Stellar Blade Reviews
Despite not vibing too well with the demo, we were utterly in love with Stellar Blade by the time the credits rolled. Shift Up has done a tremendous job with their first triple A project and sets a high bar for modern action role playing games. There are some pacing issues, and the narrative's delivery stumbles, but the game as a whole is near perfect: the themes, the visuals, the music, the combat, the exploration, the world, and the technical performance. A modern masterpiece.
Stellar Blade is a hard game to pin down in the end. The combat really sings in its moments and the boss fights are some of the most memorable you’ll encounter in this genre, but it’s bogged down by a bland story, uninteresting characters and the need to make boobs wobble in every second of every cutscene.
As a first-time console and genre effort from a developer best known for making the self-proclaimed, “one handed shooting game”, Stellar Blade is an extraordinary effort that impressed from beginning to end with an expert mix of story, combat and exploration. Despite the few shortcomings that prevent it from allowing it to stand shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the genre, it’s one that has painted Shift Up in a completely new light, and I’ll be sure to keep a close eye on what they have in store next.
Stellar Blade is a video game that, quite simply, takes the best of many works, expanding the concepts in its own way. It's a warm and long-running production, satisfying and real action, which could certainly manage to do its best with a second chapter. SHIFT UP Corporation, by carefully packaging its work, has given life to a new series and created a character that could surprise in the future.
Review in Italian | Read full review
In a nutshell, Stellar Blade is just that – a game with exceptionally stylish combat that is both challenging and accessible. The narrative and characterization won't land with every audience, but developer Shift Up has made a noteworthy console debut.
In a year when Sony's marquee first-party offerings seem to be almost distressingly thin, Stellar Blade's dogged pursuit of an engaging and polished single-player action adventure experience is more welcome than ever - even if much of it feels like a loving greatest hits interpretation of past genre luminaries. Nonetheless fans of gorgeously rendered, high-octane action adventures with style to spare will find much to enjoy in Shift Up's stellar PlayStation debut.
Taking a step back from Kim Hung Tae's character designs for a moment, Stellar Blade is a phenomenal action RPG that evolves from the framework of NieR Replicant and NieR Automata to become one of the next cult classics.
Stellar Blade stands out as one of the best action-adventure games of its generation. Its combat system is both deep and multilayered, ensuring that every encounter is an exhilarating experience. Offering a range of options, players can tackle enemies in several ways, be it through offensive maneuvers or defensive strategies. Whether opting to dodge, parry, or create distance, the choices are intuitively designed. Coupled with its captivating narrative and cinematic presentation, Stellar Blade is an essential exclusive.
Stellar Blade is a slick console debut from a developer clearly on the rise. With an ever-evolving counter-attacking combat system, some superb art direction, and a sensational soundtrack, this is the kind of back-to-basics PS5 outing that fans have been pleading for. A dire English dub and some trite story beats mean the studio still has plenty of room to refine its craft, but Eve's inaugural outing is largely excellent across the board, and destined to become a firm favourite among PS5 enthusiasts.
Had Eve been a character with agency and personality, who actually responded to the drooling and leering that she’s meant to embody, well, she’d be Bayonetta. If her emptiness was hiding deep existential secrets that the game revealed with patience and empathy, she’d be 2B. Instead, Eve is a busty, long-legged cipher of a doll who has no idea just how far up her hind quarters the game’s camera is designed to go, and seems somehow quite comfortable wearing sci-fi heels that make her feet look like horse hooves. Perhaps it’s unfair for this to be the sole focus for some players, but, unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot else going on to draw their gaze away from it.
Stellar Blade is a masterclass in style, but it's lacking substance.
Here is “Stellar Blade,” an authentic slice of Korean cyberpunk, like Eve, beautiful in its own absurd way.
Since the action RPG borrows several mechanics from games belonging to very different genres, the risk that Stellar Blade would turn out to be a soulless "map" was very high. Paradoxically, however, the aspect of the product that more than any other has been able to convince us is to be found precisely in its solid combat system, which even without reinventing the wheel has given us great satisfaction.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stellar Blade is an excellent PlayStation 5 action game that blends tight defense and stylish combat in an impressive post-apocalyptic package.
A very good and generous action game, that's pretty good to sum up Stellar Blade.
Review in French | Read full review
It all contributes to Stellar Blade being a bit of a mixed bag, checking off boxes for what constitutes an action RPG in this modern age. That is not exactly a bad thing per se, but it is most certainly a missed opportunity for positioning the game as the leader of a new generation of experiences that build upon the successes that have come before. This title might not be the sharpest blade around, but it still has an edge that players can enjoy. Come for the visuals, stay for the combat, and try to ignore the suboptimal portions of humankind's latest attempt to take back the Earth.
Stellar Blade has great merit when we see it from a production point of view and as Shift Up's letter of introduction to the international market. As an exclusive to the PlayStation 5, it lets us see that the industry is willing to expand and show us the AAA proposals that other regions have for us. Despite its positive points, the title offers us a generic story and gameplay mechanics that lack depth, although the presentation and production levels are impressive.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Entertaining sci-fi action with great role models, which doesn't have many ideas of its own.
Review in German | Read full review