Stellar Blade is a new hit for PS5, preparing for release on April 26. Recently, the developers posted a free demo, in which you can complete a level in an hour and defeat the first serious boss. However, this is not what made the game famous. The provocative appearance of the heroine immediately attracted public attention. We couldn’t pass it up and also tried out the demo to finally find out if there was anything in Stellar Blade other than expressive shapes.
Not for children’s anime
Before you start, what immediately catches your attention are the settings. In addition to the standard brightness and vibration features of triggers, there is a separate menu for images. There are three options to choose from: ‘performance’, ‘balance’ and ‘quality’. The game handles all three modes well. Despite the lower frame rate in ‘quality’, your eyes will not hurt and you will have time to act depending on the situation. From the time of Horizon Forbidden West is the second Sony game in which the image quality mode works well. However, the other two do not spoil the impression too much: the graphics in the new product are top class.
The second interesting setting is the length of the main character Eva’s hair. The girl’s entire body, including her curls, moves according to physics. Something similar has already happened, but a striking example would be a restart 2013’s Tomb Raider, where Lara’s tail could also become “realistic”, but significantly reduced the performance of everything else. There are no problems here, it all depends on your preferences. We recommend stopping at the long tail to evaluate the technology.
The demo starts from the very beginning of the game. Anime spaceships release landing pods over an as-yet-unknown planet. The fleet is attacked, after which our heroine lands hard on the surface. An interesting mechanic immediately appears when you have to perform actions that usually belong to cutscenes. To open the capsule, you need to pull the lever several times from the first person. It is not yet clear whether there will be many moments like this, but special QTEs can also be found within the demo.
It soon becomes clear that Eva is a member of a special detachment of paratroopers, consisting exclusively of girls. They all wear sexy costumes, have energy spikes (a term from the game), and fight with swords that can turn into hairpins. Stylish? Doubtless. From the very beginning it is important to understand that this is a real anime, so the beauty here is exaggerated and there is no realism.
You’ve probably already noticed that Eva has beautiful curves. Costumes only emphasize the advantages of the heroine. Studio head Hyung-Tae Kim noted in an interview that in third-person games, gamers most often see the character from the back, so they should like this angle. And damn, thank this man for this idea. While European studios compete to see which other heroine they can turn into a male monster, South Korean studio Shift Up is making beauty. Furthermore, the project is not afraid to show blood and mutilation. Everything is grown up here, so no halftones.
The girl’s enemies will be biotic monsters, reminiscent of the enemies from Devil May Cry, but more insect-like. For now the list of bestiaries is small, but it will certainly expand as you progress.
The landing fails, Eve’s friend is murdered and she herself is saved by an unknown man with the sounding name Adam. After this, the heroine agrees to help him and goes to the destroyed city for important information. From this point on, two discoveries occur. Firstly, this was the main source of inspiration for the developers NieR: Automata. We travel through a post-apocalyptic city of people with familiar, but almost completely destroyed buildings. In some places there are even Russian inscriptions in shops, for which special respect. Secondly, Stellar Blade is soul-like. There will be bonfires, respawning enemies, and tons of shortcuts.
However, we must give the creators their due; they won’t force players with exorbitant complexity and unresponsive controls, presenting it as a challenge. The new product is very comfortable. Moreover, this is the friendliest “Sols” in our memory.
What do you think of beautiful main characters?
Kill them with beauty
Gameplay plays an important role in such positive impressions. Eva fights quickly, can jump, run and perform multi-step combos. The development is gradual, so you can easily master each technique or hone it in training mode. In general, the combat system is slasher, which is unusual for souls, which are usually composed according to the same scheme. Plus, parries work well. If you cursed the recent Lies from P due to the fact that the game about perfect blocks does not allow you to make the same blocks normally, you can relax. There is almost always time and opportunity here. Finally, Eva has techniques that effectively neutralize the unblockable attacks of particularly strong enemies, making battles more dynamic and easier.
The speed makes encounters with enemies feel more varied. Somewhere, a mutant can be defeated with one blow, by jumping on top of him or approaching him from behind. There are times when Eva fights with a whole group of not very strong enemies, and sometimes she enters into a duel with armored or fast opponents. At the same time, waving the hairpin does not become boring. Firstly, after death you do not lose your “soul” and in any case you become stronger, and secondly, every battle can always be played out differently.
The boss deserves a few words. Let’s say right away that the enemy is not difficult, but it is easy to determine from him what awaits the players in the future. You’ll need to use parries, dodges, and even fast running on repeated area attacks. Even if you don’t win on the first try, the second or third will definitely be successful. It seems like a very good balance between complexity and comfort, which few Sols have been able to achieve.
The study was diversified with acrobatics. Without unnecessary complications, Eva can climb certain ledges, and normal jumps reduce the number of situations where you simply miss and fall into the abyss. There is also swimming. Apparently the heroine is a high-tech robot or a highly modernized person, so she cannot die from lack of oxygen.
After the demo, the conclusions are simple. Stellar Blade is a great game that definitely deserves your attention. The developers have done a great job breathing life into a tired genre, adding variety to everything: exploration, combat, and gameplay. Moreover, it is a very beautiful game with a charming heroine who is constantly doing something cool. Comparisons with NieR: Automata are certainly appropriate, but this shouldn’t spoil the project. We were impressed and recommend that you mark your calendars for the release date. The game is worth it.
Have you played the Stellar Blade demo?
Source: VG Times