Stellar Blade recently got ported from PS5 to PC, so I was finally able to play it. It's an action-soulslike game, with substantially more emphasis on scripted events, action sequences, and cinematic scenes than anything you'll see in a standard Souls game. The story is extremely simple—you play as Eve, an android girl tasked with killing the Elder Naytiba, the leader of a race of alien-like mutants that have taken over Earth. There are also several subplots relating to side characters within Xion, the main city hub, that are optional but necessary to complete for the full story, in my opinion.
I didn't see a single bug or glitch in my playthrough aside from some weird death animations, so the PC port should be really stable for you. I played it on 4K, medium settings, with no framerate issues.
World & Atmosphere
The world and atmosphere are very mixed, with some incredibly good levels and some awful open expanses. I personally hated the open-world maps, both of which are large desert areas known as the Wasteland and the Great Desert, respectively. There's way too much uniformity in the color palette, and traversing them just isn't that engaging despite the boosted movement speed Eve gets in the open world. Having two deserts is just a weird decision thematically.
Where the game shines more is in the linear sections, full of scripted events and little side paths to explore for more resources. I rarely got bored during these sections, aside from one tedious one near the endgame. The map is a bit interconnected, but it's much closer to something like Dark Souls 3 or Elden Ring than games like Dark Souls, AI Limit, and Lies of P.
The linear levels have a ton of diversity in tone and location, with one even leaning into some light horror elements. Most levels are in underground facilities, but they're varied enough to feel unique.
Mechanics
As I said earlier, Stellar Blade is an action-soulslike, so a few Souls mechanics are present, but they're extremely mild. Death carries no penalty, and Eve isn't canonically immortal like the protagonists in most of these games. You unlock these camps as checkpoints throughout the game, which are similar to bonfires in Dark Souls, but that's about it as far as the Souls similarities go. The parry/dodge system is much more similar to what you find in Sekiro than Elden Ring.
You only have one weapon—a one-handed sword—but a ton of skill trees that add more moves and skills. There are few boring perks like "increased damage." Your stats like HP, damage, and Beta (the mana equivalent) are all upgraded via exploration.
This is a bit annoying due to the boring nature of the open-world sections, and you'll be under-leveled if you refuse to explore at all.
There are also a ton of side quests and collectibles, which do help make the world more bearable, but I personally only liked the ones relating to the main side characters in Xion. I didn't bother completing any of the really long collection side content.
Customization
Customizing Eve's appearance plays a big role in the game. A lot of the rewards for quests and exploring are cosmetic items (glasses, earrings, and outfits). You can also customize her hair, but all the styles are unlocked and just have to be purchased with currency one time. Armor and gear are invisible, so you can have Eve wearing whatever you want with no stat implications. The outfits are all pretty decent, and there's a big range between modest and revealing options.
This was my personal favorite:
Bosses
The boss design is mostly solid, with few repeating bosses. I generally beat most of them in 1–5 tries, but in the endgame, you hit a difficulty spike unlike anything I've ever seen in a game. Bosses go from medium-difficulty cinematic encounters to high DPS tanks instantly, with no gradual ramp-up in difficulty. For comparison, I'd say the last three bosses are on par with Sekiro's difficulty, although not quite as tedious or punishing.
Due to only having one weapon and limited gear, cheesing bosses is probably much harder than in other similar titles. You can stun-lock certain ones, but the tiny damage you deal means it really doesn't matter unless you can keep it going for 4 minutes. There also aren't any ally NPCs, but there is an easy mode option in settings, which I imagine most people who aren't veterans of the genre will need to turn on to finish the game.
Final Take
I can confidently recommend this game to basically anyone. The inclusion of an easy mode, plus the normal mode getting very tough at the end, means no one's excluded from enjoying the game.
Overall, I give it a solid 8/10.
