Nayu's Gaming Time #29 Early thoughts on Stellar Blade PS5

FYI the age rating is 18 not 8 - blame my in a hurry photo skills for missing out the 1 on the label.

Stellar Blade, Developer Shift Up, Publisher Sony, Console PlayStation 5, Released April 2024

 I thought about writing several sentences about Stellar Blade on social media but it felt easier to say what I think here. 

Way back when it's place holder name, Project Eve, was announced, I hadn't heard of it. I didn't have a PlayStation 5 back then, hadn't thought about getting one even when it launched as a) it took a lot of time to save for it and b) there were so few games (or so I thought) that I'd be interested in I never paid any attention to upcoming game presentations that Sony regularly shows. Fast forward a few years to last year, when I actually got my PS5 (end of April, or early May), and I decided to pay attention to State of Plays just in case I like any games. 

 When I saw Stellar Blade I was totally wowed by how awesome Eve is. Ok, some of the outfits aren't that pretty for me but overall she looks totally gorgeous and I love her signature long ponytail. I watched the trailer at least a few more times, and vowed to preorder it on release. Which I did, and that brings us to today. Or rather yesterday when I started it. 

My preferred genre is turn-based games as I have more time to think (mostly), or farming sims where again I don't have to think too much. I have a few action-y titles under my belt now, while never amazing at them I can get through them. Way back in the day of the first PlayStation console, with a woman called Lara Croft who I spent dozens of gaming hours using walkthroughs to get through the tricky parts. The way I felt back then with Lara is how I feel now with Eve. PS5 games are not cheap, think I managed to get it for £65 which I had to save for and is a lot of money, so if I'd made a mistake and disliked the game I'd have been annoyed with myself. 

Thankfully I hadn't misjudged the game at all. It plays as the trailer looks, there is so much exploration of the mostly deserted world I'm super happy playing it. It's interesting because Eve isn't fully human, she doesn't know human history so ordinary things like an elevator intrigue her. There is a skill tree for several different sets of skills  which feels overwhelming as I feel i won't recall 99% of the moves. I read an online review that said button mashing won't work with boss fights and that is so true. I kept button mashing but each boss takes me over 4 attempts to eliminate. There is a way to train at certain camps where i don't have to worry about death (I must be almost at 20 game overs now), although I'm on the easier of the 2 game difficulties, have activated prompts on screen so in theory i should be able to dodge fatal attacks but in practice I miss at least half of them. I am really very poor at action games like this. I get frustrated (why can't every game be turn based? It's so much easier!!) but I love the story. I already have theories about who Adam is and how he will or won't help Eve (I'm eyeing him with suspicion). I want Eve to succeed her mission but I also want her to live life and am afraid at the end of the game she may die. (Please DO NOT tell me if you know the end. I will be upset if that gets spoiled). 

I love using the scan feature on the droid to see where both enemies and items are. I love that some areas need a passcode that has to be found then used. I already know I'm going to replay this one day. I've almost enough material to create a whole new outfit for Eve which is exciting. Yes some of her looks/camera angles are a bit much, like Tomb Raider was, but overall I love playing as Eve and how she dresses makes sense for her character. I might have some conservative views in the real world, but fantasy life I'm ok running around in a skin-tight suit. I focus on improving defence mostly since my combat skills are not good. I'm definitely in a happy place with Stellar Blade especially as my current area is a construction site and apparently we get to use the crane to make a bridge! I've not yet got to can collecting but I'm eager to get to that, and get to the base where other humans are that was shown in the trailer.

We need to talk about the soundtrack. It is so beautiful, I love listening to songs which are easy on the ears and fitting for the overall atmosphere of the game. I could listen to the music all day. I'm using the English voices, whose tone fits how I'd expect characters to sound. It's a Korean game, I sadly don't speak Korean, or else I'd listen to it but I wanted to give the English a go. Maybe in my second playthrough one day I will play in Korean or even French I think might be an option. But oh the music....

Stellar Blade is a PS5 exclusive, and I for one absolutely love it. The only less than great element is there are no manual saves. I save every time I visit a camp which is helpful as they are usually right by where as boss appears, but I still have to take those steps from the camp to the boss which when it is repeated over and over due to my ineptitude it takes time to do. I love how it looks, sounds, the plot is intriguing for me as someone who rarely plays apocalyptic games (not into Nier which I've seen it referenced to). For me this is a really spectacular game, and I really hope they make another game like it one day.