I don't know if souls-like veterans would actually call this game a souls-like or not, but I feel like it's a mix of an action RPG and a souls-like. Yeah, even though I've never touched a souls game or anything similar before. But anyway, I wanna talk about Stellar Blade.

Story-wise, the game follows a woman named Eve who's tasked with taking back Earth from mysterious creatures called Naytibas. Along the way, she meets survivors and teams up with them while hunting down enemy boss cores to defeat the final boss and find a new energy source for the survivor city. The game has 3 endings in total, and one of them actually requires you to 100% the game.

The main story itself is actually pretty short if you don't really care about side quests or exploration. But honestly, I think the real selling point of this game is the exploration. I mean, running around the world just to find sexy outfits for Eve? Why not, right?

Talking about the world, I think it's pretty varied. There are some linear maps and others that give you total freedom to explore its post-apocalyptic themes. Even though it's post-apocalyptic, there are still plenty of photogenic spots. Oh, and don't forget about the massive amount of collectibles. There's even an achievement that forces you to collect 200 of them. With so many collectibles, I found myself intensely running back and forth. To 100% it, I literally had to look up a guide and check them off one by one to see what I missed. It's super safe and easy to backtrack though, because there are tons of camps or teleport points you can use to jump to specific spots.

Next, let's talk about the gameplay and combat. Like I said earlier, it mixes two different genres: Action RPG and souls combat mechanics.
You can feel the RPG elements through the skill tree, where you can level up your attack, defense, and skills like Beta and Burst. You also get RPG vibes from equipping Gear and Exoskeletons that give you special effects during fights. As for the souls elements, you can see it in things like the camps—when you rest at one, the enemies you just killed will respawn. The combat also relies on precise timing so you can pull off perfect dodges and perfect parries (btw, there are separate achievements for both of these).

As for customization, yeah, it's not super complex, but it's enough to make you happy. You can swap out outfits for Eve and her two companions. Besides outfits, there are also different kinds of earrings, glasses, and hairstyles specifically for Eve. Honestly, what kept me playing for hours was trying on all the clothes one by one and opening up photo mode so Eve could strike some cute poses. And like I said, the real selling point of this game is exploring to collect these outfits. Even in every New Game+ run, there are always new outfits to unlock. Shift Up definitely knew the story alone wouldn't keep people playing for long, so I think they purposely added new outfits in every NG+ just for us to collect. For Eve's outfits specifically, some can be worn right away, but most of them need to be crafted first—especially the ones you get from merchants or exploring. To craft them, you need specific materials that you can buy from shops or find by opening chests scattered all over the map.

One thing that I think kinda missed the mark is the voice acting. Especially the English VO—I don't know why, but it feels super stiff and has zero emotion. Even when they say something like "ahh damn," it sounds completely flat. Thank God I used the Japanese VO for my first playthrough, which I think actually did a pretty good job showing the emotion in every conversation.

Well, overall I think this game is really solid, especially for a noob like me when it comes to souls-like gameplay, so you don't have to tryhard too much to beat it. The exploration is also made super fun with unique world and enemy designs, so I highly recommend this game!

Stellar Blade is a 10.

I had never 100 percented a sprawling AAA game before this one. Only something truly exceptional could change that. I scoured every corner of its world out of pure enjoyment. Full completion, albeit several New Game Plus prestiges later... was never what I was intentionally pursuing. I ended up with it as simple cause and effect, a little cherry on top.

For ten years the same title has held the favorite game showcase on my Steam profile. Until now. The music, the story, the world, the combat, the visuals, the lore and the ending (the best one) slowly combined until Stellar Blade rose and claimed that place with a concluded performance befitting thunderous applause and a standing ovation.

I bought the base game at launch on PS5 and every DLC as it released. I then went out of my way to purchase the complete edition at full price a second time, on PC. I finished every objective on console, including New Game Plus. I repeated the entire game all over again with a fresh save, on hard, on PC.

Even after all of that, my heart returns to Xion. I am playing it again, NG+ round five, as we patiently await Blood Rain.

I have given you, reader, the full measure of what this game has meant to me and continues to mean. There is nothing further to add.

I recommend, you buy the game.

This game is a masterpiece. My time with it lives fondly in my memories.

“May your memories live on forever.” — Mother Sphere

If you are one of those people who laud this game as a masterpiece I'm gonna need you to upload footage of you playing any of the iconic puzzles featured in this game, such as the moving-crates-around puzzle or the fetch-a-door-code-from-a-dead-body-around-the-corner puzzle. I'm gonna need to see you smiling and giggling at the sheer joy you experience from such flawless game design. Because the way I see it, lots of ♥♥♥♥ in this game is made to get in the way of your enjoyment of it.

I'm weak for souls-like stuff but The Trademark Playstation exlusive title stench is all over this, with the flashy action abilities which repeat lengthy animations every time you use it á la Norse God of War. It gets repetative, and lacks a degree of skill expression which you would find in better character action games.

Add to the above points, that the game is excruciatingly easy on normal: It's an actual baby game which plays itself because the enemies die to simple combos before you can even parry their attacks or use any of your cool abilities. And hard is worse, because it just turns up healthbars by 400 % (thats not a joke) and ups the enemy damage by something like 2x. So what you need to do is install a mod which halves the enemies health on hard, and then you have an actual game to play here. That the devs couldn't think or be bothered to fine tune their game (hard mode is just new game plus's balancing made into a difficulty you can play from the get go), it's lazy and dumb.

The game runs really well for the graphical fidelity, and I enjoyed finding all the outfits. The outifts don't make this game manly, they don't actually punch back at wokeism or whatever. In fact, it's a lot like playing Barbie for men. Good thing I enjoy Barbie for men. Doesn't make up for the half baked game around it.