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

Unlike a 70% cinematic boss rush that undeservingly was nominated for GOTY this year, this is an actual good action game with a beautiful score and soundtrack.Wukong jokes aside, Stellar Blade from the outside looks like a game designed to just quell the male fantasy with an overly attractive and voluptuous main character doing very anime-like things. And from someone who beat the game... that is exactly it. But at the same time, its beautiful score, the high-speed, action-heavy combat system that evolves the entirety of the run time, and its gorgeous world design push it so much farther than just a gooner game. This is a perfect example of the capabilities of studios held captive by their gacha overlords, who routinely showcase their ability to make fun, engaging games with great combat but are forced to build those games around gacha systems. This game features some of the most beautiful moments mixed with an amazing soundtrack, making for something really unforgettable. The combat is the main entree here, being an action game, and every time I unlocked something new, I thought, "Oh wow, this is really cool," and I unlocked new things consistently through to the ending. Even the final fight of the game unlocked a new element to the combat. Everything felt fast, fluid and punchy, and the amount of combos you can string together here made every fight feel engaging. Voice acting and characters felt robotic; this is probably due to some translation issues, but I think it was partially done on purpose, as the characters are all androids that look human. The overarching story wasn't anything to rave over, but all of its individual moments were really good when they were mixed in with that beautiful soundtrack and gorgeous views (world design and character design). Did I mention the soundtrack is beautiful? I haven't played Nier: Automata yet, but after loving this, I can only imagine I would love that as well. I spent around 35 hours with this one, and there was plenty of the side content and collectibles I could have done to get another 10ish hours.