It may surprise some, but the “main attraction” in the form of a seductive heroine Eve with strong curves and tight uniforms was not what got me interested in this game. After all, I probably prefer more realistic curves, such as the characters from Death Stranding, while I also find the physical “shaking” of various parts of Eve’s body exaggerated. But I have a big weakness for mysterious sci-fi with an interesting central mystery, and the last time I got a proper game like that was three years ago in the form of Returnal. To my very pleasant surprise, after starting the demo of Stellar Blade, this was exactly the factor that almost immediately wrapped me around the game, because its opening sequence is absolutely amazing.
In it, we watch the arrival of landing craft with strikingly biblical iconography (statues of angels on the prows) near the planet Earth, from whose surface a huge salvo of missiles is immediately launched, with which the fleet then tries to zigzag through, while launching the landing craft heading for the surface of the planet. It’s a riveting cinematic sequence, backed by spectacular orchestral music. The destruction of the entire fleet is surprisingly quick and brutal, as is the elimination of most of the dropships before they even land. However, a few of them manage to land, and one of them is the one from which your playable character, the lovely Eve, “breaks out”.
This entire sequence is absolutely masterfully crafted, from the content to the form and filmography to the aforementioned music. But the following first playable steps through the chaotic battlefield are no less impressive. Accompanied by a more experienced comrade named Tachy, you cut through the first waves of alien monsters that infested the planet and from which you came to free it. They are called “Naytiba” and are most reminiscent of the Thing from the movie of the same name, in that they are often absurd amalgams of flesh and limbs, rearranged into absurd shapes. As you mow down the first of these, debris from the crashing spaceships is still falling around you.
The extremely narrative sequence also serves as a basic tutorial for the fight, which can remind you of the Devil May Cry series, for example – it is very acrobatic, although you will have to unlock a number of advanced grabs or combos gradually as you play through the skill tree, unlocked by gaining experience points. What might pleasantly surprise you is the brutality and bloodiness of the fights. The authors obviously knew that the game would get a high age rating, so they didn’t skimp on these things. Of course, this makes the fights feel much more gritty and real.
During your fight, you can watch several other female combatants in the vicinity, but they are gradually eliminated by the sheer force of the monsters. It’s not quite clear from the dialogue whether Eve and her comrades-in-arms are robots, humans, clones or something similar, but if I were to lean towards something based on the indications, they are probably special battle androids with strikingly human characteristics. At the end of this sequence, you’ll be met with a suitably large and monstrous boss, where you’ll need to engage in counterstrikes and dodges to survive his devastating attacks. Anyway, the whole landing ends in disaster.
After a short time jump, Eve sets off on another adventure alone, or rather accompanied by a flying drone, remotely controlled by a pilot named Adam. At this point, it is absolutely impossible to ignore the absolutely obvious parallel with the cult game Nier: Automata, where a sexy female robot warrior was accompanied by a drone cutting through a post-apocalyptic Earth infested with enemy fighters. But that’s a very high bar, at least in terms of overall artistic ambitions and story, so we’ll see how the game from the practically unknown Korean studio copes with it.
One front, however, where the game can stand up to its models and competition from the very beginning, is the audiovisual processing. The technical and aesthetic quality is at a very high level and the design of some monsters or equipment is really great, as well as the impressive filmography of the story sequences or the animation of the characters during the fight. The game is released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 console and seems to be custom-optimized, including a trio of graphics modes (quality, balance, performance). I played in performance mode and had no problem with the game flow or any other technical aspect. There is also nice support for haptic feedback on the DualSense controller.
What I also liked a lot is the certain slowdown in exploration and combat after that initial wild passage. The following sequence in the deserted streets is much more methodical and atmospheric, more reminiscent of FromSoftware games than the Devil May Cry series. Of course, I also remembered another “inconspicuous” Korean game from last year, Lies of P. From what I have been able to taste so far, I have a very promising hope that, like last year’s Korean hit, this year’s could also surprise with its atmosphere, story and sophisticated gameplay.
Although I was only able to try melee combat in the demo, the impressive trailer at the end of the demo promises, among other things, firearms of several types, as well as atmospheric passages in darkened interiors. The game gives the impression of an exciting and sometimes even scary journey into the bowels of an infested planet, including grotesque monsters and terrifying bosses. Because it all feels great to control and play at the same time, Stellar Blade jumped very high on my list of most anticipated games after tasting the demo. Try to see if you’ll feel the same way when the demo goes public on Friday, March 29th.
Stellar Blade releases for PlayStation 5 on Friday, April 26, 2024.
Tags: Impressions playing Stellar Blade
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