewarded me with exp and useful resources and served to flesh out the world as a place with a rich history that’s just begging to be explored.

One aspect of Stellar Blade that has been most scrutinized since its reveal is the over-sexualization of Eve and her character model, but I honestly didn’t feel that it was a big deal and didn’t even notice it most of the time. I was also constantly unlocking new outfits for Eve, many of which were not revealing in the slightest. While I can safely say that I’m not in love with this particular art style, it certainly didn’t impact my enjoyment of the game in the slightest.

There are many different types of costumes, hair styles and accessories to unlock to customize Eve’s style.

In terms of the core gameplay of Stellar Blade, it’s a nice mix of combat and exploration. With access to a quick and heavy attack, I was able to unleash a variety of different combination attacks. I also had access to special “Beta Skills” which charged up naturally as I landed attacks. These powerful attacks were key to success in boss battles and my favorite of the bunch was a double somersault kick which absolutely shredded the armor of enemies while knocking them down, vulnerable to follow up attacks.

Later, I also unlocked “Burst Skills” which filled up as I executed perfect parry/dodge and allowed for devastating attacks which in conjunction with the Beta Skills could annihilate waves of tough enemies in an instant. My last ace in the hole was a special mode of sorts that could be unleashed during a pinch and worked like DMC’s devil trigger, allowing for powerful exclusive attacks and made me immune to damage for a time.

I also had ranged options in the form of the drone but outside of specific sections where I was unable to use my blade, I found my trusty blade and arsenal of moves was more than up to the task to clear out any threat.

As there’s no stamina meter and the combat was measured but fast paced, it behooved me to learn the timing of enemy attacks to land those perfect parry/dodge timings and given I also needed to keep an eye of the enemy for special attacks that needed to be dodged in specific ways (think Mikiri Counter from Sekiro), I was on my toes and fully engaged during most combat encounters. The bosses were especially a highlight, putting my skills to the test initially but as I became more familiar with the mechanics and created builds via equipment that enhanced my parry/dodge along with fast regen on the Beta Skills, I found myself breezing through most boss encounters in 1-2 tries which is a shame as I would have loved to bump up the difficulty for a more satisfying experience but it was not available until I completed the game. However, given my extensive experience with difficult games over the years, other players less familiar with action-adventure games may find the challenge more than sufficient.

Bosses came in many different forms, and each were a blast to fight, I just wish it were a bit more challenging.

Outside of combat, I was often tasked to explore large open areas and the game was very good in rewarding my curiosity with plenty of upgrades that increase my maximum HP/Beta Meter and other goodies. The many different side quests also did a nice job of giving me a reason to scour every corner of every new area and even though I didn’t manage to complete every quest, I completed most of them without the use of any guide or additional resource and was rewarded quite handsomely not just in useful resources but in interesting story beats and world building as well.

The aspect I disliked the most was easily the platforming, especially before I unlocked the double jump. There’s a weird momentum to the jumps that made accurately making jumps feel much more difficult than it needed to be. Luckily, these segments during exploration are few and far between and given that checkpoints were fairly generous, it didn’t hurt the experience too much.

The large areas are filled with secrets and begging to be explored.

Lastly, in terms of performance, I often switched back between “Balanced” and “Performance” mode depending on the area I was in as even though Balanced provided a pretty solid FPS, there were some areas that felt a bit inconsistent and bumping it to Performance mode made things feel much smoother. I also saw a total of four crashes during my playthrough which for a 27~ playthrough isn’t horrid but much more than I’d like to see. Given that auto-save was done quite frequently, I didn’t lose much progress but it’s something I hope the devs recognize and release a patch for as soon as possible.

The music sets the perfect tone and atmosphere.

As a first-time console and genre effort from a developer best known for making the self-proclaimed, “one handed shooting game”, Stellar Blade is an extraordinary effort that impressed from beginning to end with an expert mix of story, combat and exploration. Despite the few shortcomings that prevent it from allowing it to stand shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the genre, it’s one that has painted Shift Up in a completely new light, and I’ll be sure to keep a close eye on what they have in store next.

Fun Tidbit– The founder Hyung Tae Kim is someone I’m quite familiar with as I’ve been playing games featuring his art for a long time. My favorite of the bunch is still War of Genesis 3 Part II.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.