A can of Stellar Blade, and Sony @ Mumbai Comic Con
This week's edition comes to you a little earlier than usual because we've got an embargo to meet! Come for the Stellar Blade review, stay for my rant about Comic Con.
Review: Stellar Blade
Developed by Shift Up and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Loud, flashy, shiny and soulless.
Those were my thoughts when the then-titled Project EVE was featured in a trailer during the PlayStation showcase in late 2021. Much like a number of hack-and-slash games that pop up in a sale (or in recent times, in the PS Plus Deluxe or Extra collection), I was mildly interested but resigned myself to the fact that I’d likely never play it. After all, where is the time?
Note: The game was revealed back in 2019 in a trailer featuring what looks like concept art, as a title for “PC Steam, PS4 and Xbox One”. At some point, Shift Up joined the PlayStation Studios and the title turned into a PlayStation 5 exclusive.
Now where were we? Ah yes, where is the time? With games getting longer, more demanding and bursting at the seams with even more side content than ever before, it’s difficult to make the time for games on which you aren’t fully sold. This is particularly so when all indications point at yet another Soulslike in the making. And then there are those games that look unique but play like reskinned or repainted versions of existing games — which makes you even more judicious about your time, and where you want to spend it. Imagine being swayed by some trailers, buying a game and then discovering it’s nothing like you were expecting. Like being sold on the story but finding out it’s a case of memorising chains of attacks to repel, and then doing it again and again for the rest of the game. I enjoyed memory games (remember the trays filled with all manner of random stuff?) at birthday parties, but I demand a different experience from videogames.
First impressions
Anyway and rather fortunately, Stellar Blade — or the people making it, at the very least — did not want to dupe you, the player, into parting with your hard-earned money for a game you would not like. And so, there was a free demo that went live on the PlayStation Store at the end of last month. Those four words from the start of this review chased one another in circles in my head as I contemplated downloading it. I decided to ignore that quartet of killjoys and go for it. Besides, when had a demo last led me astray? Whether it was the Duke Nukem 3D shareware levels played in a school computer lab while the teacher prattled on about turtles (see: programming language Logo), or the FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 demo that let you play one half of an England-Italy match, or more recently, the outstanding Final Fantasy XVI demo, I’ve almost always been a fan of these sneak peeks. Aside, of course, from the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin demo that put me into a boredom-induced coma (is there a boredom equivalent of a food coma?), most other demos have been a great way for me to find out whether or not I’ll enjoy a game.
And so the Stellar Blade demo came… and the demo went. It was over in the blink of an eye, leaving me with little more than an idea of the sort of combat I could expect, and the knowledge that I could alter the length of protagonist EVE’s ponytail. Which is useful information to have. What the demo did do, however, was to pique my curiosity in the final product: What’s the deal with this 7th Airborne Squad? Who are these Naytibas? Following on from that, just what is the story? How does EVE turn a hairclip into a sword? And so on.
‘One complete game’
With the demo in my rearview mirror, I was ready to embark on the real thing, and was grateful to find that the save file allowed me to jump back into where I’d left things in the demo. Unfortunately, that meant kicking things off with the boss battle that ended the demo — not having had grunts on whom to prepare this time around, I died many deaths before deciding to start things over from scratch. This time, following the beach landing, I traversed the first semi-open region of Eidos 7 with a bit more patience and a dash more spirit of exploration. Before we get into it all, here’s the basic premise of the game:
Stellar Blade tells the story of EVE, a member of the 7th Airborne Squad, who has been dropped onto a futuristic and post-apocalypse Earth. Creatures known as Naytibas have taken over and are threatening humankind’s existence. It is upto EVE then to protect the surviving humans, ward off the Naytiba onslaught and get to the bottom of just what led to the current state of affairs. Along the way, you learn more about the god-like Mother Sphere, the history of the Naytibas and the human-machine conflict.
As far as the story goes, it’s detailed and lore-filled enough to keep you interested, but not dense enough to make you lose sight of your primary objective. And that primary objective is its Rutherford’s atomic model1 of gameplay loops.
