Stellar Blade Review | GamersGlobal.de

Teasers

Originally planned as a multi-platform title, the action-adventure from South Korea is now appearing exclusively for PS5. Here you can find out whether Adam and EVE's adventure in the post-apocalyptic Garden Eden has what it takes to be a hit.

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In Stellar Blade would Anita Sarkeesian more than enough material for a double episode of her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games find. Because in her numerous, sometimes extremely skimpy costumes, the protagonist EVE shows more legs and more chest in the game and leaves little room for the imagination, especially when it comes to her podex, and the chosen perspectives of the camera further emphasize the design of the figure and her clothing. You could spend hours on this, but also with the game's end-time story, the effective graphics and especially the combat system – all of this couldn't be more spectacular, thanks in part to EVE's acrobatic sword skills. In any case, I would like to focus on the latter at this point and tell you in the following text and in the 4K video embedded above whether action fans should get the PS5 or not.

The sword acrobatics alone would make a huge visual impression, but the fights are best described in one word anyway: spectacular!

Action-adventure with subtle soulslike sprinkles

Since Stellar Blade also takes up a few elements that have been seen in Soulslikes in recent years, I can't avoid the comparison, especially with the FromSoftware titles. The result of this comparison is that Stellar Blade does not belong in the category of Soulslikes. In the end, the enemies that spawn when they die or rest are the only parallel. Since you don't lose anything when you die, you invest learning points in (resettable) skill trees when you level up instead of in attributes, and if necessary you can switch to a lower difficulty level at any time (initially there are only “easy” and “normal”), the differences are the bottom line considerably more numerous.

In any case, Stellar Blade is an action-adventure with initially more complex and later open-world-like areas of operation. Overview map and target markers help (sometimes more, more less) with finding your way. Especially in the open areas, there is a generous range of side missions and optional opportunities to unlock advantages such as improving the sword, increasing the number of healing potions and the like – even though the tasks are often designed in the usual way. In principle, you can also largely follow the main quest. Because you automatically receive more or less absolutely necessary skills in certain main tasks.

This includes, among other things, a double jump. In Stellar Blade you don't just beat up the grotesque-looking Naytiba creatures that have occupied the earth in the science fiction story and have to be driven out by you. Here you can also solve smaller puzzles, master climbing passages or dive through a flooded opencast mine in search of a hidden bonus chest. However, the focus is still clearly on the fights, which shine above all with fine animations, rich sound and cool effects.

The costume options for the main character are purely cosmetic. The previously widespread fantasy rule that armor protects female characters the better the less skin it covers does not apply here.

Dodge, blink, block

You have to face the vast majority of opponents in the game as part of a duel-like combat system. You can use the two normal attack buttons to distribute blows and combine them (sometimes only after they have been unlocked in the five-part skill tree) to create particularly powerful combos. You can avoid enemy attacks by dodging, but you can also fend off many attacks with one block. With perfect timing, you'll usually trigger some kind of short slow-motion sequence that gives you the opportunity to counterattack. The requirements increase particularly with the bosses, as they often unleash multi-part attacks, some of which can only be neutralized with a dodge jump, the others can only be neutralized with a block or, with perfect timing, can be converted into an advantage.

Correct reaction and timing are also important for special attacks, where a colored marking indicates what type of attack is impending. If the ring glows blue, it is a “lethal attack” that, despite the name, does not necessarily kill you if you have full HP. Then the moment comes to “blink”, which is a kind of teleport evasion maneuver. Since the timing usually has to be perfect for a successful reaction, I was a little annoyed with the game at times. The developers sometimes deliberately set the time window quite narrow, so that errors are provoked to some extent. This goes away at the latest when you have activated the skills that simplify the timing (separately for dodging and blocking). But honestly: what kind of stupid solution is that? The timing should be tied to the chosen level of difficulty, but not (additionally) to perks!

But that's ultimately the only annoying thing about the combat system. Thanks to EVE's beautifully animated acrobatic martial arts, this would put me in a great mood even with just the normal fighting moves. Among other things, with the beta capabilities and other special actions that can be used later, the drone that has been converted into a firearm, and consumables such as types of grenades, the system is increasingly gaining in variety – and at least to some extent also has a tactical component.

A little later, the drone that accompanies you will be converted into a weapon with which you can fire various types of ammunition at the Naytiba (depending on the upgrade).

As deep as in Assassin's Creed 2

Things would probably look a little different if I had liked the fights in Stellar Blade less. But I'm also immersed in the game because it takes me away from the atmosphere – especially with the often pop music, which has an easy-listening quality in the best sense of the word. It's also no coincidence that I spent countless hours in the third section alone in the desert on the edge of the last human city, Xion, because I wanted to take everything I could with me. This is not because the side quests are particularly well designed – going to these three points and collecting a specific artifact there is really nothing special. But since I can make targeted progress here in a manageable amount of time and simply don't want to leave anything open, that's also thanks to the harmony of practically all gameplay elements.

This pull and where exactly it comes from is difficult to describe, but the feeling reminded me of Stellar Blade Assassin's Creed 2. For me, the two titles are similar, especially in that the mix and quantity of what's on offer is right. There's a lot to do on the side, but none of it becomes a chore and, above all, the developer doesn't overwhelm the game with too much to offer. This is one of the reasons why I can recommend Stellar Blade action fans with a clear conscience if they can do even a little bit with the setting and the type of combat system.

Author: Benjamin Braun, Editor: Hagen Gehritz (GamersGlobal)

Opinion: Benjamin Braun

I thought the introduction to Stellar Blade, which should also be part of the demo, was okay, but nothing more. With each additional hour of play, I liked the game more and more. Of course, this is also due to the spectacularly staged fights, which become more diverse with practically every learning point invested. But Stellar Blade also motivates me enormously to take everything I can with me. Where I usually tend to progress as quickly as possible in the main story, I spent countless hours in the third game section alone in a desert and hardly missed any side quest, no matter how small, and looted every one of the treasure chests (which are rarely really important in themselves). .

This reminds me a lot of when I was immersed in Assassin's Creed 2. Because just like there, the mix of story and gameplay is right, the latter is lush but not oversized. The poppy, duddy music in the game with vocals seems to be repeated so often that it should actually annoy me. But here it feels a bit like coming back to my familiar surroundings after a long journey.

In the end, Stellar Blade is not a perfect game. The fact that I can or rather have to unlock skills to make the timing easier in combat so that I don't run into problems later doesn't necessarily speak for an optimal design. Some of the advantages, even if they are not absolutely necessary, have to be earned a little too laboriously. But overall, Stellar Blade entertained me very well and in a pleasantly varied way, so I can recommend the game to every action fan with a PS5 without any major reservations.

Stellar Blade PS5