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

An excellent first console showing from the team at SHIFT UP. Stellar blade is quite simply a stellar game. Visually stunning, strongly optimised with a great sense of action and bucketloads of style. This game is a masterclass in character, environment and audio design. I had an absolutely fantastic 25 hours playing through Stellar Blade. That said, with any maiden release there will be teething problems, and whilst these are minimal, they can happen at crucial times which make you want to scratch at your skin. At times, the polish scene in FromSoft or even NeoWiz’s Lies of P is sorely lacking in terms of the parrying combat. I would say that combat works fluid and satisfying around 85% of the time, and then the remaining 15% is what you might call “jank”. Additionally, Stellar Blade whilst exceptionally strong in almost every other attribute, doesn’t exactly break ground in terms of storytelling. There’s some awesome themes here which are explored to a limited extent, and a few admitted ass-pulls for the sake of the late game. A lot of the key plot points are quite patchy, and could do with being further expanded upon. But I’d like to re-iterate - there’s a good story here, with some really cool moments and concepts which ponder what it means to be human, at the very least covered at a surface level. Good stuff overall! I mentioned style before - this game has it pouring out of its seams. Stylish executions akin to Devil May Cry or Jedi: Fallen Order are aplenty, making for a satisfying end to almost every fight. There’s great customisability within the outfits for the protagonist, Eve, too. The sheer amount of stylish costumes you can slaughter monsters in provides a great incentive for exploring the game’s expansive open areas, as well as revisiting the linear sections seen throughout major story chapters. Souls-lite elements mixed with Hack n’ Slash style makes Stellar Blade a joy from start to finish, and I eagerly await SHIFT UP’s next collaboration with PS Studios in the most likely far-off future.