It's good enough that it made me realize that I miss character action games in this current climate where everything is a soulslike.
The game has some amazing music and combat design and it even doesn't falter with the genre usual of gameplay gimmicks but instead makes a pretty decent Dead Space clone.
I also found the story to be interesting enough and it left it in pretty interesting place for an sequel so I'm excited about that.
Easily the weakest link is our main trio who are all so very bland. I'm not even sure if somebody asked me to tell something about them I could tell them anything else than that they're hot.
Plus points for outfits that I don't need to buy with real money.
The game has some amazing music and combat design and it even doesn't falter with the genre usual of gameplay gimmicks but instead makes a pretty decent Dead Space clone.
I also found the story to be interesting enough and it left it in pretty interesting place for an sequel so I'm excited about that.
Easily the weakest link is our main trio who are all so very bland. I'm not even sure if somebody asked me to tell something about them I could tell them anything else than that they're hot.
Plus points for outfits that I don't need to buy with real money.
apesar das controvérsias esse aqui foi muito foda! não tem como eu amo uma ação com combate foda e cinemáticas bem lendárias sou fácil de agradar! a trilha sonora também é uma obra prima.. no geral muito bom e peguei um final bem interessante. EVE você é minha mãe!!
Really enjoyed this game. Super fun combat and exploration. Also liked the outfits
A very uneven game trying to be too many things, but occasionally succeeding at some of those to create a mostly enjoyable experience.
The story is absolutely nothing. The most predictable story you can imagine where you will know how it all ends within the first hour. Characters are as wooden as can be. There's nothing of value here.
As far as filler open worlds designed to inflate play time goes this is certainly one of them. Uninspired, bland quest design. Collecting new outfits for Eve and the party is the only enjoyable aspect, but that's integrated into the linear sections too.
On the positive side are combat, music, and art direction. For a studios first major AAA offering the smoothness of the combat system impresses. It's responsive and impactful in all the ways you can ask for. Some issues with enemy design not scaling with the sheer amount of abilities you get leads to a lot of normal encounters feel meaningless and promotes ability spam.
The last 1/3rd of this game completely saves the experience. All those issues pile up until this point and then the game takes a turn. Boss design dramatically improves both mechanically and visually. Challenge is increased substantially. Environment design is striking. Cinematic direction is immaculate. It adds up to one of the more enjoyable finale experiences I've had.
The story is absolutely nothing. The most predictable story you can imagine where you will know how it all ends within the first hour. Characters are as wooden as can be. There's nothing of value here.
As far as filler open worlds designed to inflate play time goes this is certainly one of them. Uninspired, bland quest design. Collecting new outfits for Eve and the party is the only enjoyable aspect, but that's integrated into the linear sections too.
On the positive side are combat, music, and art direction. For a studios first major AAA offering the smoothness of the combat system impresses. It's responsive and impactful in all the ways you can ask for. Some issues with enemy design not scaling with the sheer amount of abilities you get leads to a lot of normal encounters feel meaningless and promotes ability spam.
The last 1/3rd of this game completely saves the experience. All those issues pile up until this point and then the game takes a turn. Boss design dramatically improves both mechanically and visually. Challenge is increased substantially. Environment design is striking. Cinematic direction is immaculate. It adds up to one of the more enjoyable finale experiences I've had.
Beautiful enviroments, amazing music and fun combat. Story is alright but very predictable. Characters are quite bland, especially EVE. But I have so much fun with this game. Also so many collectable, my brain goes brr. Kinda want a sequel.
And so, once I got a suit I really liked and understood the combat. I was loving my experience. In that time I had many thoughts here are some I was able to recall after my time with SB.
A thought provoking story with poor execution wasn't going to stop me from enjoying a game with a femme fatale that was both enjoyable and eye candy.
I'm a simple man, or maybe a man of really specific tastes. I love chasing loot but the loot I love the most are always cosmetic. I feel the outfits In this game are butt ass ugly, there's probably like 4-5 good suits out of 30+ but that's okay because the carrot at the end of the stick was finding out what outfit I would get next.
Combat in a nutshell is really satisfying, think of an a souls game but with an arcade flavor. If a would game is all wieght, heft and grounded animations then Stellar Blade is light, fast and stylish. I had fun with it. I can tell you that I've never stuck with a souls game longer than I have with SB and that's likely due to the very specific tastes I mentioned earlier.
Now let's talk about the Nier: Automata comparisons. Having not played Nier automata since it was released, I might be missing some similarities but that being said this game really wears it's inspiration on its sleeve. Particularly the setting, the themes and music. It's not shy about being so close to what inspired it. I wouldn't say it's an alternative to nier because the play really different but nevertheless it's SB biggest influence.
Here are some small nitpicks that hurt the overall experience.
-English voice acting is stale and lifeless
-Eve has some animations that are clearly not mo capped. They are most obvious when they use slow down effect during QTEs or cutscenes.
-Fast travel is a little convoluted and could be stream lined.
- the later boss fights can feel exhausting
A thought provoking story with poor execution wasn't going to stop me from enjoying a game with a femme fatale that was both enjoyable and eye candy.
I'm a simple man, or maybe a man of really specific tastes. I love chasing loot but the loot I love the most are always cosmetic. I feel the outfits In this game are butt ass ugly, there's probably like 4-5 good suits out of 30+ but that's okay because the carrot at the end of the stick was finding out what outfit I would get next.
Combat in a nutshell is really satisfying, think of an a souls game but with an arcade flavor. If a would game is all wieght, heft and grounded animations then Stellar Blade is light, fast and stylish. I had fun with it. I can tell you that I've never stuck with a souls game longer than I have with SB and that's likely due to the very specific tastes I mentioned earlier.
Now let's talk about the Nier: Automata comparisons. Having not played Nier automata since it was released, I might be missing some similarities but that being said this game really wears it's inspiration on its sleeve. Particularly the setting, the themes and music. It's not shy about being so close to what inspired it. I wouldn't say it's an alternative to nier because the play really different but nevertheless it's SB biggest influence.
Here are some small nitpicks that hurt the overall experience.
-English voice acting is stale and lifeless
-Eve has some animations that are clearly not mo capped. They are most obvious when they use slow down effect during QTEs or cutscenes.
-Fast travel is a little convoluted and could be stream lined.
- the later boss fights can feel exhausting
Never thought I'd buy this game, let alone have it as my GOTY at any point in time, this shit goes unfathomably hard and it's by far the best new release I've played this year.
While the story isn't anything special, the lore itself is interesting enough to urge you to continue pushing through if you are enough about the story beats.
The gameplay though...incredible. This is an action game through and through, the parrying never gets old and the combos are such fun to pull out even against the most basic enemies. It's flashy, satisfying and the learning curve is balanced enough to where you WANT the next boss you face to be based around parrying, just so you can test yourself.
While the story isn't anything special, the lore itself is interesting enough to urge you to continue pushing through if you are enough about the story beats.
The gameplay though...incredible. This is an action game through and through, the parrying never gets old and the combos are such fun to pull out even against the most basic enemies. It's flashy, satisfying and the learning curve is balanced enough to where you WANT the next boss you face to be based around parrying, just so you can test yourself.
Pretty good stuff, visually breathtaking with excellent combat. Shame the story is pretty guff and made up of plot points from superior games. Still a great time and I'll play the sequel for sure.
Stellar Blade is a great game hindered by a lot of small annoyances that kind downgrades itself into a good game. After completing Stellar Blade I do look back fondly on it and it's misteps didn't ruin it altogather. For a team that this is their first attempt at a non-mobile game I would say thats its a great start. For the most part what Stellar Blade sets out to do it does accomplish it.
Stellar Blade is a post apocaliptic third person hack and slash action game with light RPG mechanics. It is comprised of open world set peices connected togather with some linear dungeon like story sections and a hub where you can buy things and accept side quests. Pretty standard for the most part. My favorite parts of the game where surprisingly the open world enviroments. I think the game does a great job of exploration and collecting. It really does benefit the player for going off the beaten path and experimenting and rewards you with your mentality of "I wonder if I can get up there" or "Whats on the opposite side." Another aspect I really like is collecting all the cosmetic items and customize my character. The game does have a rather large outfit count and they are sprinkled throughout the game at a good pace. The more you search the more you get and I found myself chaning my get up quite often. I was even happy to be able to change my hair and get rid of those awful bangs on the default character. By the end though I was quite pleased with my look and it always seem fresh and never stale watching my character run around and do things. It also helps the game is very good looking, even if most of the enviroments are rather drab. Character models are great though and coupled with good animations it's easy to stare at Eve all day.
When it comes to the gameplay I feel like Stellar Blade is okay. I feel like it has a lot going for it but it doesn't really do any of it particularly well. While there is some combo variety it's very easy and effective to use the same two or three attacks over and over again. The start of the game does feel extremely limiting as well. Like most modern games this game has a skill tree and you really have to unlock every basic kind of thing imaginable to make the character feel not sluggish. Like double jump should have been acquired much much sooner. The game just feels so much better with it and for traversing. Just felt off with out it. Skills do meager damage until you spend so many points to max them out, so like I said you will be using the same few ones over and over again. The worst part for me though is the way game feels when attacking. Attacks feels sluggish and the responsiveness of it feels off. It's like sometimes I have to wait for the animation to finish before inputing the next button for it to combo or if I mashed square four times and let go the character would sometimes play it all out. It's kinda weird and hard for me to describe. I don't wanna say it's input delay because it doesn't feel like it is. It's like the attack animations are slow and I have to match the pacing which is uh unique I guess. It's not as smooth and free flowing like a DMC or restrictive as a fighting game combo but somewhere in the middle and it was hard for me to get a grasp on it. It really didn't matter in the end as I used the same few combo's over and over and most enemies will make you block or dodge before your combo even ends so most of the time I just the basic four hit light string as that was one of the only things that ever let me finish a combo. The game does have a parry and dodge system and it does feel great when you pull them off but I think the balance is all out of whack. On your base character your timing has to be very good to be able to perform the actions. I found it to be really hard and kinda igorned it unless it was required. After spending upgrade points on it and selecting item that made doing both easier, it became too easy to do.
