Stellar Blade was a game whose announcement alone made it the most discussed game of the month. The game was first shown in 2020 under the name project Eve. Not much was shown until 2021 during Sonys State of Play.
The game was set to be developed by a korean studio SHIFT UP whose older projects were games for Android and iOS. Needless to say Project EVE was looking to be their first big release and SONY wanted the game to be theirs as
a PS5 exclusive. In a 2022 State of play, a bigger trailer was shown and the game was also introduced under its newest title Stellar Blade. It was originally meant to be released in 2023 but things didnt work as the compay intended
and thus it was postpone to April 2024.
As mentioned, Stellar Blade was under a lot of critism for day one because of Eve, the main character of the game. The reason behind its contreversy was her "sexy(too hot)" appearance. The media lost it with Eve as on one side people praise
her design whilst other hated her unrealistic looks. The game director Kim Hyung-tae, came out and release behind the scenes footage of the actress/model Shin Jae-eun who was used Eve's motion capture. In doing that he proved that Eve's model was
simply based on the Model and that the only thing they changed was Shin Jae-eun's face. He even went out of his way to explain why Eve's back is high detailed. The reason being, the players are stucked on seeing the hero from the back, so they
try to emphasize the heros looks.
The game was released in April 2024 for the PlayStation 5 and it was met with possitive feedback from the majority of players. Furthermore the game perform well on scoring websites and it sold relatively well. As of September (2024) the game is on many
people's GOTY nominees.
Story of the Game
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic setting where humanity left from Earth after a losing the Great War against some terrifying creatures known as Naytibas. To reclaim Earth, the Colony send an army to fight off they Naytibas. Our character, Eve and her squad
made their way to Earth but the Naytibas overpowered them. In an act of Sacrifice, Tachy, a friend and leader of Eve's squad sacrifices herself allowing Eve to escape with the help of Adam. Adam eventually explains that he is one of the few remainning humans that still live on Earth
and that he needs the help of Eve to restore their world back to normal. Adam needs Eve to retrieve a Hyper cell (Source of power) that is needed to keep their world safe and in exchange Eve will saly an Alpha Naytiba, an elite type of Naytiba. Through this team up, Adam and Eve come across
a space pod with a survivor, an engineer known as Lilly who joins the duo as a thank you.
The three make their way to Xion, the place where all the Earth survivors took shelter. There, Adam leads the two to Xion's leader, Orcal. Orcal explains how the Hyper Cell can be used to power up the city of Xion. He further explains that with the power of the Hyper Cell, they
will be able to revive the tens of thousands of humans kept in stasis within the city thus bringing life back to its empty streets. By that alone, Eve wanted to help but Orcal revealed that with extra Hyper cells he can sense the nest of all Alpha Naytibas. The more power the wider his sensors will
reach. Orcal even revealed that Eve's mission to eliminate all Naytibas will never be complete unless she takes down the Elder Naytiba. If she wishes to have that encounter, she will have to eliminate four Alpha Naytibas in order to collect their Alpha cores and create the Master Core who will open
the gate to the Elder's cave.
The trios adventure seemed to be simple, locate all the Hyper cells, defeath four Alpha Naytibas and destroy the Elder Naytiba. However, things are not as simple as they seemed as more things occur that complicated the decisions of the three. What makes things worst for them is the memories left behind by Raven.
A mysterius figure from the Colony who seemed to be knowing more about the world through her discoveries than our heroes seems to know. Whether or not Raven's word are correct or wrong it does twist their points of view.
Will Eve succeed? Will all the information get to their head? What expects our heroes in the future?
Thoughts on the story
Honestly in the beginning i wasnt that interested with the story given its very straight forward approach. However after the reveal of Raven's memories i was being more invested that before. The building of Ravens mystery as well as Orcal's reveal after reveal made me want to continue playing to find the answer to the mystery.
I was also invested cause of the whole Bible references of Eve, Adam, Lilly in a world that they try to rebuild and all of that. Its good when a game makes you wanna make different predictions of how things will go based on things that occured and how some ideas are just scrapped out because of new reveltions. My only problem regarding the
story is how some Characters had little to no character development.
Gameplay
Stellar Blade is an action adventure game that is very close to a Soul-like game. The players are placed in the shoes of Eve, a member of the 7th Airborne Squad who came to Earth in order to fight off the Neytibas. Eve is always
equiped with the Blood Edge, her trusty sword. At the start of each level, Eve is moving freely in 3D environment filled with enemies and items to be picked. Once an enemy appears,the players can lock onto them. Its addeal to always
deal with enemies one on one instead of focussing on too many at the same time. Eve has light attacks and heavy attacks. Just like other games, the players can combine different buttons to create different unique
combos. When attacking the enemies, the player is breaking their shields. Once an enemy's shields are cracked the player deals more damage and they get stunned. Similarly enemies get stunned when the player successfully parries
an attack. Moreover, Eve can use stealth kills to instantly kill enemies and give her the upper hand againts others.
