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

Actually a banger? Stellar Blade intrigued me from the jump with souls like design, action game flair, and nier inspirations. And while it misses on some things, it absolutely nails others. The one thing Stellar Blade smashes out of the park is its combat. Sekiro parries, action game combos and special moves, and some super unique directional abilities. Not only that, but a whole roster of incredible bosses and mobs that made me feel like a God for learning at higher difficulties. The balance is perfect too, being challenging enough that you have to learn, while not being Fromsoft hard. Stellar blade knows what it is. This isn’t a soulslike in all aspects, it knows you’re a super strong character on a power fantasy, and so you can overcome all odds while still feeling very powerful. I even love the drip-feed approach that makes you feel stronger and stronger as you progress. The only thing I think can be improved is the gun. And it’s not even bad! The dedicated gun sections were cool and the enemy moves you have to shoot are cool and innovative. I just think they should implement a quick fire action so I can mix my gun into regular play more, other than these dedicated parts. Other than that, absolutely peak combat. Exploration is pretty good too. The linear levels are excellently designed. The open sections I prefer less, but they’re still good and I like that they’re here for times when you just want to run around. It also helps that the rewards and collectibles feel really great. Of course, the skill points and combat upgrades are classic dopamine dispensers. But I also really loved getting more outfits because damn some of these are so stylish. The outfits (mostly), earrings, glasses and hair styles all feel genuinely designed by people interested in fashion. Usually this is an aspect I couldn’t care less about, but finding a sick sweater dress to run around in felt great. There’s even some really great minigames to discover around too. My only criticism here is that they can be a little bit visually bland. Good stuff, especially paired with the background music but I needed more variety. Lean in to your sci-fi world some more!! Now my biggest reason for dropping this game’s score is the writing unfortunately. And it sucks because there actually is a great premise here. There’s some interesting stuff hidden throughout and the overall setting is great. But some of these plot points feel so messy. There’s unexplained parts, underwritten segments, macguffins and a lot of repeated sentiments. What really makes it far less digestible are the characters. I didn’t like a single one of these. So many of their lines and quirks feel unnatural, and God there’s some horrendous acting. I really like Eve and think she is acted well, but unfortunately she stands alone here. Besides all this, perhaps my least favourite thing about this story is that Eve is supposed to be from this space civilisation called the Colony, in which she has lived her whole life and has developed lots of relationships, and we never ever see it. This is such a gargantuan missed opportunity to world build, make me care about the characters and what they’re fighting for, and just let me see some sci-fi stuff. Not only that, but it would make Eve’s ‘fish out of water’ thing so much more endearing. Stellar Blade has a lot of misses, but I can only see it as potential. This game is carried by its crazy good combat and its crazy good soundtrack. I would love a sequel, and if they clean up the writing and acting, this could be some of Playstation’s best. After this and Lies of P, I’m very excited for what Korea is bringing to the industry. Also, I can’t believe that I feel that this has to be a paragraph, but the controversy about Eve’s appearance is overwhelming in discourse about this game. And I think it’s really stupid. Sure, she’s got a ‘sexy’ design. Probably too doll-like and some of the outfits are silly. But not a single time does this game tell you she’s attractive, she just is. Not once do character oggle her, make jokes about her, or flirt with her, nor does she have a wardrobe malfunction or fall on top of a man - which is ever so present in anime games like Persona or Final Fantasy or Xenoblade, or countless anime. Eve’s attractiveness is never mentioned or stipulated, she just is. She’s treated with respect as a badass woman throughout the entire thing, and yet games that sexualise their girls get a pass and is never a talking point? This controversy only exists because of the current climate, because if her game came out 10 plus years ago a la Bayonetta, Kaine, Samus, or Cammy, everyone would talk about how much they love Eve. Bayonetta and JRPGs have oversexualised designed girls with moves designed around kinks and sex, and Eve is just a girl modelled after a real face model and real body model. Who cares. I hate that this is the only topic in wider Stellar Blade conversations and not how great the gameplay is.