Stellar Blade is an at-times serviceable action game that I have a LOT of issues with, the biggest one being that it is honestly pretty boring, outside of some of the combat. The visuals and, in particular, the animations, are impressive, but that's really the extent of elements of this game that I would consider as such. The pacing is pretty odd; for about 2/3 of the game, you have access to the hub city that gives you a number of mind-numbing side quests, and the rest of the game is equivalent to a point of no return, locking you out of the hub, and with the final 10 or so hours being an exhausting boss rush of four of the game's most difficult fights, one after the other. Most of these are decently designed, but the decision to have them back-to-back-to-back-to-back is questionable at best.

Stellar Blade's narrative is again, serviceable, but not much more than that. The voice acting is pretty great but the characters themselves are whatever. I liked Eve but that's about it. I really did not feel engaged by the story at any point, and there are a number of post-apocalyptic narratives that do a much better job with the twists, such as the obvious comparison to Nier: Automata, and even something like Horizon Zero Dawn.

The biggest issue with this game is that the only real draw is the combat, and anytime you are doing anything but that it becomes a real slog. I did not enjoy nearly any of my time with these other sections, particularly the ones that disable your sword, forcing you to only use your gun, which has some of the least satisfying gunplay I've ever experienced in a game. There are also a number of platforming sections that I hated, as the game's movement is not at all balanced for precision platforming.

Stellar Blade's combat is good but not great. My favorite part of it was the flashiness, but as a parry-based system, it is far inferior to something like Sekiro or Lies of P. The parry timing is weird; it is a lot earlier than you'd think, and I never quite got used to this even by the end of the game, and determined it just did not feel good. This is especially an issue in fights against bosses with very fast combo attacks, as you have to predict the timing, instead of reacting to it, which is not really feasible in most cases. As I said before, the gunplay sucks, and is very poorly integrated into the actual combat loop. The only time you really want to use it is when you are 'supposed' to, like when an enemy weakpoint is exposed after doing a certain defensive action. There is also a sort of 'super' mode that you unlock about halfway through the game called Tachy Mode, which unfortunately is pretty miserable to use. It looks cool but you deal effectively no extra damage compared to your regular for while it barely lasts 10-15 seconds, doesn't heal you, and gives you no i-frames upon de-activation. I ended up only really using it as a way to absorb hits from boss attacks that I could not understand the dodge/parry timing of, as you are invincible during it and it charges relatively quickly.

I do think there's plenty of people that will enjoy Stellar Blade more than I did, but I feel as though most aspects of a game like this that are really important to maintain player engagement were quite hollow, forgettable, and at times miserable to get through. Not the worst action game I've ever played, but generally one that I would consider a disappointment.

6/10

This game is definitely up there with pinnacle Metroidvania experiences. Lots of obvious things to say about this game, like the visual style being incredible and the atmosphere deeply immersive. Animal Well is short but can certainly be extended for a number of hours if you choose to explore after finishing the main objective; there are SO many neat secrets to find and I would definitely encourage everyone to at least spend a little extra time in the game after beating it, even if you do not plan on going for 100%. Puzzles and discovery in metroidvanias has never been my strongsuit, but I was able to beat the main objective without ever using a guide (even if it was tempting at times), which is always a nice feeling. I was engaged throughout all my time with Animal Well, and I'm also excited to see what comes of the super secret ARG stuff going on with the game (check out the Discord if you're interested in that).

9/10

Really happy that I ended up enjoying this game much more than I expected. I played like 6 hours of the first game and was not into it at all, so spending $70 on this game was a pretty big risk for me, but for whatever reason, I was quickly invested into DD2 and stayed engaged throughout my entire playthrough. Very different from your traditional open-world game, and I'm glad that Capcom wasn't afraid to take the risk of keeping out some pretty common modern-day QoL features of a typical game like this, and kept true to it's philosophy for the franchise of a more punishing and slower-paced experience, and ultimately I think they were quite succesful.

The world itself is nothing too interesting, with only really 2-3 different areas aesthetically, but it is still quite beautiful and while there are certainly games with better exploration, I did not find myself getting bored in the open-world, except maybe once or twice having to run somewhere near the end of the main story when I ran out of Riftstones. There are some interesting landmarks and worthwhile secrets here and there, quite a bit that I'm sure I missed as well, and overall the experience of going from one destination to another is pretty enjoyable.

I'm making no bold statement by saying combat is the highlight of DD2, but it really is great. The closest comparison I felt throughout was of Monster Hunter, rewarding a mastery of your vocations, patience, and occasional and extremely satisfying opportunities for big damage or awesome plays. The difficulty throughout the game felt pretty fair, with a good sense of exhilarating power fantasy by the end as you rip through boss health bars, and some pretty cool endgame fights as well. I played two different classes mainly: Warrior and Mystic Spearhand. Both of these were quite fun and had a lot to master; Warrior was definitely my favorite, but they both felt great once fully upgraded, with lots of tools. Enemy variety wasn't the best, there's only maybe six or seven different types of bosses (not including the endgame content), although discovering a new one here and there was super exciting. You also end up fighting variants of the same like three or four smaller enemies, which was a little disappointing, but not fully unacceptable.

While the overarching plot of the game is pretty whatever, I actually found a lot of the subplots and side characters quite interesting and well-written. I wasn't blown away by anything in the story but the characters and certain side-quests do make the world feel alive, which was an issue I had with the first game. As I'd expect most players would, I did end up growing pretty attached to my own pawn by the end, and was very happy to have him with me throughout my journey.

I think I could recommend this game to most people, even though it is not your traditional modern-day action RPG, which I think might actually be a selling point to some. The generally reasonable difficulty level also I don't think would bar too many people who might be intimidated by the game's unique approach to open world.

Generously ~8.5/10