4Gamers – REVIEW | Stellar Blade brings a strong mix of genres

In times where many publishers are letting developers go and closing studios, a few newcomers are emerging and taking on ambitious projects. This also includes the Korean Shift Up, a studio that we know from the mobile games Destiny Child and Nikke: Goddess of Victory. For several years they have been working hard to conjure up something on the console and now – with the help of Sony Interactive Entertainment as publisher – Project Eve is officially released as Stellar Blade.

In Stellar Blade we meet EVE, a member of the seventh airborn squad. She is sent to Earth to save humanity from the Naytiba, a post-apocalyptic and monstrous race that could have come straight out of a classic horror game. Fortunately, she is not alone and she meets a number of other people, machines and creatures who will assist her.

The story may sound quite typical, but it is generally very well developed and there are certainly a few nice surprises or twists. After a few hours, the game world will open up and the city of Xion will serve as a quest and story hub. Xion will gradually come to life and the more characters you help through initially trivial side quests, the more rewards and background information you will gain.

Stellar Blade also impresses in this regard, it is a Korean interpretation and unique mix of a sometimes gray-looking post-apocalyptic world with a lot of shiny sci-fi scenes. We immediately noticed the unique characters and strong enemy designs.

Enough has been written about the design of EVE itself, as well as the physics that strongly accentuate certain body parts. Designs by Kim Hyung-tae (Blade & Soul, Destiny Child, Nikke) can be very busty, although the portrayal of these aspects remains quite mild and ultimately not so frequent. The outfits largely consist of a fair amount of latex, although there are also a number of alternatives available for those who prefer something less kinky.

In terms of gameplay, it’s sometimes difficult to exactly describe Stellar Blade. With the typical combinations between normal, heavy attacks and combos, you would almost think that it is a pure hack ‘n slash like Devil May Cry, but timing, dodging and parrying are just as important. This aspect is very reminiscent of a Soulslike game. Ultimately, you can best see the whole thing as a successful mix between these genres, with special beta attacks and burst attacks providing the necessary flashy action and solid finishers.

Ultimately, Stellar Blade will often feel very familiar. As mentioned earlier, the gameplay is somewhat reminiscent of a hybrid mix of Devil May Cry and a Souls game, but the general atmosphere and exploration of the open world have clearly been inspired by Nier. Certain parts of the game feel like a survival horror game such as the Resident Evil series. It may sound strange, but a game like Darksiders also managed to bring together many genres and ideas from leading games at the time, and that was also successful in this case.

Ultimately, it is not a game for the most casual player among us, because even the story difficulty makes many gamers sweat a lot. Fortunately, a few specific attributes (an exospine that makes parrying and dodging easier) and upgrades (health, energy, the possibility of one revive) can compensate a lot later in the game. Perhaps some future difficulty rebalancing by the developer will also ensure that everyone can experience this action adventure.

Speaking of rebalancing, sometimes a few mistakes are made: some fetch quests are a bit too boring and could perhaps have been replaced by a handful of well-developed quests. Moreover, jumping and platforming in certain parts of the game is not always too accurate, due to the slightly vague physics. As a result, you will often make a mistake and see the game over screen. Finally, a few dexterity puzzles still need to be fine-tuned, because a few optional treasure chests require very quick reactions.

Audiovisually, Stellar Blade does not disappoint. The gray world is sufficiently alternated with a number of colorful scenes and the sci-fi aspect also provides a welcome change. For example, we found a beautiful and rustic turquoise oasis in the desert or we also came across a rustic Japanese cherry tree garden with a fish pond in the dark space station. The soundtrack itself has become an incredibly successful mix between K-rock, K-pop and melancholic music. Ranging from a heavy rock song during a boss fight and an exciting K-pop tune during an on-rails part to very esoteric and rustic passages, it’s all there.

The world itself loads smoothly, lighting and shadows are of very good quality and the enemies also look and feel responsive. There are three graphic options on the PS5: performance mode (1440p, 60 fps), balanced mode (dynamic 4k and dynamic 60fps) and resolution mode (4k, locked 30fps). Only the resolution will differ in the different modes, everything else looks almost the same. For a precise action game like Stellar Blade, we recommend performance mode or balanced mode. The latter only sporadically dips below the target frame rate and looks like a nice compromise between performance and resolution mode.