That's a main problem with Stellar Blade is balance. There are so many small things in the game that have no balance or the balance is off. Like for example the exo spine item slot that you can equip to approve your abilities. There is only two slots in the game and you get the second one rather late into the game. Think of them as accessory slots. They can fundementally change the way the character can approach battles with things like faster attack speed, increased combo damage, double sheild strength, improved long distance damage ect. There are a lot of interesting stuff I would like to try out but it feels so limiting because once I had the one that had easier dodges and parry's it was too good to not always have one as that is two of the main mechanics the game wants you to use. I don't wanna rag on the combat too bad but it looks and sounds promising but just ends up being a whatever thing for me. Im not coming back to this game for the combat is all I'm saying.
It's like I said earlier is that balance is this game main problem. From enemy health to your damage output it feels off at times. Then there are big boss battles that should have felt more epic but were not because I steam rolled them. Then I fight a regular enemey that put up more of a fight than the boss did. Even in it's shops I felt it lacking. There is the informant that sells information and minor things. The very first time meeting them I was able to buy out their entire inventory and max out their bond in a single visit. I wasn't grinding by any means but was that like their intention. Why were things so cheap? Now I have nothing left to buy from the rest of the game. Heck items, money and resources are so plentiful you can buy almost everything immeaditly. Whats the point of opening all these chests just to get more useless resources I have an abundence of? The map system is kinda of annoying as well. I wish I could put marker's on the open map and have a way point with how large an area can be but nope. Also sections of the game where there is no map and waypoint and has collectibles scattered around in it can fuck off. Points in the game where you are in a dungeon of sorts and you get no map and you can't use your weapon outside of a shitty gun. Wow so fun. Let's take the combat out of our combat heavy game. Who thought that was a good idea? There are several sections like this. As for sidequests they are as lazy as they could be. Go to point A grab item at point B and return to point A. They don't diverge much from that and there is quite a lot of quests that unlock constantly. This is where you bulk of your time is spent. I don't always have a problem with that if the quest is fun enough along the way. I did enjoy adding a another checklist of somthing to do and explore in the open map even if it was kinda contrived it helped the exploration a bit. I just wish the stories or quality of the actual plot of the quest filled out some characters and more background of the world but they really didn't for the most part which kinda made them feel like filler.
As for Stellar Blades story im afraid it's painfully genaric. I really hate comparing games to other games but man does Stellar Blade really wants to be Nier Automata and wants to be it so badly. Sad to say playing Stellar Blade really did make me wanna fire up Automata because at least that game while very similar in the story department also had better gameplay and world. Even trying not to compare it to Nier, Stellar Blades plot is so one dimentional and yet nonsensensical at the same time. Everyone can guess it's one twist in the first few hours and by the end of the game when the character finally gets it, it doesn't feel satisfying to the player. It just feels like you are chasing magical mcguffins to appease a character and fight a boss to obtain them. Not much there beyond that. Characters don't really grow or have much personality. The writing is quite bad and the script even worse. I feel like the localization could only do so much.
Even if there is a sequal I'd rather the team not and try something new. I just don't think there is much to work here with this title, but if there is another one and they iron out the problems with this one, then we would truly have a Stellar Game. Seriously though even though I feel like I have been ragging on it I did enjoy my time with Stellar Blade it was a fun romp even if it's edges had a lot of sharp points. In the end it did enough to keep my interest and complete 100%. It's an above average action game, it's just easy to talk about it's flaws because it was so so close to being a great game instead of a good game.
Platinum #206
Stellar Blade is a post apocaliptic third person hack and slash action game with light RPG mechanics. It is comprised of open world set peices connected togather with some linear dungeon like story sections and a hub where you can buy things and accept side quests. Pretty standard for the most part. My favorite parts of the game where surprisingly the open world enviroments. I think the game does a great job of exploration and collecting. It really does benefit the player for going off the beaten path and experimenting and rewards you with your mentality of "I wonder if I can get up there" or "Whats on the opposite side." Another aspect I really like is collecting all the cosmetic items and customize my character. The game does have a rather large outfit count and they are sprinkled throughout the game at a good pace. The more you search the more you get and I found myself chaning my get up quite often. I was even happy to be able to change my hair and get rid of those awful bangs on the default character. By the end though I was quite pleased with my look and it always seem fresh and never stale watching my character run around and do things. It also helps the game is very good looking, even if most of the enviroments are rather drab. Character models are great though and coupled with good animations it's easy to stare at Eve all day.
When it comes to the gameplay I feel like Stellar Blade is okay. I feel like it has a lot going for it but it doesn't really do any of it particularly well. While there is some combo variety it's very easy and effective to use the same two or three attacks over and over again. The start of the game does feel extremely limiting as well. Like most modern games this game has a skill tree and you really have to unlock every basic kind of thing imaginable to make the character feel not sluggish. Like double jump should have been acquired much much sooner. The game just feels so much better with it and for traversing. Just felt off with out it. Skills do meager damage until you spend so many points to max them out, so like I said you will be using the same few ones over and over again. The worst part for me though is the way game feels when attacking. Attacks feels sluggish and the responsiveness of it feels off. It's like sometimes I have to wait for the animation to finish before inputing the next button for it to combo or if I mashed square four times and let go the character would sometimes play it all out. It's kinda weird and hard for me to describe. I don't wanna say it's input delay because it doesn't feel like it is. It's like the attack animations are slow and I have to match the pacing which is uh unique I guess. It's not as smooth and free flowing like a DMC or restrictive as a fighting game combo but somewhere in the middle and it was hard for me to get a grasp on it. It really didn't matter in the end as I used the same few combo's over and over and most enemies will make you block or dodge before your combo even ends so most of the time I just the basic four hit light string as that was one of the only things that ever let me finish a combo. The game does have a parry and dodge system and it does feel great when you pull them off but I think the balance is all out of whack. On your base character your timing has to be very good to be able to perform the actions. I found it to be really hard and kinda igorned it unless it was required. After spending upgrade points on it and selecting item that made doing both easier, it became too easy to do.
That's a main problem with Stellar Blade is balance. There are so many small things in the game that have no balance or the balance is off. Like for example the exo spine item slot that you can equip to approve your abilities. There is only two slots in the game and you get the second one rather late into the game. Think of them as accessory slots. They can fundementally change the way the character can approach battles with things like faster attack speed, increased combo damage, double sheild strength, improved long distance damage ect. There are a lot of interesting stuff I would like to try out but it feels so limiting because once I had the one that had easier dodges and parry's it was too good to not always have one as that is two of the main mechanics the game wants you to use. I don't wanna rag on the combat too bad but it looks and sounds promising but just ends up being a whatever thing for me. Im not coming back to this game for the combat is all I'm saying.
It's like I said earlier is that balance is this game main problem. From enemy health to your damage output it feels off at times. Then there are big boss battles that should have felt more epic but were not because I steam rolled them. Then I fight a regular enemey that put up more of a fight than the boss did. Even in it's shops I felt it lacking. There is the informant that sells information and minor things. The very first time meeting them I was able to buy out their entire inventory and max out their bond in a single visit. I wasn't grinding by any means but was that like their intention. Why were things so cheap? Now I have nothing left to buy from the rest of the game. Heck items, money and resources are so plentiful you can buy almost everything immeaditly. Whats the point of opening all these chests just to get more useless resources I have an abundence of? The map system is kinda of annoying as well. I wish I could put marker's on the open map and have a way point with how large an area can be but nope. Also sections of the game where there is no map and waypoint and has collectibles scattered around in it can fuck off. Points in the game where you are in a dungeon of sorts and you get no map and you can't use your weapon outside of a shitty gun. Wow so fun. Let's take the combat out of our combat heavy game. Who thought that was a good idea? There are several sections like this. As for sidequests they are as lazy as they could be. Go to point A grab item at point B and return to point A. They don't diverge much from that and there is quite a lot of quests that unlock constantly. This is where you bulk of your time is spent. I don't always have a problem with that if the quest is fun enough along the way. I did enjoy adding a another checklist of somthing to do and explore in the open map even if it was kinda contrived it helped the exploration a bit. I just wish the stories or quality of the actual plot of the quest filled out some characters and more background of the world but they really didn't for the most part which kinda made them feel like filler.
As for Stellar Blades story im afraid it's painfully genaric. I really hate comparing games to other games but man does Stellar Blade really wants to be Nier Automata and wants to be it so badly. Sad to say playing Stellar Blade really did make me wanna fire up Automata because at least that game while very similar in the story department also had better gameplay and world. Even trying not to compare it to Nier, Stellar Blades plot is so one dimentional and yet nonsensensical at the same time. Everyone can guess it's one twist in the first few hours and by the end of the game when the character finally gets it, it doesn't feel satisfying to the player. It just feels like you are chasing magical mcguffins to appease a character and fight a boss to obtain them. Not much there beyond that. Characters don't really grow or have much personality. The writing is quite bad and the script even worse. I feel like the localization could only do so much.
Even if there is a sequal I'd rather the team not and try something new. I just don't think there is much to work here with this title, but if there is another one and they iron out the problems with this one, then we would truly have a Stellar Game. Seriously though even though I feel like I have been ragging on it I did enjoy my time with Stellar Blade it was a fun romp even if it's edges had a lot of sharp points. In the end it did enough to keep my interest and complete 100%. It's an above average action game, it's just easy to talk about it's flaws because it was so so close to being a great game instead of a good game.
Platinum #206
Stellar Blade oferece uma experiência única para os jogadores, especialmente aqueles que apreciam jogos de ação com elementos de RPG. Apesar de previsível a jornada de Eve através de um mundo pós-apocalíptico, enfrentando desafios intensos e descobrindo segredos ocultos, certamente cativará muitos.
A mecânica de combate, embora inicialmente possa parecer uma fusão estranha entre Hack and Slash e Souls Like, se revela profundamente gratificante com o tempo, oferecendo uma experiência desafiadora e satisfatória. A variedade de habilidades de Eve e a necessidade de dominar a mecânica de parry e esquiva adicionam camadas de complexidade ao jogo, mantendo os jogadores engajados ao longo da jornada.
