3.5/5 ★ – andresdcortes's review of Stellar Blade.

I was really impressed throughout pretty much the entirety of this game with its execution in everything BUT the ending. It feels kinda like a PS3 era character action game in mostly good ways. Some Souls-like elements in its character builds and level design were also nice. Though movement & platforming could feel clunky at times, I never felt like it ruined my enjoyment. Combat ended up being a ton of fun and even though the open-world exploration sections felt too disjointed from the rest of the game, I still think it was executed as good as possible given the the circumstances. Now for the story, I can explain the GOOD part of it without spoilers. The relationship between the Colony, the Naytibas, and mankind as a whole I think was executed decently enough. The content with side characters & Xion’s stories did make me care about the city by the end of the game. I also think once the game also spends time just focusing on EVE & Lily, I began to enjoy their relationship and became invested in their journey. Now, to get into the BAD I need to discuss spoilers, so turn away if you need to. Basically all my problems revolve around the character of Adam and how poorly executed he was, despite a fine setup on paper. LAST SPOILER WARNING! (This is a rant) Adam… is stupid and annoying. Throughout the game when he is by your side I thought he had no personality and was just boring. He clashed with Lily in a way that harmed both character’s relationships with EVE for me. And even though EVE could’ve had a bit more interesting of a personality, she still felt like she had heart. So though I did feel Adam cared for Xion, he was just too boring for me to get invested in. All this being considered, the ending twist of him being the Elder Naytiba just felt SO awkward to me. When the final reveal scene started I was underwhelmed primarily because I just didn’t like his character. Then when he explains his plan, not only does it feel filled with plot holes considering all of his and the Naytiba’s actions through the game, but it completely undercuts any feelings he had for saving Xion in my eyes. It just felt too poorly executed because while I did genuinely want to do what was best for Xion, Adam did NOT feel like the proper vessel for a righteous and satisfying end to the game’s story. (To put it simply his plan ended up feeling like “I want to save all the puppies. And to do so… I will kill a bunch of puppies”) Regarding the final choice, I decided not to take Adam’s hand. NOT because I didn’t feel like it was correct for Andro-Eidos and Naytibas to fuse, but because Adam himself did not feel like the right person to follow his plan. So sadly due to poor execution to what otherwise is a fine climax on paper, I missed out on the true ending of the game my first playthrough. I got Making New Memories, the true ending of the game on my second playthrough and it did feel nice. However it was SO frustrating reading up on it after my first playthrough and seeing how it was locked behind what felt like too poorly built of a choice narratively. I feel a way to have solved this (other than rewriting Adam’s character, personality, plan, and entire story throughout the game) would’ve been to have brought Raven back into the decision scene after her fight. Her character I thing was decently enough realized throughout the earlier game to have made me consider the Elder Naytiba’s plan. If she had come back and made one last plea for me to join them, I honestly think I would’ve. But ultimately it just came down to the character of Adam, and it just wasn’t cooked right for me to be onboard for the game’s “true ending”. FINAL SAY: It’s a fun game and I’d definitely reccomend it to my friends. Just the execution of Adam and his role in the story threw off my initial experience with the game’s ending. Score: 7.9/10