Stellar Blade finally answers the question; What if a mobile gacha game came to console. For better or worse it stays true to its root, bringing the good parts of a mobile gacha game, but also brings its lack of depth. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed my time with Stellar Blade, even if most of that was collecting costumes without my credit card.

I just want to say the Demo is near perfect, and while I enjoyed the final game, the demo plays like an action game of the past. Which seems like a dream at this point. The final game features less compact level design and longer time between fights.

Stellar Blade presents itself as an action game. It succeeds, but the more I played the less I was satisfied. It has stellar combat, but is plagued with playstation exclusive fluff and awkward platforming that slows the experience.
The parry and dodge system is a lot of fun. Chaining parries to open a critical hit is always rewarding. The enemy variety is enough to keep you interested, but I feel you approach all enemies similarly. I also really enjoyed the bosses, especially the final boss rush. I wish there were more ways to express yourself in combat, especially for an action game. New weapons, meaningful combos, animation/jump canceling and more abilities to switch in to compliment your playstyle.

The combat feels heavy and responsive. All aspects of the game have very satisfying haptic feedback. Menus, walking, combat, and interacting.

I found the puzzle sections mindless fluff. I didn’t mind inputting passwords and some simple puzzles. However, there are sections where you have to move crates to solve puzzles and it just feels clunky and slow. The platforming sections are well-designed, but EVE feels like she is on ice, and slips around. With how good the combat feels, in contrast the rest of the game falls a bit flat.
I also wish the dialogue was easier to skip, and easier to access shop vendors.

The concept of the story is interesting, but never captures its premise. There are lots of plot holes, and inconsistencies, but it’s fun to turn off your brain and follow along.

The music was excellent! If anything I felt the game was missing an overall theme or direction, but I really enjoyed the music nonetheless.

Stellar Blade looks excellent and maintains strong performance. Shadows and animations were standout for me.

I really had a lot of fun with this title, even admist the fluff and modern videogame padding. Collecting costumes is my favourite thing to do, so to see an entire game based around that is awesome. As someone who loves Ninja Gaiden Black, and more classic pre-souls game design; I was hoping for more depth. Still, it was lots of fun and I highly recommend to anyone looking for a <40 hour costume collectathon that's fun to hack and slash through.