Stellar Blade Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Stellar Blade is one of those action-adventure boob games. You probably know the ones I mean, where you fight off huge monsters using incredible powers whilst wearing skin-tight fetish outfits. We’re talking head-to-toe black leather that looks like it was painted on with incredibly thin paint, and that’s one of the more reserved options you have for dressing up Eve. Once you’ve adjusted to the constant fetishisation, there’s a pretty enjoyable game to be found in here with quite a few interesting quirks, along with a few not-so-interesting ones.

If I were to quickly describe how Stellar Blade plays, I’d say Bayonetta crossed with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, if only because I’ve never played Nier Automata, the most common point of comparison. Structurally speaking, the layout of the game’s levels and designs of many of its enemies give a Star Wars Jedi vibe – you’ve even got a drone following you around that isn’t too unlike BD-1, though this one can also be used as a gun. There’s also a handful of enemies that wouldn’t look out of place in any Star Wars media. There lots of wide open spaces to navigate, as well as some slightly more linear areas that play almost like a gauntlet as you try to reach the next camp.

In these levels, you’ll be fighting off a very wide variety of Naytiba, which is what the monsters are called here, using counters, dodges, special attacks, and even more special attacks. The action here is fast, explosive, and challenging, with even relatively weak enemies able to ruin your day if you’re careless. There are a lot of combat mechanics to wrap your head around as well, such as guns with severely limited ammo, and two different colour coded abilities, Blink and Repulse, that are used when an enemy glows blue or purple, respectively. I initially struggled with this because I’m colourblind – thankfully there’s accessibility options for that –  but I then had an issue with them not triggering for some reason, or when it occurs while the camera isn’t