Well, it’s time for some button mashing – or at least that’s my main thought going into this new hack ‘n’ slash, admittedly one with plenty of surface appeal. We’re not here to judge a book by its cover though, otherwise this review is an exercise in me shouting into the void – more so anyway.
Coming off of a replay of the philosophical, well-reviewed and frankly just damned impressive Nier Automata, I was a little reticent about picking up Stellar Blade. Hyung Tae-Kim, the game director even compared the two games himself. In doing so he basically stated, ‘Nier has a better story, but I made mine look better’ – not full of promise, but not enough to deter me.
In a vein as old as games and sci fi itself, you play as Eve, a soldier in the future who is trying to piece together the remnants of humanity on a post-apocalyptic Earth (yes, our Earth) against the Naytibas, basically the mysterious bad guys who you find more out about as you play.
The structure itself is also in the same easy to read vein, clear progression throughout the world, some light RPG elements to develop a more nuanced playstyle for yourself, and some marked out bosses so you know what your brief is – go forth and slash! And slash you can! And hack for that matter. The director’s statement on being visually focussed rings true. Combat is sleek, smooth, absolutely takes advantage of the PS5’s increase in processing over the previous generation and demands your attention to – much to my button mashing chagrin.
The combat can easily overwhelm you if you don’t play by its rules. Be prepared to block, parry, dodge and riposte with the hand of some Souls-like games hovering over your shoulder. However, this isn’t a dodge-rolling, pattern-learning battle of attrition. You need to react and riposte with satisfying heavy hits wiping out enemies when you land them giving a real sense of Eve’s power, instead of just hacking at damage sponges – a pet peeve of this particular reviewer.
There’s also a host of different skills, special attacks and the like to help keep things fresh, and 20 hours in, I’m still not button-mashing and bored…at least not with the combat. Visually there is also a bunch of nano suits (read: costume changes) for Eve that you can unlock, some of them bordering on (OK OK blatant) fan service – but that’s a personal choice I’m not here to judge!
There are some RPG elements as I’ve mentioned too – unfortunately it feels like open-world padding with SO many fetch and go quests that are just…there. The EXP rewards are nice, as the skill trees are well developed and make differences to combat, but otherwise just drag on.
This is where my real issues begin however – what is Eve like? Well, she’s a dedicated soldier, very dedicated…that’s your lot. She has interactions with her companion Adam (yes, creationist imagery – but I’ll let that slide in games like this as they always seem keen to beat me with that particular stick) and we get the sense they have a strong bond, however there is no real reason as to why they have one, it simply exists pre-game, so we accept it – exposition or not.
One could argue that the protagonist is one that we should project ourselves onto, and I’m inclined to agree with some games on that front. I typically will create a female character for a playthrough on games that allow character customisation – and these will usually allow a way for me to meaningfully affect the story, such as in Baldur’s Gate (thank you Larian) or older series such as Mass Effect. However, there is way less of this in Stellar Blade.
20 hours in and I can’t really tell you much about the world, how it came to be this way or anything of note about the characters and their motivations. A game can’t just rely on the visuals and some admittedly satisfying combat, not when what we’ll hold it against (such as Nier, or even some Final Fantasy entries) have such well-developed and even philosophical stories. Does it ruin the game? No, but will it prevent it from really holding my attention or raving it about it? Absolutely
If this doesn’t detract from the enjoyment for you however, and you don’t need to specifically scratch some masochistic itch with Sekiro or Dark Souls with the combat – Stellar Blade may just be for you – at least it will look fantastic throughout.
Author: Tom, Cardiff Store
