Stellar Blade is one of the most mechanically satisfying action games of the generation

24.04.2024 - 20:25 / videogameschronicle.com / Yoko Taro

There was a moment in Nier Automata when I knew that I was in for something special.

After hours spent carving up silent mechanical automatons, one robot suddenly let out a jarringly human scream. Sprinting away from me in fear, I pursue this android anomaly across the arid desert, arriving at an eerily half-destroyed village. To my horror, I discover a robot rocking an empty cradle, surrounded by androids crudely simulating sex, repeating the word ‘child’ ad-nauseum.

There is nothing quite so profound – or unsettling – awaiting players in Stellar Blade, a game that has already drawn countless comparisons to Yoko Taro’s existential sci-fi classic. Yet while Stellar Blade’s perfunctory narrative feels like set dressing, developer Shift Up uses these Nier-isms to lay the groundwork for one of the most mechanically satisfying action games of this console generation.

Let’s set the sci-fi stage, shall we? Thrust into the skin-hugging lycra of 7th Airborne Squad member, EVE, you’re dispatched to a ruined Earth in order to save the once luscious planet from the mutant-esque creatures that have overrun our once vibrant home – the Naytiba. With mankind fleeing Earth to an off-world colony, it’s up to EVE to comb the crumbling remains of our once great civilization, where she soon discovers the mysteries of the mysterious Naytiba – and that all is not as it seems.

As you seek guidance from a cyborg oracle, encounter increasingly intelligent Naytiba and read posters about an underground human resistance, the script pulls equally from Ghost In The Shell, Battle Angel Alita, and even The Matrix, mixing and matching its sci-fi classics like an android allegory Kellog’s variety pack.

Thankfully, Shift Up also takes the same creative liberties with its gameplay. Wearing its Souls-lite influences on its augmented sleeve, Stellar Blade combines Sekiro’s lust for parrying precision with the frantic slashing of Devil May Cry. Where Automata’s combat focused on lightweight scraps with legions of enemies, every blow in Stellar Blade connects with a satisfying heft, transforming each one-on-one encounter into a teeth-gritting duel. As you learn new combos and thwart new enemy types, your skills are tested against wonderfully grim-looking demonic bosses.

It’s an experience that feels endlessly rewarding. Where progress in Souls game is an arduous slog, EVE’s upgrades come thick and fast, defeating enemies swiftly providing enough experience for skill points to spend on new abilities, combos and attacks.

Much like in Nier or Bayonetta, core stats are improved by equipping new cores and gears into EVE’s exosuit, either earned by toppling the aforementioned excellent bosses, completing odd jobs, or as a reward for venturing off the