PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade is fast approaching, with less than a month before the full release. If you’re as pumped for the action adventure as I am, you’ll be happy to know there’s a demo set to drop in just a few days!
I had the opportunity to go hands-on with the demo before it is released publicly on March 30th, and I can honestly say this is now one of my most anticipated games of the year.
The 7th Airborne
The demo kicks off at the very beginning of the game, with an action-packed opening sequence, stunning cut-scenes, vicious combat, and plenty of drama!
After Earth was overrun by a nightmarish species called Naytibas, humans evacuated the planet to the safety of space. The protagonist, Eve, has been sent back to Earth, along with the 7th Airborne Squad she belongs to, to defeat the occupiers and retake their home.
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Shit hits the fan immediately.
Their colossal, whale-like spaceships come under heavy attack from enemy forces. During the chaos, Eve’s landing pod crash lands. Alive but damaged, Eve is rescued by her Commander, Tachy, and they set off to find more survivors.
The Naytibas are the dominant force, the humans are up against the wall and your mission is likely futile.
One thing that caught me off guard was the graphic violence. Severed limbs, bodies impaled, people entirely crushed — this isn’t a kids’ game.
While I wasn’t expecting this level of violence, it was welcome. It immediately sets the tone of the game going forward.
Style and Substance
Developers, Shift Up, have gone the extra mile to make sure the graphics and performance are top-notch. Cutscenes are a visual feast, with inventive camera angles and movie-like focus shifts.
Aiming for a ‘storming of the beaches’ war movie-type opening, the background is busy with passing aircraft, distant behemoth monsters and plenty of explosions. While on the ground it’s equally chaotic, with swarming Naytiba and scenes of your comrades being butchered before you can get to them.
Dust particles and rain droplets dirtying the camera lens add to the feeling of pandemonium.
In the demo, players can choose from performance, resolution and balanced graphics options. I went with the balanced mode and everything looked and ran great – especially combat which was buttery smooth – even with all the particle effects flying around.
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There’s seemingly a good variety of enemies and bosses — all wonderfully grotesque. From the spider-like ‘creepers’, to the crustacean-inspired ‘barnacles’; enemy designs are creepy and unsettling. Looking at the empty spaces in the game’s data bank, there’s plenty more to come in the full game.
I’m not sure where the Naytibas came from, whether they’re aliens, mutants, or demons… But they sure are ugly!
Wasteland Wanderer
The gameplay of Stellar Blade could be described as Devil May Cry meets science fiction… Devil May Sci-Fi if you will. The level I played through was linear, designed with little offshoot paths that often lead to loot.
While I was never confused on where to go next, I often saw chests behind fences that required a bit of searching to figure out the path to them.
Eve can swim and dive underwater, gymnast-swing on poles to cross gaps, and also climb ladders and other designated objects… That means yellow paint, a touchy subject in gaming lately. I personally love yellow paint in games, unless I can climb anything and everything, I don’t want to waste my time trying to figure out what can be scaled.
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There are rest stops dotted around levels acting as checkpoints, a place to take a breather. You can replenish your health and main healing item here, though resting will respawn the Naytibas within the area.
You can also change the music, make purchases from the vending machine, and learn new skills. Larger ‘supply camps’ offer more utilities, such as enhancing your weapons, upgrading your drone, crafting nano suits, and fast travel.
While exploring, you can use a little drone companion to scan the area for enemies and points of interest. Somehow I still managed to get jump-scared by multiple enemies! Nothing like a hulking monstrosity, lunging at you from the darkness as you walk through a doorway, to get your heart pumping!
Naytiba Scum
Combat is fast and brutal, Eve dodging nimbly around the battlefield, wielding a badass energy sword that can generate arcs of electricity. Attacks to enemies and well-timed parries fill up your ‘Beta’ meter, allowing you to unleash more powerful attacks on the demonic Naytibas. For example, the Beta move ‘Slash’ performs a sweeping cut with a discharge of electrical energy, and charging the attack before release increases the damage and range of the attack, and can stun enemies.
With multiple skill-trees focusing on attacks, Beta specials and survival (with two mysterious locked skill-trees), there looks to be a decent amount of depth and choice to Eve’s battle abilities.
The combat difficulty seems well-balanced. While you COULD probably get by with button mashing, you’re really just making it harder on yourself.
Bosses, however, are another kettle of fish, demanding your full attention. You’ll need to study their attack patterns, and evade their most powerful moves or be quickly humbled.
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If you’re struggling with the combat, there is a ‘story mode’ option for a less punishing experience, as well as an assist option that helps with the timing of battle actions, like parries.
My biggest takeaway: the combat is fun! Even when I was getting my ass beat, I was still enjoying the action and the challenge.
A Stellar Demo
The demo is short and sweet, fewer than two hours, but gives a delicious taste of what you can expect from the full release.
After completing the first stage, an additional boss fight is available from the main menu for those after a real challenge. Eve is set to a higher level and there are different combat abilities and outfits to try out.
I didn’t experience a whole lot in the way of story and character interaction, so that’s an element that I’m keen to see more of. In terms of systems, style and combat though, Stellar Blade is ticking all the boxes for me.
My only gripe with the demo was sometimes it took a little maneuvering to interact with chests and terminals — this was only a minor issue.
The small tease has left me excited to see more, and I’m now counting down the days until Stellar Blade launches onto the PS5 on April 26th.
You can try the demo out for yourself on March 30th, with your saved data carrying over to the full game.
Quest Daily was supplied early access to the Stellar Blade demo with thanks to PlayStation Australia.
