Though a quick look around the PC gaming scene might suggest that third-person actioners with an emphasis on melee combat are hardly rarified air, Stellar Blade from Korean developer Shift Up stands out from the crowd on account of being a rather special offering. From its ultra-glossy visual presentation and extraordinarily satisfying combat through to its audacious embrace of provocative sex appeal and ultra-violence, here is why PC players should be excited for Stellar Blade’s imminent arrival.
A Captivating Sci-Fi Tale Of Vengeance, Betrayal And Alien Invasions
Much more than some hyperactive and hollow action extravaganza, Stellar Blade weaves a compelling setting and narrative tapestry upon which its more visceral exploits sit. In the far-flung future, Earth has found itself ruined and almost destroyed by a race of vicious alien creatures known as Naytibas. Forcing the remnants of humanity to flee to a colony orbiting the planet, the forces of mankind begin their ferocious fight to retake Earth by sending down squads of enhanced warriors to carve a path through the Naytiba menace.
The main protagonist, Eve, counts herself among such an elite cadre of warriors and duly makes her way to Earth as part of the 7th Airborne Squad, keen to lend aid in the effort to retake the planet. Tragically, however, her entire squad is eliminated during the operation, leaving Eve as the only survivor. Forced to find a desperate conclave of humanity on the surface of the Earth, Eve treks across the desolate planet surface, befriending Lily and Adam along the way, a seemingly friendly engineer and scavenger duo, whilst the mysterious origins of the Naytiba invasion are brought to terrifying light.
Easily One Of The Most Visually Stunning Third-Person Action Games Ever Made
There’s no getting around it – Stellar Blade is an almost boundlessly gorgeous game that fuses technical spectacle and a beguiling art style like no other entry in the third-person action adventure genre. Pushing Unreal Engine 4 to its absolute limit (yep, that’s UE4, *not* UE5), Stellar Blade is a treat for the peepers with downright beautiful environments that are ably augmented in turn by some of the most detailed and smoothly animated character models you’ll ever see.
Aside from its soaring technical merits, Stellar Blade’s art direction is also very much due an equal heap of praise. Starting with the environments, Stellar Blade’s team of artists have done a stellar (pun intended) job of depicting a far future Earth where the neon-lit, mechanical ruins of humanity simultaneously intersect with an encroaching Mother Nature looking to reclaim her domain as well as the Naytiba corruption that is threaded through almost every part of the world.
In terms of the character models, Stellar Blade’s Korean pedigree very much shines through here with striking, ultra-attractive character models whose allure is set in sharp relief against the endlessly grotesque, yet visually astounding Naytiba enemies. And of course, if you’ve seen even just a little of Stellar Blade, you’ll know that titillation abounds throughout, with ample fan service on the character design of Eve in particular allowing Shift Up to show off some rather advanced jiggle physics.
PC Improvements Out The Wazoo
In very much sticking with the pattern set by previous PlayStation Studio titles that have landed on PC, Stellar Blade brings with it a whole heap of PC centric improvements to make folks feel at least a little less miserable about spending a chunky four figures on their latest shiny new GPU. In real terms, this means that Stellar Blade on PC will bring such expected upgrades as unlock frame rates, support for ultrawide displays (ranging from 5:4 to 32:9 ratio screens), higher resolution textures and of course full support for DLSS 4 and FSR 3 upscaling techniques to allow for the best image quality possible. It’s also worth noting that with Stellar Blade running on Unreal Engine 4, it also stands to reason that you wouldn’t necessarily need to have a cutting-edge PC rig to get a decently playable and enjoyable experience either.
Pixel Perfect Combat That Stands Shoulder To Shoulder With The Best In The Genre
Even though Stellar Blade is very much a visual spectacle with style to spare, there is also a great third-person action game lurking underneath all of those glossy curves and hyper-detailed environments. Broadly speaking, the combat in Stellar Blade plays out like an enticing mix of the hyper-kinetic exploits of something like Devil May Cry and the more challenging beats of From Software’s Dark Souls series and is extremely satisfying as a result.
Eve can not only mix up acrobatic melee combinations and split-second evasions together, but she can also unleash numerous charged attacks and ranged strikes, too, all of which can be augmented and upgraded through Stellar Blade’s compelling progression system. Ultimately, this lends Stellar Blade’s combat a real sense of versatility that you don’t really see in many similar efforts. Oh, and a word about Stellar Blade’s boss encounters. Often screen-filling affairs, the various big bads that Eve finds herself tangling with are both challenging and downright butt-ugly in equal measure, making their eventual defeat all the more rewarding. Put simply, Stellar Blade is much more than a pretty face – there’s a resoundingly solid and compelling combat system sitting beneath its attractive veneer, too.
Worlds That Beg You To Explore Every Nook And Cranny
Much more than just a boss rush or linear enemy masher, Stellar Blade provides players with sufficient freedom to explore the various opulent worlds that surround them, and it’s here that Shift Up’s breakthrough title also shines. Entwined with Stellar Blade’s progression system, there’s an evergreen temptation to want to explore every corner of a given map in order to tease out its hidden treasure, loot caches and more to bolster Eve’s equipment and abilities. Like all the best examples of this approach to exploration, Stellar Blade often teases the player with shiny goodies that are seemingly just out of reach, encouraging them to work out how to get there and obtain these sweet rewards.
Ready to dive into one of the most striking and satisfying action games of the year? Stellar Blade is available at Green Man Gaming. With all the enhancements PC players crave – ultrawide support, high-res textures, unlocked framerates, and more – there’s never been a better time to step into Eve’s high-octane journey and experience Stellar Blade in its definitive form!