In the model above, combat forms the protons and neutrons in the nucleus (the black orb at the centre), which forms the bulk of the mass of the atom. In our case, it forms a bulk of the gameplay you’ll encounter. The red orbs that orbit around the core represent peripheral gameplay loops like 3D platforming, traversal (underwater and the regular sort), puzzles, skating (well, sort of) segments, fishing, QTEs, rudimentary crafting and more. Together, they make up a lot of the game’s volume (at least in terms of mindspace they occupy), but individually, they form a tiny percentage of your playing time.
Another note: My knowledge of chemistry isn’t what it used to be, but I think the analogy works. And even if it doesn’t, Stellar Blade’s combination of gameplay loops certainly does.
I found it quite interesting that there was such a variety of different ideas and inspirations explored across the length and breadth of Stellar Blade. There was a bit of Uncharted, a little NieR, a dash of God of War, a sprinkling of Star Wars Jedi, a possible hint of Ratchet & Clank and so on. This makes a whole lot of sense when you read the statement by the developers that was issued alongside the review code. It reads: “Console game development in Korea doesn't have a long history. The market has turned mobile-centric, with live-service games becoming the norm. We wanted to create ‘one complete game’ that could compete in the world… the most important thing is the funness in playing. We did our best and constantly refine the game to make sure that it's as polished as possible” (emphasis mine).
While I get where Shift Up is coming from, the danger of building “one complete game” is that you could be stuck with a hodgepodge of good ideas that don’t really coalesce very well. The other danger is that you don’t end up showcasing any of your own originality. Stellar Blade falls into neither of these traps, because while it does wear its influences on its sleeve, it is very much its own unique and cohesive entity. And true to Shift Up’s word, it is a thoroughly polished experience. The game boasts snappy loading times, plenty of neat Quality of Life (QoL) features, a host of accessibility options, highly refined combat and decent visual fidelity (that is to say that I did not encounter any framerate drops or screen tearing on the ‘Balanced’ graphics mode).
Since I mentioned QoL, I should elaborate at least a little bit. Stellar Blade is littered with camps and supply camps to save your progress and avoid having to track back too far. This comes at the cost of respawning Naytibas, but it’s a tradeoff you’ll find yourself increasingly willing to make as you get deeper into the game. Plus, there’s the ability to skip cutscenes once you’ve already seen them, and likely died at that stage. Possibly my favourite features of this lot is the option upon completion of a side quest, to go straight back to the NPC who assigned it to you. This saves time and effort, and lets you stay focussed on the game itself and not open-world busy work.
Eidos 7, Xion, the Wastelands and beyond
I’ve generally found the quality of a game’s visuals to hinge heavily on the look of its surroundings, and that is another category in which Stellar Blade performs admirably. The game is set across around half a dozen self-contained areas (I can’t recall the exact number, plus my last save is beyond the point of no return), and you can travel back and forth from (and to, naturally) all but one of them. Each of these has a distinct personality of its own, features unique Naytibas — as hideous and nasty as anything out of a FromSoftware game — and throws you a different challenge in terms of boss battles. And much like the gameplay, you’ll find plenty of influences if you look closely enough.
But there’s more going on in Stellar Blade’s locales than just their looks. It was the level design that I found most intriguing with some areas allowing you to fast travel up and down, while others had no fast travel options, forcing you to rely on your own wits and sense of direction. Some areas took away your ability to use your hairclip-slash-sword, forcing you to rely on projectile weapons only. Some are open environments ripe for exploration, while others are far more linear. And every single area had its own vibe. Take for example, this spooky section below (do note the nod to PlayStation in the thumbnail, while you’re at it):
The nucleus
We’ve set the scene, now let’s get down to brass tacks: Combat is the heart and soul of Stellar Blade. There was strong allusion drawn to this in the demo and the full game only serves to reinforce this. You are greeted by the standard controls of face buttons for dodge, jump, quick attack and strong attack, and shoulder buttons to parry and augment attacks. The triggers allow you to use projectiles (in the form of a firearm into which your friendly drone transforms). As you level up your drone, you unlock different projectile types, which are all very useful in a variety of situations.