Leia a review completa em: https://reviewdejogos.com.br/reviews/stellar-blade/
A mecânica de combate, embora inicialmente possa parecer uma fusão estranha entre Hack and Slash e Souls Like, se revela profundamente gratificante com o tempo, oferecendo uma experiência desafiadora e satisfatória. A variedade de habilidades de Eve e a necessidade de dominar a mecânica de parry e esquiva adicionam camadas de complexidade ao jogo, mantendo os jogadores engajados ao longo da jornada.
Leia a review completa em: https://reviewdejogos.com.br/reviews/stellar-blade/
A damned fine souls-like, with a few drawbacks. Combat experience was top notch, easily the highlight. Save for the enemy variety kinda fell short. Audio mixing was an issue with some of the loudness in the voice acting. Last gripe, there were far too many yellow-painted "LOOK HERE, GAMER, GO HERE. HERE'S YOUR NEXT OBJECTIVE!!!!".
Those aside, I truly enjoyed its presentation and combat loop. Some of the boss designs were SUPER sick, and I look forward to my second playthrough to hopefully 100% the game, and get the 2nd ending.
Those aside, I truly enjoyed its presentation and combat loop. Some of the boss designs were SUPER sick, and I look forward to my second playthrough to hopefully 100% the game, and get the 2nd ending.
While not perfect, this game is a wonderful soulslike that I had a hard time putting down for the last couple days. I am a very big fan of what this game ended up being, and I’m super excited to see what Shift Up does next!
The combat in this game feels amazing, and honestly might be my favorite feeling soulslike ever. It really does feel like a mesh of DMC/Bayonetta and Elden Ring with a tad of Nier. It somehow all blended together amazingly.
Also the side quests in this game were shockingly good. While the main quest did leave quite a bit to be desired, I feel like the side quests helped pick up the slack.
Overall I highly suggest checking this game out if you are an action game fan or a soulslike fan. So far, it’s one of the better games I have played in 2024.
The combat in this game feels amazing, and honestly might be my favorite feeling soulslike ever. It really does feel like a mesh of DMC/Bayonetta and Elden Ring with a tad of Nier. It somehow all blended together amazingly.
Also the side quests in this game were shockingly good. While the main quest did leave quite a bit to be desired, I feel like the side quests helped pick up the slack.
Overall I highly suggest checking this game out if you are an action game fan or a soulslike fan. So far, it’s one of the better games I have played in 2024.
Stellar Blade is the gaming equivalent to vanilla ice cream, its good but well..
its fucking vanilla
The game is a solid sekiro clone, game really peaks during boss fights but my ONLY GRIPE is that each boss has a "telegraphed attack" where its a flashy cinematic move where you don't have control and will most likely get hit from it, but the thing is you don't actually take damage because the whole move was just a tease to show the player that the boss can do that move now. Its honestly like the boss is some fucking "Tales of" party member where they unlock a new move in the middle of battle.
The Story is bland, like it doesn't even try to hide the big twist its as subtle as a frying pan to the face. None of the characters will be remembered after like a few months. While Eve is very pretty, she's also pretty fucking basic both character and design wise. I honestly liked the other characters lily and tachy's design more
so basically wait for sale if you want a sekiro derivative
8/10
its fucking vanilla
The game is a solid sekiro clone, game really peaks during boss fights but my ONLY GRIPE is that each boss has a "telegraphed attack" where its a flashy cinematic move where you don't have control and will most likely get hit from it, but the thing is you don't actually take damage because the whole move was just a tease to show the player that the boss can do that move now. Its honestly like the boss is some fucking "Tales of" party member where they unlock a new move in the middle of battle.
The Story is bland, like it doesn't even try to hide the big twist its as subtle as a frying pan to the face. None of the characters will be remembered after like a few months. While Eve is very pretty, she's also pretty fucking basic both character and design wise. I honestly liked the other characters lily and tachy's design more
so basically wait for sale if you want a sekiro derivative
8/10
GOTY 2024
Very impressive game from a studio that has only made mobile gacha games. Stellar Blade caught my eye immediately upon the reveal trailer, and not for the reasons that you're thinking. As a huge fan of character action games, and a fan of soulslikes, this game stuck out immediately. Stellar Blade is a Nier: Automata inspired character action game with a light splash of soulslike combat, and it delivers on all of these.
The combat is fantastic, its tight and responsive, and challenging in many parts, especially near the end. I wouldn't say the game really does anything new with it's combat, but it is stands tall when compared to it's peers.
The open world aspect of the game was actually a surprise to me, and I think this game does it well. Instead of doing a massive and empty sprawling wasteland, this game focuses itself by having two smaller and densely packed areas. The game has a ton of collectibles that actually feel worthwhile to find, unlike many games.
The story was pretty decent, nothing super groundbreaking but interesting enough to keep me invested.
The side content was serviceable, and thankfully the game didn't overload itself too much with side quests.
The music is absolutely fantastic, but that is to be expected as it is made by the same people who made the music for Nier.
Overall great time, exited for the sequel.
The combat is fantastic, its tight and responsive, and challenging in many parts, especially near the end. I wouldn't say the game really does anything new with it's combat, but it is stands tall when compared to it's peers.
The open world aspect of the game was actually a surprise to me, and I think this game does it well. Instead of doing a massive and empty sprawling wasteland, this game focuses itself by having two smaller and densely packed areas. The game has a ton of collectibles that actually feel worthwhile to find, unlike many games.
The story was pretty decent, nothing super groundbreaking but interesting enough to keep me invested.
The side content was serviceable, and thankfully the game didn't overload itself too much with side quests.
The music is absolutely fantastic, but that is to be expected as it is made by the same people who made the music for Nier.
Overall great time, exited for the sequel.
After playing through the game 2.5 times for the Platinum trophy. I can say Stellar Blade is good game. Clear high points in the music, combat, and I'd also want to reward it's art. Naytiba designs are all over the place but some stand above the others. The world is interesting, however our vehicle to navigate it is kinda boring. EVE is all hands no charisma. I'm assuming that was the writer's intent that she doesn't really have too much going on up there however the highlights of the game are when you see a glimmer of personality in her. This game splits genre hairs as it isn't quite full on character action but also not a Souls game either. That said, the tropes from both genres blend together well and will keep the player on their toes.
A very rough gem of a game. I was hoping since they had the same team that worked on nier making the music, it would be great, but it was just okay. In the end, nothing stood out. Along with the combat is very odd its more about trial and error of memorizing enemy and boss attacks patterns then being reactive since all the enemies have very different timings with their attacks and it felt like if you didn't parry or dodge the start of an enemies combo you just got stuck in it taking a large amount of health off. The story as well is non-existent. For the most part, the side quests had more story than the main one did, but that did not add up too much. Maybe in a sequel they will perfect their vision but not this one.
Поверить только, 4 года я ждал релиза Project Eve. С тех пор она заметно преобразилась, стала эксклюзивом PlayStation 5 и символом второго Геймергейта. Удалась ли игра? Ещё как! Прекрасная конфета с красивой обёрткой и вкуснейшей начинкой.
Начну с самого приятного: главной героини. По словам геймдиректора Кима Хён Тэ, на физику волос Евы, которые дотягиваются чуть ли не до самого пола, ушло около года. Ему же принадлежит высказывание касательно большого упора на проработку задней части героини, звучащее примерно так: "Во время игры игрок чаще всего находится лицом к спине персонажа, поэтому мы подумали, что это [проработка задней части] очень важно". Благодаря вышесказанному становится понятно, почему физика филейной части Евы одна из самых передовых в индустрии на данный момент. За приятного персонажа приятнее играть. Просто и логично. От этого принципа отошли "прогрессивные" компании, сотрудничающие с sweet baby inc и прочими уникумами.
Но одним милым лицом и привлекательным телом героиня не ограничивается. Она имеет свои моральные принципы и верна возложенной на неё миссии, что можно понять по ходу продвижения по сюжету. Есть даже два случая, когда Ева отказывается после взаимодействия с доской заданий выполнить квест потому, что считает его неэтичным. Мелочь, а любо.
Графика и анимации на высоком уровне. Не эталонные, но всё равно отличные и позволяющие причислить проект к сегменту ААА. Не раз во время прохождения я останавливался, чтобы рассмотреть пейзажи некогда процветавшего мира, и делал скриншоты. А серией тяжёлых ударов с сальто героини и резкими красивыми взмахами клинка в воздухе можно любоваться долго.
Боевая система больше походит на экшен-адвенчуры по типу перезапуска God of War, чем на слэшеры в духе Devil May Cry, Bayonetta и старых частей God of War, где упор делался на множество вариантов атак и их комбинаций в серии. Экшена, безусловно, хватает, но он всё же не настолько динамичный, как за того же старого Кратоса с маленькой бородкой. Являясь всё же не огромным экспертом в жанре slasher, я бы сказал, что здесь что-то среднее. Серии атак есть, но не настолько длинные и разнообразные. Вместо них разные наборы спецприёмов и даже свой аналог спартанской ярости.
Геймплей вдохновляется не только слэшерами с экшенами, но и работами Хидэтаки Миядзаки. У нас есть свои "костры", называемые лагерями, отдых в которых восстанавливает лечилки, сохраняет игру и возрождает обычных противников. Есть срезки, открывающие пути к уже изученным лагерям. Но не бойтесь: игра не сложная. Она предлагает для первого прохождения два режима. Я проходил на более сложном и погибал заметно реже, чем в той же Dark Souls II. Более того, сложность можно поменять и в самой игре.
Саундтрек и арт-дизайн выдают всю прелесть азиатского духа видеоигр. Со стороны может вовсе показаться, что Stellar Blade чистой воды японский проект, но это всё же не так. Музыкальные композиции, играющие в лагерях для отдыха, во время боёв и в катсценах, приятные, разнообразные и отлично погружающие в происходящее. Дизайн персонажей, врагов, интерьеров, экстерьеров также заслуживает похвалы. Чувствуется единство стиля и уникальность. Образы яркие и запоминающиеся. Хорошо вписываются в заданный сеттинг.