The key to keep Eve alive is to dodge incomming attacks, block or Parry. Blocking is straight forward, Eve can use her blade to defend from attacks. The incomming hits will instead damage her shields. If Eve's shields break the player will be stunt
and every incomming hit will be critical. Blocking should be used as last resort. Parrying is the way you meant to play the game, perfect blocking attacks will parry the enemy, breaking their shields and creating oppenings for counters. Furthermore, dodging
allows Eve to jump away or to the side from the attack. A Perfect dodge gives the player oppenings to make an instant counter attack. Last but not least we have the special occassions. If an enemy attack shines white, the player will have to dodge forward causing
Eve to use Blink. Blink teleports Eve behind the enemy which allows her to start backstabbing enemies. Purple incomming attacks should be dodge by dodging backwards. Eve will then airkick the enemy, stunning them and exposing their weak point. last but not least,
gold attacks take time to charge and will instant kill Eve. The only way to dodge it, is to use the gun and shoot the incomming projectiles that charge the enemy. This will backfire on the enemy and leave them stunt.
Dealling damage and parrying attacks gains Eve Beta Energy. Beta energy is represented with the BE energy bar above HP. Beta energy allows the players to activate cool cinematic attacks by combining certain button combinations. Each attack can be used at a boss or normal enemies. Some Beta attacks
are more usefull on one on one whilst others are more AoE foccussed. For example, R1+X is usefull on cracking shields which is usefull againts boss encounters where as R1+ Δ are more AoE focussed that attacks in all directions. Beta attacks
can be upgraded and expanded.
Another type of cinematic attacks can be found using Burst energy. Burst energy is represented with the BU bar above the Beta energy and is represented wigth the color red. Burst energy are cinematic attacks that are unlocked as you progress
through the story. Burst skills are activated using L1 and one of the followings X,Δ,Ο and square. When activated Eve will take her pose whilst charging energy. She does gain frames of invisibility and then strikes her attack. Burst attacks are very
cinematic and focus on a more AoE style. Some burst moves can leave opponents stunt.
Eve's drone can change into a gun that she can use to shoot her opponents.The players get different type of Ammo that they can use during combat. Each type of Ammo has its own unique usage and its own set of Ammo. Shotguns are good for heavy damage,
machine gun can be use to crack shields fast, lock on bullets deal damage and trace the opponents and the beam its a freaking Beam. Ammo can be found from fallen enemies and from the vending machine. Dont sleep on the gun, as it can help you cheese boss encounters
and crack their shields fast. Eve can also carry battle items like different types of granades and healing. The granades can be used to knock enemies away and to stunt them. The final item is a healling vessel that recovers Eve's HP.
SPOILER paragraph
Last but not least from a certain point and on, Eve gets access to Tachy mode. Tachy as seen in the trailers will return after the oppening into for a small ammount of time. After that encounter, Eve is given her blade in hopes of helping her with her mission.
With Tachy's blade, Eve gets access to Tachy mode which acts similar to Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry or Ghost of Sparta from God of War. During that Eve gets access to Tachy's attacks that deal extreme ammount of damage and can combo into powerfull attacks.
Certain attacks can place the enemy into an infinite loop until Tachy's timer goes off. Once the mode is used and done, it will automatically start recharging on its own.
End of spoiler
The game does a fantastic job on constantly giving the players new abilities in a decent pace. However, with each level Eve can upgrade her abilities from the Skill tree. Theres a massive skill tree and the players can spent their points freely. There's a skill tree for
everything. A Skill for Eve(passive and normal attacks), a tree for all her Beta attaclks, a tree for the Burst energy, a tree for tachy and even a tree for the Drone. The players can always access the skill tree at any camp fire and in case of a mistake they can retrieve their points back
and invest them on something else. More attacks become available in New Game + after completing the game atleast once. All new Attacks take the flashy attacks into another level.
In the free area Eve can move to any location at any point. The players can always rest in campfires. During a campfire, the players HP will recover and every enemy naytiba killed will be respawn. Every camp has a vending machine from which the players can buy consumables such as battle items,
bullets for the Drone, extra heart to revive once and in some cases lore pieces. The camps also have Telephone booths which allow Eve to Fast travel in other areas. Moreover, an upgrade machine allows eve to upgrade her weapon, her maximum ammount of healings she can carry and other. The
players can also upgrade the cores of Eve's equipment and can also create new costumes. The upgrade machine is the same as Lily in the hub world. Aside from the camps and the telephone booths, the world is free with Neytibas and collectables for the lore of the world.
