Stellar Blade (PC) Review

The visuals and combat left us starry-eyed, but not much else was quite aligned.

After more than a year of being exclusively available on the PS5, Stellar Blade finally makes its way to Windows PC. An internet sensation immediately upon its release, Stellar Blade has captured the attention of anyone who has come into contact with it, perhaps in part to the large, strange culture war that has chosen this particular title as its digital messiah — the ark that will once again lead us to the mystical land of games devoid of “Woke.” In a just world, we could discuss Stellar Blade without mentioning the place in gaming culture it held for a few weeks, but the unfortunate reality is that the two have become inseparable. By virtue of having an attractive lead in minimal clothing, it became the avatar of every insipid argument and trite grievance you could imagine. An unfortunate fate for such a well-made game.

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Developer: Shift Up Corporation

Platform: Played on PC (Steam)

Availability: Released on June 11, 2025 for Windows PC, and April 26, 2024 for PS5.

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Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, our protagonist EVE finds herself in the midst of a long-running conflict between humans and the monstrous Naytibas. Your job as EVE is to put an end to the destruction the Naytibas are causing, and to do so you must collect hyper cells to power up the human stronghold of Xion, as well as defeat the Alpha Naytibas that guard them. While you search for these relics and power sources, the truth of the Naytibas and humanity’s circumstances will be laid bare. 

In truth, the narrative itself is likely Stellar Blade’s least impressive aspect. Both in terms of the actual plot of events that transpire and their delivery, everything comes off a bit drab. The plot is not only predictable, but its direction is incessantly telegraphed if you explore the world in any capacity. Somehow, as the revelations come rolling in during the cutscenes, each character begins to act distraught and overwhelmed by the information, despite many of the logs and memories you acquire in the word telling you exactly what is going on. Even without the side content, the plot is familiar ground and exposing itself from the opening moments. 

Additionally, the presentation of the story leaves a lot to be desired. Characters are devoid of any personality, and most of the dialogue is flatly meant to communicate the events of the game. Who EVE is as a character — her dreams, ideals, sense of humor, etc. — is never explored in any meaningful capacity; a fact that holds true for nearly every other character in the game, save Adam. The droll writing and charmless characters are problem enough, but the game also suffers from its delivery. Camera work in dialogue-heavy scenes is uninteresting and often confusing, opting for closeups on the speaking character’s face. There are times where a never-before-introduced character will appear and speak to you, but the close-up view means you have no way to know where in the space they currently are. Are they standing next to you, across from you, above you, or perhaps behind you? Impossible to say for certain, as the view of the characters remains the same regardless of their relative position. These issues are further exacerbated by the dry delivery of the voicework.

Stellar Blade is an absolute treat, visually.

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The other visual components stand in contrast to this, as the character and enemy models, designs, and animations are all phenomenal. There is something a bit funny about the fact all of the women look so doll-like — sporting porcelain skin, small noses, and pouty lips (and simultaneously wearing little clothing, of course) — while the men just look like regular dudes (if they have faces at all). Visually, the game looks stunning, utilizing great particle effects and dynamic animations to really get you in on the action. Shockingly, the cutscenes and animation work during the fights and action sequences in battle are phenomenal, with EVE and the enemies putting on a show of impressively acrobatic displays of violence. The difference in quality between the exposition scenes and action scenes could be a bit jarring if the former were more prevalent. Luckily, Stellar Blade mostly leans into the action, taking most of its runtime up in battles and exploration while sprinkling in those stunning set pieces.

This is the point in which it becomes impossible to speak about the presentation without addressing the elephant in the room — the overt sexualization of its characters. The topic has become a point of conflict for online discourse that is somehow meant to represent a sort of cultural shift in values. Bluntly, Stellar Blade does feature a large number of camera shots directly pointed at asses and cleavage throughout its runtime. It also contains a vast number of characters in attire that may best be described as either ill-fitting or non-existent.

Going into an encounter haphazardly mashing square or cross won’t get you far; timing your parries, dodges, and interrupting attacks becomes a vital part of the dance.