With melee combat, however, you are in for a far richer experience, because important points in the story unlock new capabilities with their own dedicated skill trees. Among these are Beta, Burst and [REDACTED BECAUSE SPOILER] skills that augment your basic attacks and parry. It was 2022’s notoriously difficult Sifu that helped me appreciate the finer nuances of combat in videogames (thank you for the reminder, Vikram). While that doesn’t mean I’m going to check out Demon's Souls or any of its cohorts anytime soon, it does mean I can appreciate high-quality combat when I experience it.
Before I played the demo, I expected Devil May Cry-esque button-spamming action. A little later, I began to expect Soulslike combat. And then having completed the demo, it felt as though the combat fell somewhere in between the two of those categories. Now, having logged somewhere in the vicinity of 25 hours into the main game, I can declare that while it indeed remains in between those two categories, it has crafted a marvellous little niche for itself.
What shone brightest to me was the very deliberate and restrained nature of the combat. In other words, it’s possible to go into a button-mashing frenzy while in attack, but that’s counterproductive for the most part. Instead, it’s more useful to wait and watch your enemies, parry and dodge a few attacks (where appropriate), and then make your move. It also helps not to spam Beta or Burst attacks blindly. A smarter approach is to pick your moment for maximum devastation. I appreciate that this entire paragraph sounds like a compilation of cliché or a set of very self-evident and obvious remarks (a bit like the football punditry of one Michael Owen), but it rings extremely true for Stellar Blade.
What doesn’t land
When a game does so much right, the areas in which it falters begin to seem a lot more significant than they would in a lesser game. And that’s probably why the three not-so-great areas seem like a far bigger deal than they really should. Regardless, here we go with the first of these, and that is the bit of imprecision that creeps in when trying to interact with objects. EVE seems to find it difficult to stand in front interactive objects long enough for me to click R2 or hold it down long enough to initiate the interaction. It’s a tiny bit of bugginess that can get quite irritating.
Next, I would have greatly appreciated more symmetry between the sword and gun in terms of being able to upgrade, improve and fine-tune it. Sadly, gunplay just isn’t afforded the refinement and finesse that is lavished on swordplay. This is particularly annoying since the second half of the game relies heavily on you demonstrating a reasonable amount of competence with your firearm (doing my best to avoid spoilers here). I wouldn’t have thought twice about this particular issue if it was possible to complete the game on the strength of your blade alone, however as it stands, the imbalance is rather jarring.
The first was a minor quibble, the second was a bit more critical, but it’s this, the third, that costs Stellar Blade most points in my book. And that is the narrative. Don’t get me wrong though, the story is fine — it’s an interesting tale with twists and turns along the way. My issue is with the manner in which the story is told; for instance, the way twists are often signposted so you can see them from a mile off. Then, there are a handful of NPCs with whom you do a majority of your interaction, and while they’re fine for the most part, they’re actually quite dull and none of them really stay in your mind for very long. Orcal above is bit of an anomaly in this regard, but that’s in equal parts down to his story arc and look.
But my biggest issue of all is with the way Stellar Blade leads you to the fork in the road that sets off the game’s multiple endings. So as not to spoil it for you, I’ll leave it at that, but it did feel like a really soggy and unsatisfying way to branch off into different endings. And it felt especially galling considering what we’d learned about our protagonist and experienced as her until that point.
EVE or Leave?
The previous section notwithstanding, this is a must-play game. It may not be a must-buy-on-Day-1, but it is certainly worth your time. The combat is, of course, the centrepiece of this title, however, there’s a great deal of fun to be had while not fighting too. If you’re a fan of customisation, there’s a whole host of eyewear, earrings and costumes to collect and craft, and there’s also a salon to fix up your ‘do.
To return to my preconceived notions from the top of this piece, loud, flashy and shiny though Stellar Blade may be, soulless it certainly is not. The developers sought to make a game that brought out “the funness in playing” and they succeeded on that count. They wanted to make a game that was “as polished as possible” and they came extremely close. Despite its shortfalls, kudos to Shift Up for a fantastic title!
PS: There’s been some hue and cry about the game’s highly sexualised female characters. It’s incredibly fatiguing that after Tomb Raider, NieR, Bayonetta, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, and so many others, we’re still here and still having these conversations. And so, I’m not going to engage with that topic at all. Bye!
Game reviewed on PlayStation 5. Review code provided by publisher
Are Sony and the Indian market on the same page?
