4/5 ★ – Chaos_Controller's review of Stellar Blade.

Stellar Blade is a really great game. If you like games like Nier Automata, Metal Gear Rising, Jedi Survivor and Sekiro, you're gonna enjoy the hell out of this. Excellent combat with lots of versatility, strengthened by large enemy variety and amazing boss fights. A great progression system that never feels slow and needlessly tacked on. Engaging exploration through a cool world. Great customization with lots of cosmetics to unlock. And some fantastic music, reminiscent of Nier Automata and Metal Gear Rising. The biggest problem Stellar Blade has, is its story, and the thing that really drags that element down, is the characters, writing and voice direction. There's just an air of lifelessness throughout all of it. The plot is pretty interesting, but it's impossible to get into, when the writing is either incredibly dry or incredibly strange. Sometimes characters say things that make absolutely no sense, almost as if there was some AI translating error. Voice direction also really lacks, especially with Adam, who delivers every line with the same low energy breathy tone, and 0 emotional range. He might be the most bland character I've ever seen in a game. Villains are also not well done, and the endings (seen 2 of the 3) fall completely flat because they do not feel like real conclusions, but more like setup for a sequel. But at least there's some cutscenes with phenomenal action, and Eve lookin...yaknow. So yeah, don't go into this expecting Nier Automata level storytelling. Go into it expecting an incredibly fun, and even decently challenging action game. Also bonus points for being Sony exclusive that actually has New Game Plus at launch.