Сюжет и побочные задания мне понравились. Пусть рассказанная история не уникальна, она подана на должном уровне, без пафоса и характерных черт постмодернизма, что в некоторых современных произведениях начинает наскучивать. Первый твист оказался очевидным, а второй удивил и привёл к разрыву шаблона, связанным с антагонистами и финалами.
Побочные задания схожи между собой по структуре и просят наведаться в ранее изученную локацию, выполнить в ней несложное задание, после чего вернуться к заказчику и получить награду. Плюс в том, что награды за такие задания достойные, после выполнения квеста игра предлагает автоматически телепортироваться к заказчику, что заметно сокращает время на обратное путешествие. Некоторые задания вовсе располагаются в уникальных локациях, которые вы не посещаете по сюжету. Ещё есть три персонажа, у которых свои интригующие ветки заданий, имеющие логичный и душещипательный финал. Имею в виду Энию, Кайю и робота с самосознанием.
Оптимизация отличнейшая. Последовал чьему-то совету и включил режим производительности, что позволило увереннее чувствовать себя в бою, потому как в демоверсии в режиме качества сражения ощущались сложнее за счёт меньшего количества кадров. И отсюда плавно я перейду к недостаткам Stellar Blade.
Первой проблемой могу назвать местами специфическую боёвку, а точнее ощущения от неё. По началу у игрока очень мало доступных приёмов и более маленькие окна для парирований/уворотов, которые прокачиваются за очки навыков. В связи с этим первые два часа сражаться с врагами, привыкая к боевой системе и имея мало простора для "творчества", может быть неприятно часто помирать и не понимать, что происходит. Сюда же можно отнести не совсем понятные окна для уворотов. Если парирования мне удалось освоить и более-менее применять их уверенно, то увороты мне так и не дались. Если враг загорелся жёлтым, то это лишь сигнал о том, что удар, от которого можно только увернуться, будет сделан, а когда — зависит от врага, ибо у каждого из них удары после загорания жёлтым наступают в разные моменты. Нет какого-либо паттерна и чёткой индикации для игрока, чтобы тот увернулся. Из-за этого лишний раз получаешь немалый урон.
Ещё одним спорным моментом я бы назвал платформинг, который местами задизайнен так, что пройти его, не погибнув раз десять, практически невозможно. Для некоторых узких мест, где нужна чёткая координация движений, героиня двигается слишком резко за счёт высокой чувствительности к движениям стика, необходимой для боёв. Но для платформинга это минус.
Последним недостатком считаю не до конца продуманную систему быстрых перемещений. Некоторые лагеря, как в первой Dark Souls, не предназначены для телепортов, из-за чего игрок вынужден больше времени тратить на пешие путешествия и использовать по две телепортации за раз: одну — для перехода из одной локации в другую (потому что телепортироваться от лагеря одной локации к лагерю другой напрямую нельзя), другую — для отправления к лагерю с телепортацией, который наиболее ближе к нужной точке пути.
Подводя итог, можно сказать, что Stellar Blade — отличное произведение искусства. Не стоит думать, что здесь один фансервис с сексуализированной героиней и десятками откровенных нарядов к ней. Здесь интригующая история, поднимающая вечный вопрос "что делает человека человеком?". Здесь интересный сбалансированный геймплей, сочетающий в себе боевые столкновения, платформинг и исследование больших открытых локаций. Здесь душа, желание сделать большой выдающийся проект и заявить о себе, рассказать в чём-то даже грустную историю. Я с удовольствием провёл 25 часов в игре, погружаясь в её мир и наблюдая за историей Евы и её спутников в лице Адама и Лили.
Проект делали около 5 лет люди, которые до этого занимались мобильными проектами. Shift Up бросили себе настоящий вызов и вышли победителями. Stellar Blade — игра, не лишённая шероховатостей. Но это не важно. Важно то, что она напоминает нам о том, какими весёлыми, красивыми и здоровыми могут быть игры, а также то, что стоит стремиться к большему и расти над собой, чтобы не стоять на месте.
P.S. Надеюсь, бедная инди-студия Sony Interactive Entertainment, заломившая за игру ценник в 70 долларов, выпустит в будущем Stellar Blade и на PC, чтобы большее количество игроков смогло поиграть в этот чудесный проект и моддеры восстановили подвергнутые цензуре костюмы. Костюмы и без того откровенные, но сам факт их переделки и добавления маленьких деталей, понижающих степень откровенности, сильно удручает.
Начну с самого приятного: главной героини. По словам геймдиректора Кима Хён Тэ, на физику волос Евы, которые дотягиваются чуть ли не до самого пола, ушло около года. Ему же принадлежит высказывание касательно большого упора на проработку задней части героини, звучащее примерно так: "Во время игры игрок чаще всего находится лицом к спине персонажа, поэтому мы подумали, что это [проработка задней части] очень важно". Благодаря вышесказанному становится понятно, почему физика филейной части Евы одна из самых передовых в индустрии на данный момент. За приятного персонажа приятнее играть. Просто и логично. От этого принципа отошли "прогрессивные" компании, сотрудничающие с sweet baby inc и прочими уникумами.
Но одним милым лицом и привлекательным телом героиня не ограничивается. Она имеет свои моральные принципы и верна возложенной на неё миссии, что можно понять по ходу продвижения по сюжету. Есть даже два случая, когда Ева отказывается после взаимодействия с доской заданий выполнить квест потому, что считает его неэтичным. Мелочь, а любо.
Графика и анимации на высоком уровне. Не эталонные, но всё равно отличные и позволяющие причислить проект к сегменту ААА. Не раз во время прохождения я останавливался, чтобы рассмотреть пейзажи некогда процветавшего мира, и делал скриншоты. А серией тяжёлых ударов с сальто героини и резкими красивыми взмахами клинка в воздухе можно любоваться долго.
Боевая система больше походит на экшен-адвенчуры по типу перезапуска God of War, чем на слэшеры в духе Devil May Cry, Bayonetta и старых частей God of War, где упор делался на множество вариантов атак и их комбинаций в серии. Экшена, безусловно, хватает, но он всё же не настолько динамичный, как за того же старого Кратоса с маленькой бородкой. Являясь всё же не огромным экспертом в жанре slasher, я бы сказал, что здесь что-то среднее. Серии атак есть, но не настолько длинные и разнообразные. Вместо них разные наборы спецприёмов и даже свой аналог спартанской ярости.
Геймплей вдохновляется не только слэшерами с экшенами, но и работами Хидэтаки Миядзаки. У нас есть свои "костры", называемые лагерями, отдых в которых восстанавливает лечилки, сохраняет игру и возрождает обычных противников. Есть срезки, открывающие пути к уже изученным лагерям. Но не бойтесь: игра не сложная. Она предлагает для первого прохождения два режима. Я проходил на более сложном и погибал заметно реже, чем в той же Dark Souls II. Более того, сложность можно поменять и в самой игре.
Саундтрек и арт-дизайн выдают всю прелесть азиатского духа видеоигр. Со стороны может вовсе показаться, что Stellar Blade чистой воды японский проект, но это всё же не так. Музыкальные композиции, играющие в лагерях для отдыха, во время боёв и в катсценах, приятные, разнообразные и отлично погружающие в происходящее. Дизайн персонажей, врагов, интерьеров, экстерьеров также заслуживает похвалы. Чувствуется единство стиля и уникальность. Образы яркие и запоминающиеся. Хорошо вписываются в заданный сеттинг.
Сюжет и побочные задания мне понравились. Пусть рассказанная история не уникальна, она подана на должном уровне, без пафоса и характерных черт постмодернизма, что в некоторых современных произведениях начинает наскучивать. Первый твист оказался очевидным, а второй удивил и привёл к разрыву шаблона, связанным с антагонистами и финалами.
Побочные задания схожи между собой по структуре и просят наведаться в ранее изученную локацию, выполнить в ней несложное задание, после чего вернуться к заказчику и получить награду. Плюс в том, что награды за такие задания достойные, после выполнения квеста игра предлагает автоматически телепортироваться к заказчику, что заметно сокращает время на обратное путешествие. Некоторые задания вовсе располагаются в уникальных локациях, которые вы не посещаете по сюжету. Ещё есть три персонажа, у которых свои интригующие ветки заданий, имеющие логичный и душещипательный финал. Имею в виду Энию, Кайю и робота с самосознанием.
Оптимизация отличнейшая. Последовал чьему-то совету и включил режим производительности, что позволило увереннее чувствовать себя в бою, потому как в демоверсии в режиме качества сражения ощущались сложнее за счёт меньшего количества кадров. И отсюда плавно я перейду к недостаткам Stellar Blade.
Первой проблемой могу назвать местами специфическую боёвку, а точнее ощущения от неё. По началу у игрока очень мало доступных приёмов и более маленькие окна для парирований/уворотов, которые прокачиваются за очки навыков. В связи с этим первые два часа сражаться с врагами, привыкая к боевой системе и имея мало простора для "творчества", может быть неприятно часто помирать и не понимать, что происходит. Сюда же можно отнести не совсем понятные окна для уворотов. Если парирования мне удалось освоить и более-менее применять их уверенно, то увороты мне так и не дались. Если враг загорелся жёлтым, то это лишь сигнал о том, что удар, от которого можно только увернуться, будет сделан, а когда — зависит от врага, ибо у каждого из них удары после загорания жёлтым наступают в разные моменты. Нет какого-либо паттерна и чёткой индикации для игрока, чтобы тот увернулся. Из-за этого лишний раз получаешь немалый урон.
Ещё одним спорным моментом я бы назвал платформинг, который местами задизайнен так, что пройти его, не погибнув раз десять, практически невозможно. Для некоторых узких мест, где нужна чёткая координация движений, героиня двигается слишком резко за счёт высокой чувствительности к движениям стика, необходимой для боёв. Но для платформинга это минус.
Последним недостатком считаю не до конца продуманную систему быстрых перемещений. Некоторые лагеря, как в первой Dark Souls, не предназначены для телепортов, из-за чего игрок вынужден больше времени тратить на пешие путешествия и использовать по две телепортации за раз: одну — для перехода из одной локации в другую (потому что телепортироваться от лагеря одной локации к лагерю другой напрямую нельзя), другую — для отправления к лагерю с телепортацией, который наиболее ближе к нужной точке пути.
