TheStellar Bladedemo is surprisingly tough. I wouldn’t have been shocked if it dropped us right in the middle of the game with a bunch of abilities and levels to our name already, but Shift Up instead decided to give us the opening couple of hours to play. After the action-packed first few minutes, Eve arrives on Earth to explore the decaying renmants of a sprawling city. But she isn’t alone, with grotesque monsters prowling the streets ready and waiting to pounce.
Due to its visual aesthetic and gameplay mechanics, I expected Stellar Blade to play much likeNier: AutomataorDevil May Cry, but aside from a few movement options, it feels more like a FromSoftware game than anything else. Combat is slow and mediated, focused fully on the timing of parries and memorising the animation patterns of enemies to stay alive. It offers spectacular special attacks and unique finishing moves, but these are rewards given for patience and expertise rather than something to rely upon.
Thankfully, Stellar Blade has a normal jump button and far more forgiving movement controls than your usual FromSoftware bangers.
While this general ebb and flow took me by surprise, it didn’t stop Stellar Blade from swiftly winning me over. The majority of its combat arenas and explorable spaces are bursting with detail, while still small enough for you to slowly but surely master. You will unlock intertwining paths that slowly piece parts of the world together, or learn locations of enemies so you know who to conquer and avoid with each new run.
You will die, succumbing to trial and error as you mess up a new move or a vicious monster sneaks over from nowhere to lay the smackdown. I swallowed my pride and yeeted myself into the fray once more, knowing that with each failure I would edge closer and closer to victory.
Just like Dark Souls, except there are a few new additions throughout which make it far more approachable, like a generous melding of character action games and RPGs like Bloodborne and Elden Ring that put player freedom and experimentation above all else.
Don’t be afraid of death in Stellar Blade. If anything, use it as a means to gain valuable experience and see which moves and weapons work best for your playstyle.
You will come across bonfires which, instead of flames, are made up of crudely assembled chairs, record players, and vending machines. A small refuge for Eve to regain her health, upgrade and equip her skills, or even do some shopping before heading back out into the fray.
These feel more akin to storefronts in character action games, imbued with the restorative properties and solitude FromSoftware games over the past decade have helped normalise. It’s a compelling mixture, and one that works perfectly in a post-apocalyptic world like this where you are supposed to feel hopeless, yet still head over heels for its fleeting sense of beauty.
While combat does focus on melodic parries and timing, it is also more frenzied than your usual FromSoftware efforts. Enemies evolve over the course of battle, while it isn’t too uncommon to see dozens of smaller creatures rush towards you while a larger foe waits in the distance, ready to strike once you’ve been worn down. I felt like a badass whenever I’d take them down, but not once did I feel safe - one wrong move could always spell my doom.
Obviously, this is only going off the demo, and I know ranged weapons and further options available to customise Eve’s loadout will come in the full game. Things could get easier as I will be forced to eat my words in just a few weeks, but right now, Stellar Blade feels like a cool expansion of the Soulsborne genre with a side offering of Nier and Devil May Cry.
In another world, I might turn my nose up at Stellar Blade trying to imitate Dark Souls in such an obvious way, but ultimately I don’t. Many of the mechanics that FromSoftware brought to the genre have since become normalised, to the point that it’s exciting when studios want to play around with them in new and interesting ways.
Shift Up does that while combining its systems with many hallmarks from character action classics to settle on an experience which feels entirely unique. If that still makes it a Souls game, then I guess I’m on board.
Stellar Blade
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Stellar Blade is an action-driven game from Shift Up, originally revealed as Project Eve. It follows the aforementioned Eve as she battles the alien Naytiba invaders, in a bid to reclaim the Earth for humanity.