At the start of the year, there was an estimated instal base of 350,000 PlayStation 5 units in India. It’s possible that number has seen a notable increase not least because of the not-insignificant discounts being offered on the original PS5 console in light of the April 5 launch of the PS5 Slim.
With an eye presumably on consolidating these numbers, Sony put on quite the show at the Mumbai Comic Con over the weekend (April 20 and 21). A little over half the setup comprised PlayStation products and the rest was occupied by the INZONE section.
If the purpose of this event was to get as many hands on controllers and headsets on heads as possible, the footfall on Day 1 (on which I spent a few hours there) hinted at a success. While I do not have the actual numbers, that both sections were packed throughout my time there indicated that the Sony zone was quite popular. A few thoughts did come to mind.
First, there was the obvious one: In an exhibition designed to let visitors get “hands on with PlayStation 5”, it seemed quite peculiar that the PSVR 2 (the latest peripheral to arrive on the Indian market) was nowhere to be seen. Actually, I exaggerate because it was somewhere to be seen and that somewhere was in its packaging behind the counter at the very rear of the PlayStation section. Upon enquiry, I was informed that it would be an absolute logistical nightmare to calibrate and sanitise headsets for such a large crowd, and massive queues would be unavoidable. Fair enough. Besides, it’s worth noting that it isn’t as thought the PSVR 2 is not exactly pulling in big numbers anywhere in the world. Despite the tip-top hardware on offer, a distinct lack of exclusive titles and a prohibitively expensive price tag have thus far held back the device. And if word on the grapevine is to be believed, Sony has discontinued production of the device on account of the volumes of unsold inventory.
Second, there was the lingering sense of a lost opportunity. Conventions and events such as this are most certainly a great opportunity to draw in a new customer base. But they’re also a chance to deepen existing customer relations. Whether in the form of limited edition merchandise, special editions of games/devices or giveaways (three months access to PS Plus Deluxe, for instance), these are great ways to keep existing customers interested. Unfortunately, on sale were quite regular versions of consoles, headsets and games, and in the form of freebies were stickers and notebooks. This is probably an area that needs a bit of work next time around.
Third, I finally got a look at the PS5 Slim in the flesh and was filled with a great deal of joy — joy that stemmed form having picked up the original PS5 and not waiting for this one. Larger and bulkier though it might be, the matte finish and single-plate look of the OG PS5 look much nicer (to me at least) than the small and shiny PS5 Slim. Maybe this little guy will be a roaring success. Who knows? We’ll have a better idea once the discounts on the OG PS5 are stopped. Speaking of, in my personal opinion, if you’re considering buying a PS5, getting hold of the original one before the end of this month is the way to go.
Finally, and returning to the title of this section, are Sony and the Indian market on the same page? On top of the five-month lag seen by the PS5 Slim, considering how long the digital-only edition of the OG PS5 and such peripherals as the Pulse 3D headphones took to arrive in India (compared to the global launch date), I’d be tempted to say no. However, taking into account that the clearance of BIS regulations takes time and that consoles and peripherals are eventually arriving on these shores, and in an official capacity, I’d also temper that verdict. Take for instance, the Access Controller. I didn’t expect Sony to bring such an (arguably) niche device over to India, but that fact that it made its way shows that perhaps the company and its market in India are more in sync than before.
Mumbai Comic Con may not necessarily have been the best place to showcase videogames, considering the preoccupation of visitors with more pressing concerns like keeping from falling over their own latex tails, protecting their faces from stray plastic katanas, wandering around wearing straw hats, inexplicably biting their own hands, stopping to take photographs in the middle of crowded thoroughfares and pulling strange expressions.
That the PlayStation and INZONE sections were able to draw large crowds despite the above shows how many potential customers are still without consoles, and augurs very well for Sony and its road ahead in the current generation of gaming.
In closing…
This week, after bringing to an end my first playthrough of the excellent Harold Halibut, I shall finally be checking out Dave the Diver. Here’s a trailer of the Mintrocket game in case this is the first you’re hearing of it:
Rutherford's atomic model became known as the nuclear model. In the nuclear atom, the protons and neutrons, which comprise nearly all of the mass of the atom, are located in the nucleus at the centre of the atom. The electrons are distributed around the nucleus — Quoted verbatim from source