Подводя итог, можно сказать, что Stellar Blade — отличное произведение искусства. Не стоит думать, что здесь один фансервис с сексуализированной героиней и десятками откровенных нарядов к ней. Здесь интригующая история, поднимающая вечный вопрос "что делает человека человеком?". Здесь интересный сбалансированный геймплей, сочетающий в себе боевые столкновения, платформинг и исследование больших открытых локаций. Здесь душа, желание сделать большой выдающийся проект и заявить о себе, рассказать в чём-то даже грустную историю. Я с удовольствием провёл 25 часов в игре, погружаясь в её мир и наблюдая за историей Евы и её спутников в лице Адама и Лили.
Проект делали около 5 лет люди, которые до этого занимались мобильными проектами. Shift Up бросили себе настоящий вызов и вышли победителями. Stellar Blade — игра, не лишённая шероховатостей. Но это не важно. Важно то, что она напоминает нам о том, какими весёлыми, красивыми и здоровыми могут быть игры, а также то, что стоит стремиться к большему и расти над собой, чтобы не стоять на месте.
P.S. Надеюсь, бедная инди-студия Sony Interactive Entertainment, заломившая за игру ценник в 70 долларов, выпустит в будущем Stellar Blade и на PC, чтобы большее количество игроков смогло поиграть в этот чудесный проект и моддеры восстановили подвергнутые цензуре костюмы. Костюмы и без того откровенные, но сам факт их переделки и добавления маленьких деталей, понижающих степень откровенности, сильно удручает.
Ass super distracting
Lo primero: Todo el discurso que se genero en redes sociales acerca de este juego se me hace una gran pendejada, literal jueguen el juego y cállense el hocico, demasiada gente dando su opinión sin siquiera haberlo jugado. bueno ahora si a hablar del juego.
El juego esta bien, todo es bastante solido, el gameplay, el diseño de arte, la música, etc. el único inconveniente que tuve fue la historia, esta muy normal y siento que es bastante anticlimática. no fui muy fan de algunas cosas que pasan al final pero pues puede que solo sea yo. también siento que el juego se inspiro de mas en NieR Automata, no tiene nada de malo inspirarse pero en ocasiones se sintió demasiado descarado con algunas cosas, tampoco es para tanto though. lo recomiendo bastante, lo disfrute mucho. El juego da un spike de dificultad algo alto para el final del juego así que estén listos para ragear un poquito(puede que sea skill issue de mi parte idk). Hay mas de un final pero probablemente los vea en youtube, maybe en un futuro vuelvo para probar el NG+
El juego esta bien, todo es bastante solido, el gameplay, el diseño de arte, la música, etc. el único inconveniente que tuve fue la historia, esta muy normal y siento que es bastante anticlimática. no fui muy fan de algunas cosas que pasan al final pero pues puede que solo sea yo. también siento que el juego se inspiro de mas en NieR Automata, no tiene nada de malo inspirarse pero en ocasiones se sintió demasiado descarado con algunas cosas, tampoco es para tanto though. lo recomiendo bastante, lo disfrute mucho. El juego da un spike de dificultad algo alto para el final del juego así que estén listos para ragear un poquito(puede que sea skill issue de mi parte idk). Hay mas de un final pero probablemente los vea en youtube, maybe en un futuro vuelvo para probar el NG+
more like mid blade
(Demo abandoned)
What the fuck are we doing? How the hell did Dark Souls 3 become the template for action games?
"Oh, it's the potential for good levels!" But what would good level design even look like in this context? Dark Souls 1 has a simple combat system that doesn't rely on large open spaces without obstacles. This way the player can be trusted to defend themselves in most terrain, which in turn enables designs like Blighttown, Sen's Fortress, New Londo Ruins, etc. where enemies can meaningfully interact with the level geometry. One can argue how consistently applied or successful this was in practice, but there is a solid design goal there that's still visible even up to Elden Ring (as scattershot as that game is).
As you make combat systems and enemy AI more complex though, generally you'll have to start making the simplifying assumptions of plenty of open space and no blocking terrain, which in turn restricts your level design capabilities. This is fine if you build the game accordingly, i.e. most of the classic linear action games. But Dark Souls 3 likes do not actually seem to be aware of this and so have dragged along huge amounts of bloat sections (Stellar Blade: swimming, keypads, climbing) so they can continue to pretend that the spaces between fights have any relation to the actual mechanics.
Similarly constructed arguments can also be made for the following Souls systems, which I will leave as an exercise to the reader: items, camera, pacing, leveling.
So I guess the whole point of these games is to grit your teeth so that you can experience the combat system? But is the combat really all that interesting? The camera limits how many aggressive enemies you can reasonably handle at once, and not being able to hitstun enemies with normal attacks pushes you into hit and run defensive play, which in turn pushes you to abuse the simplistic, timing-based parrying and iframe systems that all these games are cursed with. Why bother when you can just play Nioh 2, which commits all the soulslike sins above but at least has actually interesting resource management, accessible hitstun, deep weapon movesets, and so on. Why play any of these games at all when you can play Monster Hunter where the defensive, commitment driven style that soulslikes are known for is a hundred times better executed?
This whole subgenre is a complete dead-end design wise and doesn't look to be getting better anytime soon. What a mess.
What the fuck are we doing? How the hell did Dark Souls 3 become the template for action games?
"Oh, it's the potential for good levels!" But what would good level design even look like in this context? Dark Souls 1 has a simple combat system that doesn't rely on large open spaces without obstacles. This way the player can be trusted to defend themselves in most terrain, which in turn enables designs like Blighttown, Sen's Fortress, New Londo Ruins, etc. where enemies can meaningfully interact with the level geometry. One can argue how consistently applied or successful this was in practice, but there is a solid design goal there that's still visible even up to Elden Ring (as scattershot as that game is).
As you make combat systems and enemy AI more complex though, generally you'll have to start making the simplifying assumptions of plenty of open space and no blocking terrain, which in turn restricts your level design capabilities. This is fine if you build the game accordingly, i.e. most of the classic linear action games. But Dark Souls 3 likes do not actually seem to be aware of this and so have dragged along huge amounts of bloat sections (Stellar Blade: swimming, keypads, climbing) so they can continue to pretend that the spaces between fights have any relation to the actual mechanics.
Similarly constructed arguments can also be made for the following Souls systems, which I will leave as an exercise to the reader: items, camera, pacing, leveling.
So I guess the whole point of these games is to grit your teeth so that you can experience the combat system? But is the combat really all that interesting? The camera limits how many aggressive enemies you can reasonably handle at once, and not being able to hitstun enemies with normal attacks pushes you into hit and run defensive play, which in turn pushes you to abuse the simplistic, timing-based parrying and iframe systems that all these games are cursed with. Why bother when you can just play Nioh 2, which commits all the soulslike sins above but at least has actually interesting resource management, accessible hitstun, deep weapon movesets, and so on. Why play any of these games at all when you can play Monster Hunter where the defensive, commitment driven style that soulslikes are known for is a hundred times better executed?
This whole subgenre is a complete dead-end design wise and doesn't look to be getting better anytime soon. What a mess.
Stellar Blade is a game that has already caused a lot of conversation way before it's release. Mostly because the main character Eve is smoking hot. I won't look into this whole so called "controversy" any further because it was just stupid. A main character looking good is no valid reason against a game because it's nothing abnormal. Anyway what happened after that is quite interesting. The game started selling really well during it's pre-order phase even without people knowing what the gameplay would consist of. It was the best-selling game in the PSN store and other platforms like Amazon in many countries, even before Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Of course now you could say sex sells and everyone is just horny, I do agree but Stellar Blade sold even better when Shift Up released a playable demo that showed that the gameplay is also really fantastic. This leads me to the next question, who even is Shift Up. They are a rather small studio which has only released a few mobile games. So this makes Stellar Blade their first big game and that makes the game even more impressive.
The gameplay is a mix between Nier Automata and Devil May Cry with a few soulslike elements sprinkled in. Like the camps which are similar to the bonfire mechanic and that enemies are respawning when you rested at these camps. Let me calm you down before some people now might not want to play it because they think that the games is too hard or because they don't like soulslike games. Stellar Blade is not a soulslike game, yes it has a few elements but it's not overly difficult. You can also always change the difficulty without any consequences. So rest assured you can still buy the game even if you don't like soulslike games.
One of the biggest strength is the combat, it's just fantastic, feels really good and it makes so much fun fighting Naytibas. The design from all of the enemies which you encounter are very unique. There is a vast variety of Naytibas, 67 different variations to be precise and all of them have different abilities and a unique design. This resulted in me always being excited when I encountered a new type of Naytiba. There is also the same variety for outfits 30 outfits and other cosmetics that you can collect. I'm glad that this game was published by Sony and not EA or Ubisoft which means that the outfits aren't tied to grind or money. Besides fighting enemies there are also a few mini games like fishing and sometimes the game shifts to a jump and run or a shooter like in the levoire segments where you can only use your gun, I really liked that gameplay is so varied. The problem is that the controls for the jump and run segments are too sensitive or Eve simply glitches through ladders or ropes when you try to jump on them. Fighting groups of enemies can also be quite a hassle because the combat is more 1v1 focused. The story is good, nothing special but I enjoyed the lore surrounding the Naytibas and Andro-Eidos. Sadly the bulletin board quests are mostly fetch quest and not that interesting. The best side quests are the ones from Enya and Kaya which were both really emotional.
The story really picks up in the finale segments and the game asks some interesting philosophical questions like what does it mean to be a human. My favorite character by far is Lily as you can see by my profile picture. She's so cute and must be protected at all costs. Eve is also great, of course I appreciate the eye candy but I like her dynamic with Lily and I enjoyed their scenes together. The fish out of water part from both characters was also kinda cute. Eve also gets most of the character development in the last third of the game. Small details like character dialogues that changes depending on what you are doing. Like for example when Adam said "don't look down", of course I looked down and Adam reacted to that and said something like "oh come on", which was a cool detail. I also recommend you to use the Korean dubbing because from what I've experienced it's the best version.