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Stellar Blade, to its credit, does also have a large number of gameplay systems and activities to make use of. While I don’t love how long it takes to unlock the entirety of the combat system, it is at least defensible in the sense that there are a large number of moves and nuances to keep track of, so putting it all out there up front may have been overwhelming. The game starts it off simple, with basic attacks, strong attacks, and beta attacks. Sounds straightforward enough, but you’re quickly introduced to beta chaining (powering up the final attack in a combo) and different combo structures as well. Next comes Burst skills, which use a different meter than your Beta skills, along with evade and parry chain attacks. Even further still, you get a super-powered mode (again with its own meter) that has its own skills and nuances. All of this is only on the offensive end for the player. There’s still the usual parry timings and dodging mechanics to contend with.

That depth of combat is staggering, but in a good way. Stellar Blade allows for a lot of player expression in both the combo structure and the abilities you use. It also allows a lot of freedom in how you approach any given fight — do you try and parry everything you can, dodge many of the blows, or keep your distance as much as possible with ranged attacks? The combat is an exceptional high point for the title, and it is a lot more measured than I was anticipating going in. Going into an encounter haphazardly mashing square or cross won’t get you far; timing your parries, dodges, and interrupting attacks becomes a vital part of the dance.

The exploration is also quite involved, but not nearly as mechanically complex or demanding. You have a double jump, an aerial dodge, wall-running, and climbable ledges. There’s not a lot of variety in how you approach any given section — the intended method is usually telegraphed and necessary for advancement — but there are the occasional areas where creative solutions to platforming are doable. There aren’t many puzzles or anything of that nature around the open zones or within the smaller, self-contained areas, but the game does force you to make use of all of your available tools at some point or another. Visually, these zones are mostly uninteresting, with the two prevailing aesthetic themes being “Desert” and “Dilapidated techno-building” and not much else in between aside from a last-minute scenery change near the game’s conclusion — a damn shame considering the absolute mountain of side-quests the game throws at you to complete.

Stellar Blade offers plenty of things to do and fiddle with.

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Beyond the platforming and combat, there are other activities to enjoy in Stellar Blade. There exists a somewhat rudimentary fishing mini-game that can be played in many of the game's zones, as well as a shooting mini-game reminiscent of Goddess of Victory: Nikke, introduced as part of a collaboration with Shift Up’s aforementioned TPS gacha. You can collect cans and other items, as well as take pictures with your selfie camera as part of a collect-a-thon (if filling out your checklists is imperative to your enjoyment). I do think it is worth mentioning that the game offers a decent suite of accessibility options to assist any who need or want them. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but Stellar Blade has some menu options for color-blindness, QTE completion, mini-game adjustments, and many other audio and visual assistance features. 

The PC version is my first foray into Stellar Blade, so while I do not know the depth of differences or adjustments between the two versions, I came away quite happy with this port. It runs exceptionally well on PC, with my only hiccups being minor framerate stutters that were likely the result of my computer running other programs in the background. Innate controller support and a plethora of display and graphical options go a long way in keeping me happy, and this game has both.

In truth, the more time I spent with Stellar Blade, the more I appreciated it for the things it does well. I just kept learning more and more about how the game works in a very organic way through play. The nuances of combat, such as what combos to use and when, kept revealing themselves to me up until the end of the game. For every fault I might find with Stellar Blade, I keep coming back to its strengths. So, while those less-than-stellar aspects are very real, the combat cuts through all of that in my memory.

Verdict

For a studio with such a limited repertoire of games, Shift Up has certainly left their mark on the space with Stellar Blade. While nothing could ever live up to the lofty aspirations set by internet culture-vultures, Stellar Blade carves out its own space with grace and precision. Measured and flashy combat is the highlight of the experience, but there’s a little bit of something for everyone here. It carries on a bit too long—bloated by the number of fetch quests that litter the optional content—but still remains a fun play on the back of the exhilarating battles alone.

Image Credits: Taylor Rioux and Shift Up Corporation

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from the publisher.