Stellar Blade feels more like a Soulslike than a fast-paced action RPG

Korean developer Shift Up first made a name for itself with mobile games like 2016’s Destiny Child, a turn-based RPG, and 2022’s Goddess of Victory: Nikke, an on-rails third-person shooter. Now, Shift Up is throwing its hat into the ring of AAA game development with Stellar Blade, an action game starring a young woman named Eve who is trying to reclaim Earth from an invading alien species. The developer’s first attempt at crafting a premium console experience is already much stronger than I expected.

Ahead of its public release, I spent two hours playing Stellar Blade’s demo, which consists of its first chapter. Its slower real-time combat has a surprising amount of influence from the Soulslike side of the action genre, but I can already see how that will evolve to create flashier and more fluid battles later on.

Taking back the planet

Stellar Blade‘s opening cinematic section immediately grabbed my attention. In it, a group of spaceships hover over Earth and deploy pods containing Eve and her comrades to fight the Naybita alien threat on the planet. Those ships get shot down and scraps of metal enter the atmosphere like meteors alongside the pods. Eve then awakens in a fiery abyss, with aliens slaughtering her squad. This is where the demo transitions into the tutorial.

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Stellar Blade, at the very least, nails its dystopian-cyberpunk setting. Ruined buildings with vegetation are scattered throughout the environment, with streetlights dimly illuminating the surroundings, making it feel reminiscent of Stray. The soundtrack bounces between angelic choruses while you’re exploring its linear levels and blood-pumping electric guitars when you’re in battle. When fighting the Naybita, the music made me feel like I was playing a Devil May Cry game.

Stellar Blade opts