Stellar Blade is among the year’s most anticipated action video games with comparisons to Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Nier Automata. But does it live up to the excellence of those renowned titles? The answer is…sort of. Stellar Blade absolutely nails the stylish action combat that makes those games so beloved but struggles in other areas like story, characters, and level design. Let’s dive into the specific.
The Good Stuff: Stellar Combat and Gorgeous Visuals
Let’s start with the positives because Stellar Blade‘s action gameplay is truly stellar (pun intended). The combat is inspired by FromSoftware’s Sekiro and focuses on deflecting, dodging and counterattacking rather than mindless button mashing. Learning how to time parries to break an opponent into a devastating posture is incredibly satisfying.
But Stellar Blade adds its own spin with a versatile arsenal of skills, special attacks, and mechanics like “Burst Energy” that ramps up the intensity. Chaining combos between your sword slashes, guns, and abilities like the shockwave or shield breaker keeps battles endlessly engaging. The variety of twisted alien “Naytiba” enemies you’ll face, each with unique movesets to learn, ensures the action never grows stale.
Complimenting the slick gameplay is an incredibly gorgeous visual style with phenomenal animation work. From the sleek futuristic character designs to the horrendous yet captivating monster designs, Stellar Blade oozes style in every frame. The special effects of energy blades and abilities clashing are a dazzling spectacle.
The open-world zones you’ll explore are rendered in breathtaking detail as well, with stunning vistas to take in. The atmospheric soundtrack sets the perfect tone, delivering thumping metallic beats in combat encounters.
The Not So Good: Story Falls Flat 
While the gameplay and presentation are top-notch, Stellar Blade’s story and characters sadly can’t match up. The overarching narrative of humans fleeing a monster-infested Earth to space colonies is predictable sci-fi fare without any genuinely surprising revelations. More damaging is how one-dimensional and forgettable all the characters are.
Our protagonist Eve is about as dry and emotionless as they come, giving no insight into her personality or inner thoughts beyond being 100% dedicated to her mission. Her comrades like Adam and Lily have zero chemistry or meaningful character arcs either. With such an uninteresting central cast, it’s hard to become invested in the story despite some intriguing world-building ideas.
The supporting cast of NPCs you’ll encounter doesn’t fare much better. Their dialogue is entirely too wooden and bereft of urgency, which undercuts even the most emotional story beats. Between the dull narrative and characters that all blend together, Stellar Blade’s story is its biggest weakness holding it back from true excellence.
A Mixed Bag of Content
Outside of the main story battles, Stellar Blade offers a fairly wide assortment of additional activities, though their quality varies hit-or-miss. The open zones are nicely dense with hidden collectibles, tough optional bosses, and fun environmental details that encourage exploring every nook and cranny.
However, the side quests often amount to tedious busywork like backtracking through old areas with little changing beyond having to find one arbitrary item. The rewards also tend to be lackluster like relatively small sums of currency. These kinds of filler quests bring the momentum to a halt.
Equally frustrating are the sections where Stellar Blade inexplicably takes control away from you for not just quick cinematic action sequences, but extended underground survival horror-esque levels where you can’t use your sword. These jarring gameplay shifts feel out of place and overstay their welcome.
The platforming sections are outright irritating as well. Eve has very imprecise, awkward movement that makes leaping between platforms far more difficult than it should be, resulting in many cheap deaths.
The Verdict 
When you cut through all the extra fluff, Stellar Blade’s brilliant action combat carries the experience. And is worth playing for action game fans. The environments are breathtaking and enemy/boss design is impeccable.
However, the lackluster story/characters, an abundance of tedious filler content, and poor execution hold Stellar Blade back. It has the foundation of a 9/10 action masterpiece. But too many nagging flaws prevent it from reaching those lofty heights.
If you expect an awesome but uneven experience – a playable anime – then Stellar Blade should deliver. Just don’t expect the complete package.