Thoughts on the Gameplay
Honestly i really enjoyed the gameplay of Stellar blade. Even though its very souls like its not as difficult as them which given the complexity of the story is good to not be stuck in a boss fight for hours. Ofcourse once New Game+ is unlocked the difficulty spikes all the way up but at that point you dont care cause you already clear the story once.#
The parry system and the dodging mechanic work well during compat and Eve has a decent ammount of attack combos that all look stylish. Additionally all the special attacks are really satisfying to land and they look flashy and cool. The fact that the game keeps adding different types of attacks keeps the game Fresh. The Gun was also a great addition and the
idea of having levels focussed on it really worked to its favor. In the beginning i barely used the gun but then it became a standard to my battles. Stealth approach was always a nice way to eliminate an enemy before focussing on the rest. Traversing was always good and there were a few instances where mobility was peak. If you know you know.
Post Game Content
The game does contain some form post content to keep people playing the game even after completion. Firts of all, the game has Two different endings. During the last mission, the players are given an option that will decide the final encounter as well as the ending. Once the selection
is made, the players can no longer access the diallogue option and will instantly be thrown into the boss battle of their choice. The only way to witness the different ending is for the players to replay the game or go through new game +. Another thing the players can do is complete side missions.
The world is at grave's door and the inhabitants need the smallest acts of kindness to make them feel better. Eve is there for them, she will gladly accept missions from NPCs and from the Notice boards and will do what ever she cans to help them. Some quests re locked to certain acts whilst others are
accesible at any point. Eve is interested in the history of the world, she would love to discover the lore of the world and its inhabitants. To do that she ll have to gather reports from different sources and messages from people that re no longer alive. Additionally, Eve is interested in cans(47) and
if she comes across some she collects them. The developers were also pleased to announce various costumes that Eve can wear to change her appearance. The players can customize her hair style, her clothing and her accessories. Last but not least, the players can challenge the bosses of the game from the main menu by
accessing Boss Rush.
Sound and Graphics
Stellar blade visually looks stunning. The developers used the Unnreal Engine 4 and crafted a very beautifull world. The areas look very good and the settings unique and post apocalyptic. Its nice to move around and discover secret areas with corspes of humans who hide there
hoping for rescue. The charactres have unique Shiluettes unless its random NPCs. The difference between main cast and important NPCs in comparisson to the random pedestrians is like night and day. The Naytibas also have unique looks based on the location you encounter them. The quantity
of them is also enough. Gameplay wise despite all the sparks and effects, the game is clean and the players can always dodge or parry upcomming hits.
Musically wise Stellar blade does not dissapoint. Whether you relax on a campfire or fighting a boss, the OST that escorts the moment does not dissapoint. One of the main complaints of the game was its lack of Deluxe edition which usually contains the music library of the game. Furthermore
there were no official releases of the game's music. The people's requests for the release of songs proves that Stellar balde's music quality is there. To answer the prayers, Shift up announced during Tokyo Game show that Stellar blade will be releasing the game's OST, as well as a DLC and
photo mode.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Stellar Blade is a very good experience. Is it a console seller? No, should you play it! yes. As mentioned Stelar blade is a game many consider for GOTY nominee and i can see why. The story is interesting creates different possible scenarios until the very end. The fact that it doesnt falll into the cliche plot
it seemed to set is quite good. The gameplay of Stellar Bade is fun yet challenging. The players re required to Parry most of the attacks or dodge away from the blows. Certain attacks require the player to use counter attacks (When the Enemy flashes purple/silver) but they can always try to move further away to avoid being hit.
Despite its difficulty, defeating enemies feels so good and during Boss encounters the cinematics that escort the take down are pretty much justifying the feelings the players had. The developers also made the wise decision of giving the players new abilities in a normal pace that doesnt overdo it and allows them to use them and get
familiarize with them. Traversing the levels is good as some areas are well designed and have their own gimmicks such as avoiding lazers, avoiding snipers shooters or simply not touching the water.
The quantity of post game content found in the game is enought to keep the players invested in the game even after completing it. Ofcourse adding the extra difficulty is a reason for any souls fan to return to the game. Furthermore, Eve can wear a certain skin that increasses the difficulty as it removes the shield of the hero.
Difficulty and challenge runs aside the players can invest their time trying to find all the secret collectables scattered around the world. all of these collectables give the players a better understading of the world and the lore. On the visual department the game doesnt dissapoint. The areas, the heroes and the animations of the hero are
very clean. On the sound department the game doesnt pull its punches. It does a fantastic job setting the mood and matching the vibe of the gameplay.
Gameplay of the Game
This is a video showcasing some of my time with the the Game
