Stellar Blade test on PS5: action and clumsiness

We have already (heard) a lot about Stellar Blade. This game widely promoted by PlayStation, and more particularly its heroine with a perfect physique, who can be disguised with seductive outfits. He brought the subject of the hypersexualization of women in video games back to the table. The affair took on such proportions that South Korea, motherland of Shift Up, went to give beauty lessons to the West. It seems that Eve, first name of the heroine in question, was modeled after a very real mannequin. In the meantime, Adam, her male friend, is always much more dressed than her.

Everything would then only be a question of cultural sensitivity: in Asia, Stellar Blade would ultimately only embody a representative of more codes that we are not all programmed to understand (spoiler: you have to like k-pop). Shift Up is still responsible for having done a lot in its communication, assuming the “fantasy” side, out of a desire to embody “an ideal” for “an adult audience”. This is how we saw promotional tools highlighting Eve’s generous chest, with very suggestive animations. Fortunately, Stellar Blade has other arguments to make. And also a whole host of blunders, not just linked to the physique of their heroine…

Strong points

• High-flying achievement
• Technical and deep fights
• Genius in the design of certain bosses

Weak points

• Fair exploration
• Big balancing problem at the end
• The sexualization of the heroine

The production of Stellar Blade is truly incredible

But let’s not fall into the trap of reducing Stellar Bladee into an experience simply designed for the sex appeal of its universe. Especially since when playing with correct clothing (required), we forget it a little. It sometimes comes back at a gallop, when we come across other women with plunging necklines and youthful faces.

From the introduction, which takes place on a besieged shore, Stellar Blade is a real eye-catcher. We feel that Shift Up first wanted to make a Nice game, a showcase title for a PlayStation 5 which is lacking a little on the eve of its fourth anniversary. The modeling is detailed and there is occasionally real research in the design of the enemies (some bosses are really inspired). Not to mention the impressive visual effects, which electrify everything, literally and figuratively.

This apparatus, however, struggles to mask the narrative vacuity. For a sexy game, Stellar Blade has little flavor. The fault lies in a staging that lacks breadth (the Bayonetta trilogy does better in the epic), in pastiches that are a little too showy (NieR: Automata, more beautiful and less gray) and with boat writing. Everything lacks nuance, while the unfolded universe quickly feels warmed up. It’s too generic to take everything with you, despite a few side missions that stand out (when you have to help a cyborg singer who has lost her voice, for example). In the time of a side step, we will be able to find some flashes. But they turn out to be too rare.

It must be recognized that exploration proves to be quite difficult in Stellar Blade. The game is made up of fairly empty, narrow environments, which require, for example, activating a tower (the cliché of the old open worlds). These walks also reveal the passages where Eve must chain rapid movements to jump and sneak. They lack precision, with a feeling of permanent floating. They contrast with the fights, the immense strong point of Stellar Blade. Even if they are looking at the legacy, since we never know if we are going to play a Bayonetta bis (a spectacular beat ’em up) or a Dark Souls (an RPG mixed with demands). By dint of groping and wanting to do too much, Stellar Blade gets lost along the way. And us with it.

However, there are many things to highlight in the clashes, which require learning to parry and dodge, often at the last moment, to triumph effectively. The result is a barrier to entry that we want to cross for the pleasure of beating monsters with perfect timing, and the grace of Eve to boot. As a bonus, the gameplay only gets richer, with ever more skills to defend or attack. They are never superfluous, proof that Shift Up has not missed everything. As a bonus, there are some customization elements that go beyond perverse delusions: you can equip Eve to specialize her and improve her with points to distribute in progression trees. The richness is there, almost flashy.

When Stellar Blade becomes an ordeal

The first bosses reveal this technicality which rewards fairly, while being punitive where necessary. Then, after a critical moment, which will vary from one person to another, Stellar Blade decides to artificially increase the challenge. Suddenly, Eve, until then so skillful and powerful, barely does any damage. Suddenly, it no longer takes a few perfect parries to knock an opponent down and finish him off (or almost), but several dozen — with no real hope of shortening the face-to-face meeting. In its final stretch, Stellar Blade becomes an ordeal, where playing to perfection is no longer a style bonus, but a question of survival. Since then, Stellar Blade is no longer fun.

He’s not any better, either, when he tries to explore slightly off-topic sub-genres. When, like a horror game, it requires you to get rid of hyper-vulnerable enemies only by shooting them. There is a fairly abysmal gap in rhythm and pleasure from one sequence to another, whereas it was enough to Stellar Blade to tighten its action, to get rid of that layer of foundation that drips at the slightest effort.

We would have dreamed of going through the levels in a frenzy, rather than stuffing ourselves with terribly boring stopgap moments, even painful to play (turrets that kill with a single shot, thank you but no thank you). We feel that the developers, perhaps overwhelmed by the scale and visibility of their project, have fallen into excess of zeal.

We have the impression of experiencing real Russian montages with Stellar Blade, heckled between these first fights highlighting incredible potential and these parentheses where we sigh loudly. Shift Up didn’t know how to dose it, preferring to fill it to the brim without imagining for a single second that it would go too far. There are still things to save, others to refine. We would love to see this gameplay in a more accomplished proposal, with the same execution without fault of taste.

Finally, like his communication, Stellar Blade is a crude game, both in what it is and what it offers. It goes to show that beauty is worthless without charm and elegance.

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