Stellar Blade has a incredible set pieces and a beautiful soundtrack which underlines the impeccable combat and thanks to a vast variety of different enemies the game never gets boring. Lily and Eve are fantastic characters, Adam is alright but he serves more as a plot device and the resolution of some of the textures in the desert is a bit low but that doesn't hurt the game much.
As a first game it's really impressive what Shift Up managed to create and what happens it the last segment of the game makes me really excited for the future. This is already one of the best games this year and deserves every praise it gets. I suffer under post game depression so I will start a NG+ run now while I patiently wait for a photomode( Yes I have way too many screenshots don't judge me) and DLC in which I can play as Lily.
Games I finished in 2024 Ranked
The gameplay is a mix between Nier Automata and Devil May Cry with a few soulslike elements sprinkled in. Like the camps which are similar to the bonfire mechanic and that enemies are respawning when you rested at these camps. Let me calm you down before some people now might not want to play it because they think that the games is too hard or because they don't like soulslike games. Stellar Blade is not a soulslike game, yes it has a few elements but it's not overly difficult. You can also always change the difficulty without any consequences. So rest assured you can still buy the game even if you don't like soulslike games.
One of the biggest strength is the combat, it's just fantastic, feels really good and it makes so much fun fighting Naytibas. The design from all of the enemies which you encounter are very unique. There is a vast variety of Naytibas, 67 different variations to be precise and all of them have different abilities and a unique design. This resulted in me always being excited when I encountered a new type of Naytiba. There is also the same variety for outfits 30 outfits and other cosmetics that you can collect. I'm glad that this game was published by Sony and not EA or Ubisoft which means that the outfits aren't tied to grind or money. Besides fighting enemies there are also a few mini games like fishing and sometimes the game shifts to a jump and run or a shooter like in the levoire segments where you can only use your gun, I really liked that gameplay is so varied. The problem is that the controls for the jump and run segments are too sensitive or Eve simply glitches through ladders or ropes when you try to jump on them. Fighting groups of enemies can also be quite a hassle because the combat is more 1v1 focused. The story is good, nothing special but I enjoyed the lore surrounding the Naytibas and Andro-Eidos. Sadly the bulletin board quests are mostly fetch quest and not that interesting. The best side quests are the ones from Enya and Kaya which were both really emotional.
The story really picks up in the finale segments and the game asks some interesting philosophical questions like what does it mean to be a human. My favorite character by far is Lily as you can see by my profile picture. She's so cute and must be protected at all costs. Eve is also great, of course I appreciate the eye candy but I like her dynamic with Lily and I enjoyed their scenes together. The fish out of water part from both characters was also kinda cute. Eve also gets most of the character development in the last third of the game. Small details like character dialogues that changes depending on what you are doing. Like for example when Adam said "don't look down", of course I looked down and Adam reacted to that and said something like "oh come on", which was a cool detail. I also recommend you to use the Korean dubbing because from what I've experienced it's the best version.
Stellar Blade has a incredible set pieces and a beautiful soundtrack which underlines the impeccable combat and thanks to a vast variety of different enemies the game never gets boring. Lily and Eve are fantastic characters, Adam is alright but he serves more as a plot device and the resolution of some of the textures in the desert is a bit low but that doesn't hurt the game much.
As a first game it's really impressive what Shift Up managed to create and what happens it the last segment of the game makes me really excited for the future. This is already one of the best games this year and deserves every praise it gets. I suffer under post game depression so I will start a NG+ run now while I patiently wait for a photomode( Yes I have way too many screenshots don't judge me) and DLC in which I can play as Lily.
Games I finished in 2024 Ranked
The glorious return of AA good-but-not-great. It's hard for that to sound like a sincere compliment, but I swear that Stellar Blade has the extremely endearing quality of playing like something you'd rent at a Blockbuster Video. It's too short, lacking in ambition, and structurally flawed, but the minute-to-minute experience is very pleasing.
A large reason why that is lies in the design of the game's combat. There's a focus on parrying attacks over tanking or dodging them that demands a constant focus from the player. Even minor encounters cannot be auto-piloted, and the need to always be "locked in" creates satisfaction when overcoming any obstacle.
After finishing some of the longer boss fights, I'd find myself out of breath from how much mental energy had been consumed paying strict attention to the boss's move set. It made the victories feel noteworthy even if the bosses themselves weren't so difficult.
It's intrinsically fun to engage with Stellar Blade's combat system, and because of that I can forgive the fact that the game is disappointingly easy. Any difficulty experienced in the game came from a variety of poorly designed "set pieces" that take place largely out of combat.
A key example would be one of the few turret sections in the game in which the player must run from and avoid rocket fire in an enclosed area. The projectiles cannot be blocked or parried, and they can unreliably be dodged, so the dominant strategy is just to dart from cover to cover. But the movement of the player character never felt precise enough for this to be a worthwhile exercise, and at several points I had to eat frustrating deaths that felt more-or-less random.
Other poorly designed areas that spiked the difficulty curve include most encounters with several basic enemies at a time. The combat system of Stellar Blade does very poorly in handling multiple enemy combatants at a time. The player can get stun locked and comboed out easily; the camera isn't very responsive in switching between targets; moves are often impossible to interrupt into a parry given an unexpected move from a second enemy that was off-screen. One often feels at odds with the game engine itself when trying to deal with multiple enemies at once.
The pace of the game is another glaring issue. The way the player accumulates upgrades and resources seems way too rushed in relation to the progression through the story. Paradoxically, several key skills for basic combat are for some reason locked through the first few hours of the game. It never feels like you are at where you're supposed to be. Either you're lacking in the ability to access a counter for a key type of attack or you have hundreds of thousands of dollars with which to buy everything you could ever need.
It's not only the pacing of player progression that is under-cooked but the pacing of the level progression as well. Stellar Blade includes two types of levels: linear corridors that largely indoors, lack a map, and are more tightly designed, and vast, wide open spaces with enemies more or less plopped out anywhere without much regard.
The open levels take so much time to thoroughly explore but do very little to move the game along. The linear levels are the opposite in both regards. The end result is hitting plateaus that stop the game and its story in their tracks after a period of smooth progress. I enjoyed both types of levels, as they succeed at offering different experiences, but more care should have been made in unifying them into a complete package.
Other flaws include the soundtrack, which was a complete miss for me. The music chosen to overlay much of the game was not only forgettable, but extremely jarring with the tone of the environment's design. In the abstract I can appreciate a bold stylistic decision but this one did not land in the slightest.
The voice acting is another issue. I generally like to play games in a language I both A. understand, and B. can expect good performances from. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I found out that the North American version of the game lacked a Japanese language option. It had a bevvy of other European languages, and the game's native Korean, but Japanese was left out. I chose English, and was quite disappointed to hear some of the worst voice acting of my life from all of the minor characters. The three main characters, luckily, were performed well. But every side quest begged me to skip the voiced readings of the dialogue. Shout out to the mechanic loli whose sister died; absolutely terrible work.
Given the discourse that surrounded this game's release, I'm going to give a straight comment on the character design: I enjoyed this game more due to Eve's sex appeal. I enjoyed this game more because great care was put into her design and the design of her optional outfits. Since the beginning of art as a concept human sexuality and sex appeal have been key to many works, and that remains true here. There is no reason to deny or downplay what this adds to the experience.
Is there a lot wrong with Stellar Blade? Yes! Of course. Hell, the logo does a better job spelling out Stettar Blade than anything else. Did I have a great time while playing it? Naturally. In a world of bland, bloated AAA releases and soulless games that live as a service, one has to appreciate a game with a vision that exists as art artists wanted to create. Warts and all I value Stellar Blade.
I'll probably rent it again in a few months to try a damage-less run over the weekend. Pick up some Nestle Crunch while I'm at it.
A large reason why that is lies in the design of the game's combat. There's a focus on parrying attacks over tanking or dodging them that demands a constant focus from the player. Even minor encounters cannot be auto-piloted, and the need to always be "locked in" creates satisfaction when overcoming any obstacle.
After finishing some of the longer boss fights, I'd find myself out of breath from how much mental energy had been consumed paying strict attention to the boss's move set. It made the victories feel noteworthy even if the bosses themselves weren't so difficult.
It's intrinsically fun to engage with Stellar Blade's combat system, and because of that I can forgive the fact that the game is disappointingly easy. Any difficulty experienced in the game came from a variety of poorly designed "set pieces" that take place largely out of combat.
A key example would be one of the few turret sections in the game in which the player must run from and avoid rocket fire in an enclosed area. The projectiles cannot be blocked or parried, and they can unreliably be dodged, so the dominant strategy is just to dart from cover to cover. But the movement of the player character never felt precise enough for this to be a worthwhile exercise, and at several points I had to eat frustrating deaths that felt more-or-less random.
Other poorly designed areas that spiked the difficulty curve include most encounters with several basic enemies at a time. The combat system of Stellar Blade does very poorly in handling multiple enemy combatants at a time. The player can get stun locked and comboed out easily; the camera isn't very responsive in switching between targets; moves are often impossible to interrupt into a parry given an unexpected move from a second enemy that was off-screen. One often feels at odds with the game engine itself when trying to deal with multiple enemies at once.
The pace of the game is another glaring issue. The way the player accumulates upgrades and resources seems way too rushed in relation to the progression through the story. Paradoxically, several key skills for basic combat are for some reason locked through the first few hours of the game. It never feels like you are at where you're supposed to be. Either you're lacking in the ability to access a counter for a key type of attack or you have hundreds of thousands of dollars with which to buy everything you could ever need.
It's not only the pacing of player progression that is under-cooked but the pacing of the level progression as well. Stellar Blade includes two types of levels: linear corridors that largely indoors, lack a map, and are more tightly designed, and vast, wide open spaces with enemies more or less plopped out anywhere without much regard.
The open levels take so much time to thoroughly explore but do very little to move the game along. The linear levels are the opposite in both regards. The end result is hitting plateaus that stop the game and its story in their tracks after a period of smooth progress. I enjoyed both types of levels, as they succeed at offering different experiences, but more care should have been made in unifying them into a complete package.
Other flaws include the soundtrack, which was a complete miss for me. The music chosen to overlay much of the game was not only forgettable, but extremely jarring with the tone of the environment's design. In the abstract I can appreciate a bold stylistic decision but this one did not land in the slightest.
The voice acting is another issue. I generally like to play games in a language I both A. understand, and B. can expect good performances from. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I found out that the North American version of the game lacked a Japanese language option. It had a bevvy of other European languages, and the game's native Korean, but Japanese was left out. I chose English, and was quite disappointed to hear some of the worst voice acting of my life from all of the minor characters. The three main characters, luckily, were performed well. But every side quest begged me to skip the voiced readings of the dialogue. Shout out to the mechanic loli whose sister died; absolutely terrible work.
Given the discourse that surrounded this game's release, I'm going to give a straight comment on the character design: I enjoyed this game more due to Eve's sex appeal. I enjoyed this game more because great care was put into her design and the design of her optional outfits. Since the beginning of art as a concept human sexuality and sex appeal have been key to many works, and that remains true here. There is no reason to deny or downplay what this adds to the experience.
Is there a lot wrong with Stellar Blade? Yes! Of course. Hell, the logo does a better job spelling out Stettar Blade than anything else. Did I have a great time while playing it? Naturally. In a world of bland, bloated AAA releases and soulless games that live as a service, one has to appreciate a game with a vision that exists as art artists wanted to create. Warts and all I value Stellar Blade.
I'll probably rent it again in a few months to try a damage-less run over the weekend. Pick up some Nestle Crunch while I'm at it.
NieR Automata, Xenoblade 1, Alien (the movie), FF7/FF7 Rebirth, Halo Reach, Sonic Colors, The Last of Us, Death Stranding, Bayonetta, Sekiro
Besides the controversy surrounding this title is actually a very good game in my opinion
Following Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade marks a streak in Sony published games that actually stand out from all the rest of them. Now how do these two stand out you might ask? My answer would be that they are made by people who are proud to make games.
The most popular PlayStation exclusives since the launch of the PS5 have been The Last of Us Part 2, God of War Ragnarök, and Spider-Man 2. When they want to be a good game they can be good. But there are very frequent moments where they completely take control away from the player and become basically a tv show or something. I’m not talking about cutscenes, I’m talking about those moments where it’s just you following someone for some exposition for like 20 minutes. This shows that many in charge of those game’s development would rather be making something else. That they’re ashamed to be making a game. Shift Up is a team of developers who truly appreciate video games and what they’re meant to be.
Stellar Blade shines brightest with its combat, exploration, and art direction. The high octane burst of energy you get when you charge at an enemy and pelt them with a flurry of attacks is unmatched, while still not feeling overpowered as Eve really is quite the glass cannon. Fights are always a good time. I never really found myself trying to outright avoid a confrontation, they’re that fun.
Exploration harkens back to something like Super Mario Odyssey with it’s open areas, minimal invisible walls, and Eve’s acrobatic skills, but that’s not to say exploring the linear areas is boring, far from it. This game uses the dreaded yellow paint incredibly well by having it grab your attention away from the beaten path and towards something that you may have seen just out of reach along the way. This is probably the best use of yellow paint I’ve seen in any game actually.
Now for art direction. This game is fucking gorgeous. Every character model and environment was so beautifully detailed and lush (the final few areas of the game are especially jaw dropping) that it actually blew my mind to see that this game maintain 60fps (aside from a few areas where if you stay for a while it’ll dip to like 40) across gameplay and cutscenes and is only like 30gb big and runs on Unreal engine. Many, MANY developers struggle to make their games under like 80gb on Unreal or anything else really while still looking and performing worse than this game. I really wanna know how Shift Up did it. They might just have optimization skills great enough to rival Nintendo. Also yes Eve is very attractive, but I found my favorite outfits to be the ones that incorporated much more casual clothing. All of them are great, though. Makes me thing they got actual fashion designers to work on them.
I gotta agree with the general public here though. The story and characters are the weakest parts, but they still kept things engaging with some great twists and turns. Definitely keep a look out for text logs and all that to get a better understanding and enjoyment out of the story.
Stellar Blade is an absolute triumph of a game. Shift Up clearly shows their inspirations, but they show them with pride and admiration while still making this game wholly unique. This feels like the first true game to make actual use of next generation (we’re almost 4 years in actually. Might as well call it current generation) hardware and is a must play for anyone who is a fan of games being great.
The most popular PlayStation exclusives since the launch of the PS5 have been The Last of Us Part 2, God of War Ragnarök, and Spider-Man 2. When they want to be a good game they can be good. But there are very frequent moments where they completely take control away from the player and become basically a tv show or something. I’m not talking about cutscenes, I’m talking about those moments where it’s just you following someone for some exposition for like 20 minutes. This shows that many in charge of those game’s development would rather be making something else. That they’re ashamed to be making a game. Shift Up is a team of developers who truly appreciate video games and what they’re meant to be.
Stellar Blade shines brightest with its combat, exploration, and art direction. The high octane burst of energy you get when you charge at an enemy and pelt them with a flurry of attacks is unmatched, while still not feeling overpowered as Eve really is quite the glass cannon. Fights are always a good time. I never really found myself trying to outright avoid a confrontation, they’re that fun.
Exploration harkens back to something like Super Mario Odyssey with it’s open areas, minimal invisible walls, and Eve’s acrobatic skills, but that’s not to say exploring the linear areas is boring, far from it. This game uses the dreaded yellow paint incredibly well by having it grab your attention away from the beaten path and towards something that you may have seen just out of reach along the way. This is probably the best use of yellow paint I’ve seen in any game actually.
Now for art direction. This game is fucking gorgeous. Every character model and environment was so beautifully detailed and lush (the final few areas of the game are especially jaw dropping) that it actually blew my mind to see that this game maintain 60fps (aside from a few areas where if you stay for a while it’ll dip to like 40) across gameplay and cutscenes and is only like 30gb big and runs on Unreal engine. Many, MANY developers struggle to make their games under like 80gb on Unreal or anything else really while still looking and performing worse than this game. I really wanna know how Shift Up did it. They might just have optimization skills great enough to rival Nintendo. Also yes Eve is very attractive, but I found my favorite outfits to be the ones that incorporated much more casual clothing. All of them are great, though. Makes me thing they got actual fashion designers to work on them.
I gotta agree with the general public here though. The story and characters are the weakest parts, but they still kept things engaging with some great twists and turns. Definitely keep a look out for text logs and all that to get a better understanding and enjoyment out of the story.
Stellar Blade is an absolute triumph of a game. Shift Up clearly shows their inspirations, but they show them with pride and admiration while still making this game wholly unique. This feels like the first true game to make actual use of next generation (we’re almost 4 years in actually. Might as well call it current generation) hardware and is a must play for anyone who is a fan of games being great.
Platform: PlayStation 5
Date Started: May 3rd, 2024
Date Finished: May 8th, 2024
Time Played: 14 Hours
"We gave up our humanity in order to survive."
I had a good time with Stellar Blade - I didn't at all feel compelled to do any side quests, my heart sank when I entered the little open world area and the story and characters were completely flat, but it looks great and is decently fun to play.
It is all very much inspired by Nier: Automata. The story is near enough a retelling, and some of the music sounds like would be hidden or unreleased tracks, but I can't say that it really bothered me or anything. I played on the story mode, so I just shut my mind off and hacked away against some generic freakos and a few cool bosses. There are some cool scenes and environments and set pieces, but the characters are cardboard and the voice acting is flat, so there isn't really much memorable about this one.
Still, it kept me slightly distracted whilst recovering from an operation, so, I'll probably remember it for that, at least.
Date Started: May 3rd, 2024
Date Finished: May 8th, 2024
Time Played: 14 Hours
"We gave up our humanity in order to survive."
I had a good time with Stellar Blade - I didn't at all feel compelled to do any side quests, my heart sank when I entered the little open world area and the story and characters were completely flat, but it looks great and is decently fun to play.
It is all very much inspired by Nier: Automata. The story is near enough a retelling, and some of the music sounds like would be hidden or unreleased tracks, but I can't say that it really bothered me or anything. I played on the story mode, so I just shut my mind off and hacked away against some generic freakos and a few cool bosses. There are some cool scenes and environments and set pieces, but the characters are cardboard and the voice acting is flat, so there isn't really much memorable about this one.
Still, it kept me slightly distracted whilst recovering from an operation, so, I'll probably remember it for that, at least.
Messy butt I love it.
Stellar Blade é um game que tá na boca do povo faz um tempo já, tanto por ser um dos grandes lançamentos de 2024 ou por sua protagonista, a Eve. O jogo conta a história de uma terra pós-apocalíptica, devastada após uma guerra entre humanos e seres monstruosos chamados Naytibas que resultou na derrota humana e a dominação dos Naytibas. Após uma invasão falha que resulta na morte de sua amiga Tacky, Eve é resgatada pelo sucateiro Adam e logo ambos encontram a cientista e membro do quinto esquadrão aéreo Lily. O trio então parte em uma batalha em busca das hipercélulas, mecanismos poderosos que podem salvar Xion, a última cidade habitada por humanos no planeta.
A gameplay principal bebe da fonte hack and slash, focando em combates frenéticos, ao estilo Devil May Cry, e conta com elementos popularizados pelos jogos Soulslike, como um cantil que você bebe para recuperar vida e acampamentos, que são pontos de descanso onde você recupera HP e seu cantil, semelhante às fogueiras de Dark Souls. Tudo no combate flui bem e ele é um dos pontos mais fortes do jogo. Quando você consegue pegar o timing de esquiva e parry, ele se torna ainda mais gostoso e envolvente. Além disso, os controles de combate correspondem rapidamente e você consegue encaixar combos com facilidade, tornando tudo mais dinâmico e tornando os vários momentos de combate atrativos.
A história também traz uma pegada de ficção científica ao estilo Blade Runner e o trio de protagonistas faz com que o jogador se envolva e queira saber o desenrolar de tudo. Os três são carismáticos cada um do seu jeito: Eve com sua agressividade e, ao mesmo tempo, inocência de uma andróide que está conhecendo a Terra aos poucos. Adam sendo um sucateiro entendido e que ajuda Eve a se situar de seus arredores e da história da Terra como um todo e Lily com sua empolgação quando seus serviços de tecnologia precisam ser postos em ação.
Os gráficos são maravilhosos. Tanto nas cidades abandonadas e destruídas, que ao mesmo tempo que conseguem impactar com seus escombros e construções desmoronadas que nos mostram a tragédia que assolou a Terra, também nos entregam cenários lindos como o Oásis do Grande Deserto, a própria cidade de Xion que tem clara e forte inspiração na Cidade Murada de Kowloon, na China (a mesma que deu a inspiração para a cidade dos robôs em Stray) criando locais que passam até mesmo conforto dentro daqueles destroços que formam uma cidade. O maior destaque pra mim de locais assim, é uma pequena comunidade dentro do esgoto, que fiquei por um bom tempo admirando pela proeza dos designers de criarem um lugar que traz conforto e paz dentro daquele que é um dos últimos lugares em que se encontraria isso, pelo contrário, um lugar que causaria repulsa. E esse é o maior trunfo de Stellar Blade (além da jogabilidade de combate): a ambientação. É surreal como os desenvolvedores pegam lugares que poderiam causar nojo ou até afastamento das pessoas e utilizam desse artifício para mostrar o que o povo de Xion conseguiu no meio de todo o caos que assola o planeta: criar a paz, a harmonia e o conforto em meio ao que de pior a vida lhes entregou após a catástrofe.
Se por um lado temos um combate sólido, ambientação linda e personagens chamativos. A Shift Up acaba pecando em alguns aspectos. O jogo por vários momentos investe em elementos plataforma que carecem de uma precisão maior. Eve é muito leve e um toquinho no analógico enquanto ela está no ar é suficiente pra fazer ela girar pra todo lado e te custar uma morte por errar a plataforma ou a corda que tu precisa agarrar. Quando se pendura nas cordas por exemplo, as vezes tu quer pular reto e apesar de posicionar a personagem, quando você pula ela acaba indo pra diagonal. Aconteceu de ela ir pra esquerda em vez de ir reto e até mesmo acabar voltando para trás em alguns momentos. E o pulo duplo, que deveria facilitar, apesar de ajudar por diversos momentos até atrapalha, te dando impulso a mais do que o necessário.
Outro ponto que de início é positivo mas que, com o tempo, se torna cansativo, é a exploração. De início encontrar documentos, cartões de memória e chaves de acesso te deixa ainda mais imerso no cenário. Só que, para quem pretende fazer a Platina, como eu fiz, vai precisar de um volume alto de coletáveis e side quests. Com o tempo isso se torna cansativo e até confuso sem um guia, pois enquanto alguns estão em locais até de fácil acesso, outros estão muito mais escondidos, em pontos de acesso trabalhoso ou escondido bem na frente do jogador, mas que passa batido por se encontrarem em pontos extremamente específicos. Eu fui atrás deles com ajuda de um guia, mas tanto o guia quanto a disposição dos coletáveis acabam confundindo muito. E embora alguns acabem te falando mais sobre o mundo que o jogo se passa, boa parte não acrescenta em nada (um dos que peguei dizia literalmente apenas WHIZZ WHIZZZZZ). E não é de se espantar que alguns documentos e outros coletáveis não tenham nada de relevante, já que muitos foram feitos só pra preencher o extenso número de 986 (!!!) colecionáveis.
O game conta com algumas side quests que comportam narrativas fechadas envolvendo o povo de Xion e apesar de algumas histórias boas e até comoventes, assim como os coletáveis, várias delas não acrescentam em NADA na trama principal. São colocadas ali só para inchar o tempo de gameplay. E o fato de elas também serem necessárias pra Platina faz com que tais atividades também fiquem um pouco cansativas em certo ponto. E eu só vou dizer uma frase sobre o minigame de pesca: é um porre, me perdoem.
No fim, apesar de tudo isso o saldo de Stellar Blade, ainda mais se levando em conta que é o trabalho de estreia do estúdio coreano Shift Up, é extremamente positivo. Entregando um game que, embora dê uma tropeçadas no percurso, não perde o equilíbrio e dá ao jogador uma experiência sólida, divertida e envolvente. Mostra que o estúdio tem um potencial enorme pela frente em suas próximas empreitadas, sejam jogos novos ou, muito provavelmente, uma sequência deste aqui.
E por último, não esqueçam que o game é feito pra jogar. Quem quiser descabelar o palhaço, corre pra um Red Tubos da vida aí que é menos humilhante que ficar sendo tarado por uma boneca de videogame.
A gameplay principal bebe da fonte hack and slash, focando em combates frenéticos, ao estilo Devil May Cry, e conta com elementos popularizados pelos jogos Soulslike, como um cantil que você bebe para recuperar vida e acampamentos, que são pontos de descanso onde você recupera HP e seu cantil, semelhante às fogueiras de Dark Souls. Tudo no combate flui bem e ele é um dos pontos mais fortes do jogo. Quando você consegue pegar o timing de esquiva e parry, ele se torna ainda mais gostoso e envolvente. Além disso, os controles de combate correspondem rapidamente e você consegue encaixar combos com facilidade, tornando tudo mais dinâmico e tornando os vários momentos de combate atrativos.
A história também traz uma pegada de ficção científica ao estilo Blade Runner e o trio de protagonistas faz com que o jogador se envolva e queira saber o desenrolar de tudo. Os três são carismáticos cada um do seu jeito: Eve com sua agressividade e, ao mesmo tempo, inocência de uma andróide que está conhecendo a Terra aos poucos. Adam sendo um sucateiro entendido e que ajuda Eve a se situar de seus arredores e da história da Terra como um todo e Lily com sua empolgação quando seus serviços de tecnologia precisam ser postos em ação.
Os gráficos são maravilhosos. Tanto nas cidades abandonadas e destruídas, que ao mesmo tempo que conseguem impactar com seus escombros e construções desmoronadas que nos mostram a tragédia que assolou a Terra, também nos entregam cenários lindos como o Oásis do Grande Deserto, a própria cidade de Xion que tem clara e forte inspiração na Cidade Murada de Kowloon, na China (a mesma que deu a inspiração para a cidade dos robôs em Stray) criando locais que passam até mesmo conforto dentro daqueles destroços que formam uma cidade. O maior destaque pra mim de locais assim, é uma pequena comunidade dentro do esgoto, que fiquei por um bom tempo admirando pela proeza dos designers de criarem um lugar que traz conforto e paz dentro daquele que é um dos últimos lugares em que se encontraria isso, pelo contrário, um lugar que causaria repulsa. E esse é o maior trunfo de Stellar Blade (além da jogabilidade de combate): a ambientação. É surreal como os desenvolvedores pegam lugares que poderiam causar nojo ou até afastamento das pessoas e utilizam desse artifício para mostrar o que o povo de Xion conseguiu no meio de todo o caos que assola o planeta: criar a paz, a harmonia e o conforto em meio ao que de pior a vida lhes entregou após a catástrofe.
Se por um lado temos um combate sólido, ambientação linda e personagens chamativos. A Shift Up acaba pecando em alguns aspectos. O jogo por vários momentos investe em elementos plataforma que carecem de uma precisão maior. Eve é muito leve e um toquinho no analógico enquanto ela está no ar é suficiente pra fazer ela girar pra todo lado e te custar uma morte por errar a plataforma ou a corda que tu precisa agarrar. Quando se pendura nas cordas por exemplo, as vezes tu quer pular reto e apesar de posicionar a personagem, quando você pula ela acaba indo pra diagonal. Aconteceu de ela ir pra esquerda em vez de ir reto e até mesmo acabar voltando para trás em alguns momentos. E o pulo duplo, que deveria facilitar, apesar de ajudar por diversos momentos até atrapalha, te dando impulso a mais do que o necessário.
Outro ponto que de início é positivo mas que, com o tempo, se torna cansativo, é a exploração. De início encontrar documentos, cartões de memória e chaves de acesso te deixa ainda mais imerso no cenário. Só que, para quem pretende fazer a Platina, como eu fiz, vai precisar de um volume alto de coletáveis e side quests. Com o tempo isso se torna cansativo e até confuso sem um guia, pois enquanto alguns estão em locais até de fácil acesso, outros estão muito mais escondidos, em pontos de acesso trabalhoso ou escondido bem na frente do jogador, mas que passa batido por se encontrarem em pontos extremamente específicos. Eu fui atrás deles com ajuda de um guia, mas tanto o guia quanto a disposição dos coletáveis acabam confundindo muito. E embora alguns acabem te falando mais sobre o mundo que o jogo se passa, boa parte não acrescenta em nada (um dos que peguei dizia literalmente apenas WHIZZ WHIZZZZZ). E não é de se espantar que alguns documentos e outros coletáveis não tenham nada de relevante, já que muitos foram feitos só pra preencher o extenso número de 986 (!!!) colecionáveis.
O game conta com algumas side quests que comportam narrativas fechadas envolvendo o povo de Xion e apesar de algumas histórias boas e até comoventes, assim como os coletáveis, várias delas não acrescentam em NADA na trama principal. São colocadas ali só para inchar o tempo de gameplay. E o fato de elas também serem necessárias pra Platina faz com que tais atividades também fiquem um pouco cansativas em certo ponto. E eu só vou dizer uma frase sobre o minigame de pesca: é um porre, me perdoem.
No fim, apesar de tudo isso o saldo de Stellar Blade, ainda mais se levando em conta que é o trabalho de estreia do estúdio coreano Shift Up, é extremamente positivo. Entregando um game que, embora dê uma tropeçadas no percurso, não perde o equilíbrio e dá ao jogador uma experiência sólida, divertida e envolvente. Mostra que o estúdio tem um potencial enorme pela frente em suas próximas empreitadas, sejam jogos novos ou, muito provavelmente, uma sequência deste aqui.
E por último, não esqueçam que o game é feito pra jogar. Quem quiser descabelar o palhaço, corre pra um Red Tubos da vida aí que é menos humilhante que ficar sendo tarado por uma boneca de videogame.